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Sirens blared across the ruined city. Gunfire cracked from the rooftops. Helicopters roared overhead.
Three powers collided in one breath.
Aurora steadied her stance, broken spear half held like a dagger. Hana drew steel. Rhea raised her rifle. Nero rolled his shoulders once, feeling power burn in his bones like a caged storm.
He spoke low.
"We hold center. No retreat."
Hana pointed at the sky.
"You see the mark on those aircraft. They belong to the Dominion. They hate both of you."
Aurora wiped blood from her lip.
"They do not hate. They purge. They remove anything unfit."
Rhea cursed under her breath.
"A third front. We survive this only through movement. Standing here turns us into target practice."
Nero shook his head.
"No. We hold ground."
Hana stared at him.
"You want death."
"I want advantage," Nero said. "We defend here. They come to us."
Soldiers dropped on zip lines. Black armored figures swarmed between buildings. Gas grenades rolled across the plaza.
Chemical haze rose.
Machine guns tore the air.
Mortars thundered.
Drones burst into fire trails.
Nero lifted his hand. Ether flared like a second sun. He pushed the blast outward. Gas burned away. Bullets curved off path, sparks raining around them.
Hana charged first. She sprinted right, slid under gunfire, and cut three soldiers before their rifles locked onto her. She moved fast, a blur, precise and brutal. Limbs dropped. Helmets split. No hesitation.
Aurora followed. She lunged straight ahead and struck armor with raw force. Her broken spear glowed faint gold. She smashed through shields and shattered bones. She fought like a storm fueled by spite.
Rhea knelt low and fired clean shots. Heads dropped. Visors cracked. Anyone who tried to flank met bullets before their boots finished touching ground.
Nero walked forward. Slow. Controlled. Calm. Every shot bent. Every rocket dissolved mid-air. His power moved like a tide kept behind a thin wall.
He whispered,
"Come."
Drones dived. Their rotors screamed. Nero flicked two fingers. The machines froze mid-flight. Their metal contorted like clay. They dropped in twisted ruins.
More soldiers poured from alleys. Flame units marched with shields. Tanks rolled in from the east block, treads crushing burned bodies already on the street.
Hana shouted through smoke,
"We need cover! We lose this fight in open ground!"
Nero kept moving.
"We turn this city into a blade," he said. "Stand."
A tank fired. The blast punched pavement and threw bodies. Nero lifted his palm. The second shot collapsed into dust mid-flight. He pointed at the cannon. Metal shrieked and folded like wet paper.
The tank imploded.
Aurora stabbed through a shield carrier and shouted,
"This assault means they received intel. Someone betrayed positions."
Rhea shot another soldier and reloaded.
"Cain wanted chaos. He timed this."
"No," Nero said. "Someone else helped him."
Hana slid across rubble and rejoined them.
"Discuss later. Kill now."
A monstrous crash shook the district. A mech walker pushed through smoke, two legs, heavy plating, twin rotary cannons spinning. It fired. The noise rattled teeth. Rhea dove behind debris. Hana rolled again. Aurora braced her spear to parry blast waves.
Nero stood still.
Energy gathered in his fist.
He punched the air.
A shockwave exploded outward. The mech staggered. Its armor warped inward. It sank to one knee. Nero moved forward and slammed his hand onto its steel skull. Ether surged. The machine melted down, glowing red like lava.
Hana stared for a heartbeat.
"That is new."
Nero wiped black smoke from his face.
"I stopped holding back."
Rhea exhaled.
"Good. We need more of that."
More Dominion dropships appeared. A black banner flew on their sides: three crowns chained together.
The mark of high command.
Aurora's jaw tightened.
"They send royal purgers. We face elite units now."
Nero nodded.
"They expect us to break."
Hana spat aside.
"They miscalculated. We love painful odds."
Rhea tapped her comm. Static answered. No friendly channels. No retreat.
They stood alone again.
Explosions ripped a block away. Civilians screamed. Fires spread.
Hana turned her head just enough.
"We protect them?"
Nero scanned the battlefield.
"We protect movement," he said. "Anyone who reaches us lives."
He raised his blade and pointed at the advancing vanguard.
"They want a throne here," he said. "We bury their crown instead."
The next wave came fast—armored elites with anti-Ether tech. Pulse shields flickered. Their rifles fired void-rounds that distorted space where the bullets passed.
Nero tasted ozone.
"Void fragments. Cain touched their arsenal."
Aurora grit her teeth.
"He infects every army."
Rhea shot a soldier point-blank.
"Then we disinfect."
They fought again.
Hana cut one elite in half.
Aurora crushed another with her forearm.
Rhea sniped helmets before enemy scopes found her eye.
And Nero unleashed controlled bursts of power, each strike ending squads.
Not flashy.
Not wild.
Precise destruction.
Through smoke, a group of civilians sprinted toward them. Dominion shooters fired at their backs. Children fell. Parents shielded them with broken arms.
Nero moved first. He blinked across space, grabbed a falling child before the bullet hit, and returned in one instant.
Ether burned his spine.
Hana covered fleeing civilians with steel.
Aurora shielded them with raw aura force.
Rhea shot Dominion troops targeting escape routes.
One mother collapsed in front of Nero, clutching her son.
"Save him," she begged. "Please."
Nero rested his hand on the boy's head.
"You stay with him," he said. "Both live."
He pulled them behind stone.
Hana yelled,
"They try to overwhelm us. We slow soon."
Nero lifted his gaze at the burning skyline.
"They want time on their side. We deny it."
Aurora stepped beside him, face streaked in blood and ash.
"You plan a counterstrike?"
"Yes," Nero said. "I strike command."
Rhea shook her head.
"Too risky. They prepared for you."
"They misjudge me," Nero said. "Again."
Hana pointed her blade at him.
"You go alone, you die."
Aurora wiped soot from her cheek.
"I agree."
Nero's voice dropped.
"I do not go alone."
He glanced at them.
"You stand. Hold civilians. Break every unit that reaches this square."
Rhea raised an eyebrow.
"And who follows you."
Nero looked toward the blood-stained western gate.
A shadow pulse answered. Familiar. Old. Violent.
"Someone who owes a debt."
A figure approached through smoke. Massive. Cloaked in shattered armor. Eyes like knives.
Arin.
Aurora whispered,
"Impossible. He—"
"He survived." Nero said. "He returns here."
Arin stepped beside Nero like a blade returning to its sheath.
"You called," he said. "I answer."
Hana grinned despite blood on her lips.
"This party improves."
Arin drew his weapon.
"You kill command," he said to Nero. "I break their army."
"You follow my lead," Nero said.
Arin tilted his head.
"I follow strength."
Nero nodded once.
"Then keep up."
He stepped forward. Ether swelled. The street cracked under his heel.
Rhea shouted as mortar fire rained.
"Go now!"
Nero lifted his sword.
"Hold here. No collapse."
Hana saluted him with her blade.
"Bring back a head."
Aurora raised the broken spear like a banner.
"We guard your return."
Nero placed a hand on each of their shoulders.
His voice stayed low.
"You live. I come back."
Then he and Arin disappeared in a burst of light and pressure.
The battlefield froze for a second.
Then Dominion forces poured again.
Rhea shouted,
"Positions!"
Hana roared back,
"Kill everything hostile!"
Aurora lifted her spear.
"For Afterlight."
And the second phase of the Siege of Three Crowns began.
Far above the smoke-covered city, Cain watched from a rooftop with arms crossed.
He whispered to the wind,
"Step faster, Nero. Step harder. Only the ruthless survive the throne."
Thunder rolled across ruined buildings.
The world braced again.
The war for the future moved into its next breath.