The Flash crystal's light painted the pre-dawn sky in impossible colors as reality folded around them. Thorne felt Cora's grip tighten on her waist, the Royal Smith pressing close against her back as space itself seemed to tear. Through their bond, she sensed Ember's fascination with the crystalline patterns forming in the air.
They materialized twenty feet above Elena's position, Inferna's wings snapping open to compensate for the sudden transition. The griffin's annoyed screech suggested she wasn't entirely pleased with this new method of travel.
"Sorry!" Cora called as they landed, though her eyes sparkled with barely contained excitement despite their rough arrival. "The targeting matrix is still slightly... enthusiastic." She held up the Flash crystal, its once-brilliant surface now clouded and dark. "Though at least we're closer than last time."
"You mean when we appeared upside down over the training yard?" Thorne asked dryly, though she couldn't help smiling at her friend's infectious enthusiasm. Even facing an enhanced monster, Cora's passion for innovation shone through.
"That was a valuable test of the spatial orientation parameters," Cora defended herself with dignity. Then, more quietly as she checked Thorne's armor with practiced hands, "Besides, you caught me."
"Always will," Thorne replied softly, covering one of Cora's hands with her own for a brief moment.
"If you two are quite finished," Solaris called as she landed beside them, though her tone carried fond amusement rather than censure, "I believe Elena's waiting for our report."
The Knight Commander emerged from her command post, her crystal-forged armor bearing recent modifications that spoke of Cora's influence. Her raised eyebrow took in their dramatic arrival, the burnt-out Flash crystal, and the distinct smell of reality-warped air.
"Do I want to know," Elena asked with the particular patience of someone used to Cora's innovations, "why my ward-stones just registered an impossible spatial anomaly?"
"Emergency deployment system!" Cora brightened immediately, already reaching for her diagrams. "The runic configurations allow for instantaneous matter transmission through-"
"Later," Elena cut her off gently, though her eyes showed genuine interest. "Dawn Patrol's reporting increased activity at the facility. Whatever they're planning with that enhanced Gorack..."
"They're moving early," Thorne finished, the modified musket humming against her back as she felt combat possibilities beginning to crystallize. "How long?"
"Less than an hour before transport preparations are complete," Elena gestured to where her scouts had mapped the facility's defenses. "Though you might want to see exactly what we're dealing with..."
Elena's tactical display painted the coastal cliffs in shades of corruption and crystal as she outlined their enemy's positions. Even through the projection, Thorne could feel the wrongness emanating from the facility - power that made her combat instincts scream warnings.
"Multiple enhanced guard positions," Elena indicated points where corruption signatures pulsed with military precision. "But it's the inner chamber readings that concern me." She adjusted the display, revealing energy patterns that made even Cora step back slightly.
"That's impossible," the Royal Smith breathed, her usual enthusiasm replaced by professional focus as she studied the data. "The power requirements alone would tear apart any normal crystal matrix. Unless..." Her eyes widened with sudden understanding. "They're using the cliff's natural formations as amplifiers."
"Not just amplifiers," Solaris said quietly, her amber eyes carrying centuries of inherited wisdom despite her youth. The Golden Guardian's presence seemed to fill the command post as she analyzed the tactical display. "They're using the earth's own power to fuel their corruption. Rowan would be able to feel it directly, but even I can sense how deeply they've twisted the natural order."
Thorne felt Ember's presence surge with protective concern through their bond. The phoenix had been unusually quiet since they'd arrived, its eternal flames dimmed as if in response to the facility's wrongness.
"The Gorack's enhancement signatures are off the charts," Elena continued, her professional tone carrying carefully controlled tension. "Whatever they've done to it goes beyond anything we've encountered. Even the Beast Caller's Crown corruption wasn't this sophisticated."
"Show me the power distribution," Cora requested, her hands moving across the display with practiced efficiency. As the energy patterns shifted, she began making rapid calculations. "The resonance harmonics suggest... Thorne, remember how the warehouse Gorack's crystals were configured?"
"Three-point enhancement matrix," Thorne replied, moving beside her friend to study the readings. Their shoulders touched naturally as they leaned over the display. "Corruption nodes spaced to maintain tactical control while augmenting physical capabilities."
"Exactly. But this..." Cora's fingers traced new patterns that made Thorne's combat instincts bristle. "They've created something entirely new. Multiple overlapping matrices, each one amplifying the others. It's not just enhanced anymore - it's evolved."
"How much time do we have?" Solaris asked, her youth showing briefly in the weight of command before her natural authority reasserted itself.
"Forty minutes at most," Elena replied grimly. "My scouts report they're already beginning power-up sequences for transport. Once that thing goes mobile..."
"Then we move now," Solaris decided, Sunspire gleaming with deadly purpose at her side. "Elena, your forces are in position?"
"Dawn Patrol units here and here," the Knight Commander indicated points along the cliff approach. "Moonweave Battalion shadows these access routes. We can create multiple distractions, but against those defenses..."
"We'll need something more targeted," Thorne said, the modified musket humming against her back as she studied the facility's layout. "Cora, those disruption charges..."
"Three primary nodes," the Royal Smith confirmed, producing crystalline devices that pulsed with carefully contained power. "Plant them at these points and we can collapse their entire enhancement network. But the timing has to be perfect - trigger them too early and they'll adapt, too late and that thing goes mobile."
"I'll coordinate the aerial assault," Solaris's natural command filled the space as she outlined their strategy. "Elena's forces draw their attention to the main approaches while Thorne and Cora infiltrate through these cliff passages. Once the charges are placed..."
"I bring the sun to their doorstep," the Golden Guardian's smile carried edges of steel. "While you trigger the disruption sequence."
Thorne felt Cora's hand find hers briefly as they studied their assigned infiltration route. The gesture carried equal parts professional focus and personal concern - a reminder that they faced this together.
"The charges are stable," Cora assured them, though her grip on Thorne's hand suggested she was also reassuring herself. "Mostly. Just try not to drop them. Or shake them too hard. Or..."
"Let them explode until we want them to?" Thorne suggested with a slight smile, drawing a quiet laugh from her friend despite the tension.
"Precisely." Cora's answering smile carried warmth even as she double-checked her equipment with professional efficiency. "Though given your usual approach to tactical problems..."
"You mean solving them by setting them on fire?"
"I was going to say 'creative application of frontier chaos,' but essentially yes."
Their familiar banter eased some of the command post's tension, though everyone's eyes kept returning to the facility's ominous power readings. They'd faced enhanced monsters before, but this... this was something else entirely.
"Remember," Solaris said finally, her voice carrying both authority and care for her family, "we do this together. Whatever they've created down there, whatever they're planning..." She met each of their eyes in turn. "It ends today."
As they moved to their positions, Thorne felt the weight of what they faced settle over her. Through the Heart Shard's sight, she caught glimpses of the battle to come - fragments of possibility that made her grip the musket's familiar comfort.
But she also felt Cora's presence beside her, saw Solaris's unwavering leadership, and knew Elena's forces stood ready to support them. Whatever waited in those corrupted depths, they would face it as they faced everything,Together.
The cliff passage echoed with crystal resonance as Thorne and Cora moved through shadows, each step bringing them closer to the facility's corrupted heart. But what caught Thorne's attention wasn't the ominous power signatures - it was how silently her friend moved beside her, Royal Smith's robes replaced by something that made her combat instincts take notice.
"You modified your armor," she whispered, recognizing elements of her own enhanced plate merged with completely new innovations. The crystal matrices flowing across Cora's form hummed with contained power, while shadow-tech elements absorbed ambient light.
"Had to test the prototypes somewhere," Cora replied softly, her usual enthusiasm tempered by professional focus. "Though this is the first field deployment of the integrated resonance system."
As if to demonstrate, she touched one of the crystalline nodes embedded in her armor's surface. Reality distorted slightly around her as the enhancement crystals activated, bending light in ways that made Thorne's eye want to slide past her position.
"Partial phase-shifting," she explained, noting Thorne's impressed expression. "Not as complete as your musket's capabilities, but useful for close-quarter infiltration. Also..." She gestured to where corruption signatures pulsed ahead. "Perfect for planting charges without being detected."
"You've been planning this," Thorne realized, feeling something warm settle in her chest despite their dangerous situation. All those late nights in the workshop hadn't just been about improving weapons and ward-stones.
"Someone has to keep you alive when you charge into impossible situations," Cora replied with that particular smile she seemed to reserve just for Thorne. Then her expression shifted to tactical focus as her armor's detection crystals pulsed warning. "Speaking of which..."
They pressed against the passage wall as enhanced guards moved past their position, shadow-steel armor bearing fresh corruption modifications. Through her armor's sensors, Cora tracked their patrol pattern while Thorne felt combat possibilities crystallize through the Heart Shard's sight.
The first guard never saw them coming. Cora's phase-shift technology made her practically invisible as she moved behind him, while Thorne's frontier-trained silence got her inside his guard before he could react. The modified musket's pommel struck with precise force, dropping him without sound.
His partner spun at some subtle warning, shadow-steel blade already moving. But Cora's armor proved its worth as she seemed to flow around his strike, the phase-shift effect making his edge pass harmlessly through after-images. The opening she created let Thorne end the fight with another precisely placed blow.
"Impressive," Thorne noted as they secured the unconscious guards. "Though I notice you didn't mention this armor during all those lectures about proper safety protocols."
"Technically, I was wearing appropriate protective equipment," Cora defended herself with dignity. "Just... experimental protective equipment."
Their quiet laughter died as the passage opened into a larger chamber. Crystal formations pulsed with sickly light, corruption magic flowing through natural matrices in ways that made both women's combat instincts scream warning.
"First charge goes there," Cora indicated a point where power lines converged. Her armor's enhanced sensors mapped the facility's energy distribution with precise detail. "Break their resonance pattern at the source."
They moved with practiced coordination, Thorne providing cover while Cora worked. The Royal Smith's armored hands flew across crystalline controls, making adjustments too quick to follow as she integrated their disruption charge into the facility's power network.
"Ready for some frontier chaos?" Cora asked as she finished, producing a second charge from her armor's specialized containment unit. Through the enhanced sensors, they could both see Elena's forces beginning their distraction on the surface.
"Always," Thorne replied warmly, the modified musket humming with deadly purpose as they pressed deeper into corrupted territory. "Though try not to enjoy the explosions too much this time?"
"No promises," Cora's answering smile carried equal parts professional focus and genuine joy at working together. "Someone taught me to appreciate creative solutions."
Above them, Solaris's power flared like a new sun as the assault began in earnest. But down in the corrupted depths, two women moved like shadows through crystal passages, each bringing their own strengths to create something greater than themselves alone.
The real battle was just beginning, and somewhere ahead, ancient powers stirred in response to their approach.
Solaris moved like living light through the morning sky, Sunspire leaving trails of radiance as she engaged the corrupted wyvern riders. The Golden Guardian's power turned the very air into a weapon, each strike demonstrating exactly why she led the Pentarchy despite her youth.
"Your corruption has no place in my sky," she declared, her voice carrying ancient authority as Sunspire met enhanced rider weapons in a shower of sparks. Three wyverns dove at her position, their tactical coordination perfect - until she simply ceased to be there.
The Golden Guardian reappeared above them in a flash of pure light, her blade already moving. Two riders fell as their corruption enhancements shattered under Sunspire's purifying edge. The third tried to bank away, but Solaris's power wrapped around his mount like chains of light, forcing beast and rider to earth where Elena's forces waited.
Below, the battle moved through crystal corridors with lethal precision. Thorne and Cora flowed through enemy formations like water through stone, their combined abilities turning each engagement into a deadly dance.
"Left!" Cora called, her armor's sensors tracking enemy positions through walls. The phase-shift technology activated as a Shattered Crown elite burst through a side passage, his shadow-steel blade passing harmlessly through her after-image while Thorne's musket ended his attack with surgical precision.
Three more operatives emerged from deeper passages, their enhanced armor humming with corruption magic. But Cora had planned for exactly this scenario. Her armored hands flew across crystalline controls as she activated what she'd dubbed the "resonance disruptor."
The effect was devastating. The enemies' corruption enhancements screamed with discordant energy as their crystal matrices failed. The opening let Thorne demonstrate exactly why frontier combat techniques were so effective in close quarters.
"You've been holding out on me," Thorne noted with appreciation as she watched Cora flow through another perfect phase-shift evasion. The Royal Smith's armor let her move like living shadow, each motion precise despite the experimental technology.
"Had to save some surprises," Cora replied, her hands already moving to adjust the disruption charge they'd just planted. "Though I notice you're enjoying the musket's new configurations."
As if to demonstrate, Thorne shifted the weapon through multiple settings with practiced grace. Shadow-tech energy merged with frontier crystal resonance as she systematically disabled another group of enhanced guards. Each shot demonstrated perfect harmony between innovation and application.
Elena's forces pressed their advantage as Dawn Patrol scouts coordinated with Moonweave Battalion shadows. The mixed unit demonstrated exactly why the Knight Commander had pushed for integrated training. Frontier adaptability merged with capital precision as they systematically dismantled the facility's outer defenses.
"Multiple signatures converging," Cora reported, her armor's sensors pulsing with warning. "They're moving something big through the lower chambers."
"How many charges left?" Thorne asked as they pressed deeper, the modified musket humming with deadly focus while Dawnfire blazed at her side.
"One." Cora produced their final disruption device. "But we need to get closer to their main power distribution node. These readings..." Her expression shifted to concerned focus as she studied the sensor data. "Thorne, I've never seen corruption patterns like this."
Above them, Solaris's battle with the remaining wyvern riders reached its climax. The Golden Guardian's power erupted like a new sun, Sunspire's light turning corrupted skies to pure radiance. When the brilliance faded, only clean winds remained where twisted beasts had flown.
"Clear up here," Solaris reported through their communication crystals. "Though something's moving in the lower chambers. Something big."
"We feel it too," Thorne replied as the facility's crystal matrices began to pulse with building power. Through the Heart Shard's sight, she caught glimpses of what waited ahead - fragments of possibility that made her combat instincts scream warning.
"Stay together," Solaris commanded, already moving to support their position. "Whatever they've created down there..."
The rest was lost as reality itself seemed to shudder. Through Cora's enhanced sensors, they watched power signatures spike to impossible levels. The corruption magic flowing through the facility's crystal networks suddenly focused, converging on a single point that radiated wrongness.
"That's our target," Cora said quietly, her armor's crystals adapting to the growing energy distortion. "Though according to these readings..."
"It's waiting for us," Thorne finished grimly, feeling possibilities crystallize as the Heart Shard showed her fragments of what was coming. "Time to see exactly what kind of monster they've made."
They moved deeper into corrupted territory, Thorne and Cora flowing through shadows while Solaris's power lit their way from above. But with each step, they felt it - ancient powers stirring in response to their approach, waiting to test everything they'd trained for.
The real revelation was about to begin, and somewhere in the facility's heart, something far worse than a mere enhanced Gorack prepared to show them exactly what corruption magic could achieve when merged with military precision and brilliant innovation.
The chamber's crystal matrices screamed with corrupted power as something massive shifted in the shadows ahead. Through Cora's enhanced sensors, they watched power signatures spike to levels that shouldn't have been possible without tearing reality apart.
"By the spires," Cora breathed, her armor's crystals pulsing warning as she analyzed the readings. "They've completely rewritten its structural matrix. This isn't just enhancement anymore..."
The first glimpse they caught made Thorne's combat instincts surge with violent warning. Where a normal Gorack stood twelve feet tall, this monstrosity rose to nearly twenty. Its stone-like hide bore crystalline growths that pulsed with tactical purpose, while four massive arms - each one enhanced with shadow-steel plating - moved with impossible precision.
But what made their hearts race was the crackling field of electrical energy surrounding it. Lightning arced between corruption nodes, creating a defensive barrier that made the air itself taste of ozone.
"Magnificent, isn't it?" The voice carried professional pride as a figure emerged on a higher observation platform. His crystal-enhanced robes bore Malik's personal sigil, while crystalline foci orbited his hands with deadly grace. "The perfect fusion of brute force and tactical precision."
"Master Voltaris," Cora's voice carried recognition as she studied his crystal configurations. "Your work on lightning matrix enhancement was legendary at the academy. Before you disappeared with Malik."
"And you've clearly continued your own innovations," he acknowledged, lightning playing between his fingers as he studied her armor with professional interest. "Though perhaps not as... ambitious as mine."
Through their communication crystals, they heard Solaris engaging the remaining defenders above. "Whatever's down there," the Golden Guardian's voice carried tension even through the crystal, "it's affecting the entire cliff's energy matrix. Be careful."
The enhanced Gorack moved with impossible fluidity as Voltaris gestured with his command crystals. Each motion carried perfect coordination, its natural strength amplified by carefully engineered precision.
"The standard specimens were impressive enough," he continued, clearly enjoying the chance to explain his work. "But they lacked... refinement. All that raw power, waiting to be properly directed." Lightning crackled along the beast's enhanced arms. "The electrical field provides both defense and tactical control, while the shadow-steel plating..."
"Gives you a conductor network," Cora finished, her armor's sensors mapping the creature's modifications. "You're using the corruption nodes to channel lightning through its entire form."
"Always were quick to grasp the principles," Voltaris smiled, though his lightning crystals began to pulse with building power. "But understanding and surviving are very different things. Perhaps a practical demonstration..."
The enhanced monster moved with devastating speed as the command crystals flared. All four arms struck simultaneously, each one trailing arcs of lightning that turned the very air into a weapon. The chamber's crystal matrices amplified its power, creating a storm of electrical energy that forced them to dive for cover.
"Patterns!" Cora called as she activated her armor's phase-shift technology. "The lightning follows the corruption nodes! If we can disrupt the flow..."
The rest was lost as the Gorack demonstrated exactly why Malik's students were considered brilliant innovators. It didn't just attack with raw power - each movement carried tactical purpose, its enhanced strength guided by perfect military precision.
Lightning split the chamber as Thorne rolled under one massive arm, Dawnfire blazing to life as she struck at the Gorack's knee joint. But where a normal specimen's armor would have cracked, her blade met shadow-steel reinforcement that sparked with electrical defense.
"The conventional weaknesses no longer apply," Voltaris called, his lightning crystals creating patterns that made reality itself crackle. "Every vulnerability has been engineered away, every flaw turned to strength!"
Cora's armor flared with phase-shift energy as she dodged a blast of concentrated lightning, her enhanced sensors tracking power flows through the chamber. "The corruption nodes are networked!" she called to Thorne. "Each strike reinforces the others!"
The modified musket shifted configurations in Thorne's hands as she tested the beast's defenses. Shadow-tech energy met electrical barriers in a shower of competing forces. But the Gorack's enhanced armor simply absorbed the attack, its crystalline growths pulsing as they redistributed the power.
"Impressive weapon," Voltaris noted, sending another lightning pattern that forced Thorne to dive behind a crystal formation. "Cora's work, obviously. Though perhaps too refined for what we face. Sometimes crude force..."
The Gorack demonstrated his point by smashing through her cover, all four arms trailing electrical death as they sought to crush her. But Thorne had fought their kind before - even enhanced, it still had to follow basic physics.
She flowed through the attack like water, using the beast's momentum against it. Dawnfire left trails of pure flame as she struck at gaps between shadow-steel plates, while the musket's disruption shots created localized reality tears that made its enhanced limbs pass harmlessly through empty space.
Meanwhile, Cora engaged Voltaris directly, her armor's phase-shift technology letting her close distance despite his lightning assault. "Your calculations are off," she called, noting how his crystal matrices strained to maintain control. "The power distribution is unstable!"
"Always so concerned with stability," he sneered, though his lightning patterns became more erratic as she pressed closer. "Sometimes true innovation requires embracing chaos!"
Their battle became a contest of competing technologies - Cora's precisely engineered armor against Voltaris's raw lightning manipulation. Each time his crystals created a new attack pattern, her phase-shift systems adapted, turning deadly energy aside at the last moment.
"Now!" Cora shouted as she spotted an opening in his defenses. Thorne was already moving, the musket shifting to its soul-killing configuration as she took aim at Voltaris's position. But at the last moment, something in his crystal array caught her eye - a familiar sickly pulse that made the Heart Shard scream warning.
"Cora! The command matrix!"
The Royal Smith's eyes widened as her sensors detected what Thorne had seen - a morality-warping crystal hidden among Voltaris's lightning foci. The same corruption that had twisted so many others, disguised by electrical energy.
"No wonder you joined him," Cora said softly, understanding dawning as she studied her former colleague's crystal array. "You never chose this at all."
Voltaris's expression flickered with something like recognition before the crystal's influence reasserted control. "Choice is irrelevant! Only power matters! Only-"
He never finished. While the Gorack's attacks kept Thorne occupied, Cora had been carefully maneuvering closer to its master. Her armor's phase-shift activated one final time as she stepped through his lightning barrier, armored hands moving with precise purpose.
The morality crystal shattered under her grip, its corrupted energy dispersing in a flash of sickly light. Voltaris stumbled as its influence broke, genuine horror crossing his features as he realized what he'd been doing.
"The command network," he gasped, his lightning crystals falling dark. "Without the corruption matrix to stabilize it..."
The Gorack froze mid-attack, its enhanced systems suddenly lacking crucial control inputs. The electrical field surrounding it pulsed once, twice, then began to fade as emergency protocols activated.
"Automated shutdown," Cora explained as the massive beast settled into a dormant state, its corruption nodes shifting to standby power. "Better than letting it rampage without guidance."
"I'm sorry," Voltaris managed before unconsciousness took him, the crystal's destruction releasing him from years of twisted compulsion. "I never wanted..."
"I know," Cora caught him as he fell, her armor's strength making his weight insignificant. "None of them did."
Thorne moved to secure their prisoners while sending the all-clear to Solaris above. The modified musket hummed with residual power as she studied the dormant Gorack - twenty feet of perfectly engineered destruction, turned statue-still by the loss of its control systems.
"The corruption network?" she asked, noting how Cora was already examining the beast's enhancement nodes with professional interest.
"Stable for now," the Royal Smith replied, her armor's sensors mapping the creature's modified systems. "Though we'll need specialized containment to transport it safely. The engineering principles alone..." Her eyes brightened with familiar enthusiasm despite their recent battle. "The applications for defensive technology..."
"Maybe we save the technical analysis until after we're sure it won't wake up?" Thorne suggested with fond amusement, though she couldn't help smiling at her friend's irrepressible innovation spirit.
"Spoilsport," Cora replied warmly, though she did step back from the dormant monster. "Though I suppose you're right. Elena will want to secure the facility first, and Solaris..."
"Will have questions about that armor you've been hiding," Thorne finished with a grin. "Among other things."
Their laughter echoed through the chamber as Elena's forces began securing the area. They'd faced something unprecedented today - corruption and brilliance merged into deadly purpose. But they'd overcome it together, each bringing their own strengths to create something greater than themselves alone.
The real work of containing and studying their prize was just beginning. But for now, watching Cora practically bounce with excitement as she examined the Gorack's modifications, Thorne felt perfectly content.
Some victories were measured in battles won. Others in lives saved. And some... some were measured in the simple joy of surviving another impossible situation with the people who mattered most.
"Well," Thorne said as they finished securing Voltaris, "at least we managed to contain this one without too much-"
Her communication crystal pulsed with urgent energy, Raven's voice cutting through with uncharacteristic tension. "We have a situation."
"Define 'situation,'" Thorne replied, already noting how the shadow-walker's normally controlled tone carried something like genuine concern.
"How about a two-hundred-foot Lorican with three heads that just took out half a mountain?" Even through the crystal's transmission, they could hear the sound of massive destruction. "And before you ask - yes, I said two hundred feet. Malik's people have been... creative with the enhancement process."
Cora's armor sensors pulsed as she patched into Raven's detection feed. Her eyes widened as she analyzed the readings. "These power signatures... they've merged all five elemental breath weapons into each head. The corruption matrix is completely different from anything we've seen."
"It gets better," Raven's dry tone couldn't quite hide her tension. "Two of Malik's elite pupils are controlling it. Some sort of linked command system that..." She paused as something massive roared in the background. "Let's just say we could use some backup. Preferably soon."
"How's Rowan holding up?" Thorne asked, already checking the modified musket's crystal matrix while Cora began rapid calculations on her armor's systems.
"Currently trying to hold a mountain together while Lyra keeps the thing's breath weapons from melting the entire valley." Another massive crash. "Though I'd appreciate it if you didn't take too long to join us. This thing's breath weapons are... enthusiastic."
"We're on our way," Thorne assured her, sharing a quick look with Cora. "Just need to make sure this facility is secured and-"
"Go," Elena interrupted as she entered the chamber, her crystal-forged armor bearing signs of the battle above. "My forces can handle containment here. That sound we just heard..." She gestured to where the very ground had trembled. "They need you more."
"The Gorack's containment protocols are stable," Cora confirmed, though her hands moved across her armor's controls with urgent purpose. "And I have one Flash crystal left. Though the targeting might be slightly..."
"Experimental?" Thorne suggested with a slight smile, already moving to her position.
"I was going to say 'enthusiastic,'" Cora replied, producing their last teleportation crystal. "Though given what we're heading toward..."
"Just try not to drop us in the Lorican's mouth this time," Thorne teased, though her combat focus was already shifting to the battle ahead. Through their bond, she felt Ember's presence surge with protective determination.
"That was one time," Cora defended herself with dignity as she began the activation sequence. "And technically, we learned valuable information about enhanced creature anatomy..."
Their familiar banter carried them through the Flash crystal's power-up, reality already beginning to fold around them. But before the teleport engaged, Thorne caught Elena's knowing smile as she watched them prepare for their next impossible situation.
"Try not to destroy too much geography," the Knight Commander called as crystal energy built to transportation levels. "The cartographers are still updating the maps from your last adventure."
"No promises," Thorne replied, feeling Cora's armored form press close as the Flash crystal reached full power. "Though something tells me this Lorican might handle that part for us."
The last thing they saw before reality twisted was Elena's resigned head shake - the expression of someone who knew exactly what kind of chaos followed when frontier adaptability met crystal innovation. Then everything folded into impossible geometries as they headed toward their next battle.
After all, what was one more impossibly enhanced monster between friends?
The real question was: what had Malik's people done to create something that made even Raven sound worried? And more importantly - what would Cora's armor do when faced with breath weapons that could melt mountains?
They were about to find out.