The dome's collapse roared like thunder, a sound that shook Xin's bones. For one heartbeat, the battlefield fell silent. Soldiers, Hollows, even the monstrous Prime beyond the shattered barrier seemed to pause, as if the world held its breath. Then the dome split with a piercing shriek, fragments of light raining down like shattered glass, glinting against the blood-soaked stones.
Monsters poured through the breach. Not only the endless swarm of Dusked spawn, their claws skittering across the ground, but the towering forms of three Prime Hollows. Their massive bodies shimmered with corrupted ether, limbs twisted into grotesque weapons of flesh and bone. Each step cracked the stone beneath their feet, sending tremors through the earth. Their eyeless faces turned, scanning the battlefield with a hunger that made Xin's skin crawl.
"Primes!" a soldier's voice broke, raw with terror. "Three of them!"
The Hunters reacted instantly. Squads peeled away from the crumbling defense line, ten for each Prime, their blades and spears gleaming under the flickering flames of the sky. Bows were drawn taut, arrows notched with glowing ether tips. They moved with practiced rhythm, encircling the beasts. Every Hunter knew the cost: ten soldiers, sometimes more, to bring down a single Prime. Two years of war had carved that truth into their souls.
Xin's chest heaved, his lungs burning, but his mind sharpened despite the crushing fatigue. His thoughts raced, slicing through the chaos like a blade. "Three Primes," he muttered, his voice low. "This isn't right. Why now? Why together?"
He drew his bow, loosed an arrow, and watched a lesser Hollow collapse into shrieking dust. Without pausing, he knelt beside a soldier, blood oozing from a gash across the man's neck. "Hold on," Xin said, his voice steady despite the storm in his head. "You're going to make it." His hands glowed, threads of ether weaving into the wound, stitching flesh with painful precision. His eyes flicked toward the Primes, their massive forms dominating the battlefield.
"This didn't happen before," he whispered to himself, his mind churning. "They were scattered. Predictable. But now… they're coordinated." His jaw clenched, teeth grinding as memories flooded unbidden. Shun's face, stubborn and broken, dragging himself toward the Second Act. The ritual had begun, the atmosphere heavy with power, then faltered. Interrupted. Shun had pushed too far, too fast, and it collapsed.
The attacks started soon after. The sudden waves of Hollows, the strain on the barrier, the relentless surge of Dusked swarms. His stomach turned cold, a sickening realization settling in. "Is this because we didn't finish the Act?" he murmured, the thought hollowing him out. If true, this wasn't another battle—it was their failure. His failure. He'd let Shun cross that line, and now the summit was crumbling, soldiers dying, because of it.
"Medic!" a voice screamed, sharp and urgent.
Xin jolted, yanked from his spiraling thoughts. The soldier beneath his hands gasped, blood seeping through the seams of his armor, staining Xin's fingers. "Stay with me," Xin said, pouring what little ether he had saved for a person into sealing the wound. "Breathe. You're not dying today." His head pounded, each pulse like a hammer striking his skull. His vision swam, but he forced himself to focus, to keep the soldier alive.
He didn't notice the shadow rising behind him. Not until the hairs on his neck stood on end.
Danger.
His body tensed, instincts screaming. He reached for his bow, muscles coiling to spin and face the threat. But then something else washed over him. A calmness. Not peace. Not relief. But a heavy, suffocating serenity that pressed down on his chest, slowing his breath against his will. His racing heart dulled to a steady thud, each beat deliberate, unnatural. The clash of steel, the soldiers' screams, the monstrous roars—they all faded, muffled as if submerged underwater.
"What is this?" Xin whispered, his voice barely audible over the muted chaos. His hand froze on the soldier's wound, his eyes wide with confusion. His mind staggered, panic clawing at the edges of the unnatural calm. Danger screamed in his veins, urging him to move, to fight. But the calmness pinned him in place, a feeling he couldn't shake.
"Xin!" Lira's voice cut through the fog, sharp and desperate. She stood a few paces away, her blade flashing as she carved through a Hollow. "Behind you!"
Her warning broke the spell. Xin spun, bow raised, heart slamming against his ribs. The shadow loomed—a Dusked Hollow, its jagged limbs poised to strike. Its eyeless face snapped toward him, maw splitting into a screech that tore through the battlefield. He drew and loosed in one fluid motion, the arrow bursting into the creature's core with a detonation that scattered black ichor across the stones. The Hollow collapsed, its shriek fading into silence.
He staggered, his breath ragged, the unnatural calmness dissolving as quickly as it had come. "What was that?" he gasped, his mind reeling. "Why did I freeze?" He'd faced Hollows countless times, but never had his own body betrayed him like that. His thoughts fractured, questions piling atop one another, each one sharper than the last.
"Xin, focus!" Lira shouted, her voice strained as she fended off another Hollow. "We can't hold them much longer!"
He nodded, forcing his thoughts back to the fight. The Primes dominated the battlefield, their massive forms tearing through the Hunters' ranks. Soldiers screamed as claws ripped through armor, blood pooling on the cracked stone. The squads fought with desperate precision, but the Primes were relentless, their blows shattering shields and bones alike.
"We need to support Raven," Xin said, his voice hoarse. He turned to Rose, who stood nearby, her pistols flashing as she dropped Hollows with unnerving precision. "Rose, cover me. I'm going for the Prime."
Her lips curled into that familiar, infuriating smirk. "You're so dramatic," she said, firing another round. "But fine. I'll keep the little ones off you. Try not to die."
Xin ignored her taunt, his mind racing ahead. He couldn't shake the lingering chill of that unnatural calmness, nor the gnawing fear that this battle was more than a simple assault. The Primes, the shattered barrier, the coordinated attack—it all pointed to something larger, something tied to the failed ritual.
He drew another arrow, his hands trembling not from fear, but from the weight of his own thoughts. The soldier bleeding out beneath his hands, the Hunters falling to the Primes, the screams echoing across the battlefield—they were all his burden. His failure. His mind churned, replaying Shun's final moments, the ritual's collapse, the moment everything went wrong.
Then it came again. The prickle of danger, sharp and cold, crawling up his spine. His breath caught, his body tensing as he scanned the battlefield. The sensation wasn't coming from the Primes, nor the swarming Hollows. It was behind him, emanating from the large crystalline building at the summit's edge. Its jagged spires loomed like teeth, glowing faintly with an eerie, pulsating light.
"Danger," he whispered, his voice barely audible. His heart pounded, urging him to turn, to face whatever threat lurked there. But then he saw it—a light of calming silver, shimmering in front of the building. It pulsed softly, its glow steady and serene, standing in defiance of the malevolent presence radiating from the structure. The silver light moved, almost alive, ready to confront the unseen danger within.
Xin's mind froze, caught between the urge to run toward the building and the need to stay and fight the Primes. His thoughts spiraled, the weight of the battle, the failed ritual, and now this new, unknown threat pressing against his skull. What was in that building? What was the silver light? His hands trembled on his bow, his vision narrowing as the battlefield's chaos roared around him.
"Xin!" Rose's voice snapped, sharp and urgent. "What are you staring at? Move!"
He didn't answer. His eyes locked on the crystalline building, the silver light flaring like a star.