Rain came down like bullets.
The scorched ruins of the goblin village hissed and steamed, fire battling water. Thunder cracked the sky above, echoing the war that was about to begin below.
Axel stood alone, shielded in steel, Iron Howl gripped tight in one hand, the goblin girl clinging to his leg behind him. Her eyes were wide, gold orbs full of fear and trust.
Across from him, Black Halo closed in like a pride of lions.
"Last chance, Axel," Reef said, voice trembling, suit glowing with blue kinetic lines as his SpeedSync boosters surged. "You don't have to do this."
"I already did," Axel replied. His voice carried across the ruined ground, even and resolved.
Vera came first.
Heaven Fang cleaved down in an arc of white-gold fire, burning through the air like a judgment. Axel sidestepped, barely, his armor steaming as light scorched past his face. He pivoted into her, shoulder-checking her with enough force to crater the earth beneath them.
Vera stumbled back, skidding but caught herself mid-slide, pivoting into a spinning slash meant to bisect him. Iron Howl met Heaven Fang with a screech of clashing power, arcs of holy light and magnetic force crashing like thunder between them.
"I taught you better than this," Vera snarled, her movements fast, beautiful, merciless.
"You taught me to obey," Axel growled, parrying her next blow and retaliating with a sweeping kick that she ducked under.
From the side...
Braxton attacked.
The earth shook as the rotary cannon fired. A hurricane of plasma rounds chewed through the burning wreckage around them. Axel dove behind a fallen pillar, holding the girl tight to his chest as molten sparks rained across his armor.
"Come on, brother," Braxton barked. "Just lay down, don't make me turn you into red mist!"
"Then aim better," Axel muttered.
He slammed a foot into the pillar and launched himself upward, flipping midair as bullets chased him. Iron Howl spun once in a circle, deflecting shots before he landed behind Braxton like a thunderclap.
He swung the flat of the blade into Braxton's massive backplate, BOOM!, the giant staggered but didn't fall. Braxton turned, snarling, eyes wide with adrenaline.
"I like you better angry," he grunted, and threw a punch the size of Axel's chest.
Axel blocked it with his forearm, suit servos shrieking. "You always were a hammer."
"Damn right."
Then Reef joined.
Lightning-fast, the moment Axel blinked, Reef was there. A blur of blue light, he struck Axel with a barrage of electrified punches, shoulder, ribs, side of the helmet. Sparks flew as each impact registered with kinetic force.
Axel dropped low and swept a leg, but Reef backflipped clean over it, landing on a fractured wall.
"You used to cover my six!" Reef shouted.
"I still am," Axel grunted, rushing him with a burst of thruster fire.
They collided midair, BOOM!, the shockwave flattened the nearby trees. They tumbled, traded blows in mid-spin, and crashed to the ground, rolling through mud and flame. Reef vanished again into a streak of motion.
Then...
Syne appeared.
Without a word, without sound. A shadow detached itself from the ruins and moved for the girl.
Axel saw her just in time.
He tackled Syne, their suits sparking against each other, daggers clashing against gauntlets, cloak against wolf-frame. Her movements were like whispers, ghost-fast, poison-slick.
"You let emotion override your protocols," she said coldly, striking at the seams in his armor with surgical precision.
"She's just a child," Axel snapped, forcing her back with a magnetic pulse that cracked the ground beneath them.
"So were the ones they ate."
Her face didn't change. No hate. Just ice. Just programming.
They exchanged twenty blows in two seconds, Axel barely matching her precision with sheer brute defense. Iron Howl wasn't meant for dueling assassins, but Axel used its size to keep her at bay, forcing her into the open...
"Syne, move!" Braxton shouted.
She disappeared in a flicker as another volley roared in.
The battlefield was chaos.
Vera circled Axel with Heaven Fang ready.
Reef flitted like lightning, trying to find an opening.
Braxton reloaded with thunderous force.
Syne's whispery presence haunted the edge of the smoke.
And in the center, Axel stood, armor dented, blood trailing down his neck, Iron Howl glowing with heat.
"I won't let you take her," he said quietly.
"She's a threat," Vera said.
"She's a child."
Silence.
Even the rain seemed to pause.
Then Vera raised her blade again. "Then you're a traitor."
"Then fight me like you mean it."
And they did.
The final clash began like a storm detonating. Axel met Vera's swing, twisted, and redirected it into Reef's dash, forcing them to crash into each other. He spun and disarmed Braxton momentarily with a smart-strike that disabled the cannon's grip for five seconds. He parried Syne's blade with the back of his gauntlet and countered with a shoulder slam that would've flattened a lesser foe.
They moved like gods.
Like monsters.
Black Halo was built to be unstoppable.
And Axel was one of them.
Not one of them faltered.
Not one of them gained ground.
The girl cowered in the center of it all, untouched, every strike calculated to avoid her.
Axel fought like a wall.
The team fought like a tide.
And neither side broke.
But then...
Axel's breath came ragged.
Every muscle screamed beneath the weight of his suit. Warning runes pulsed red inside his HUD. Blood dripped steadily from the base of his skull where the control chip used to be. And still he stood, between the girl and the others.
But Black Halo wasn't hesitating anymore.
"Last warning," Vera said, voice low, almost regretful.
Axel raised Iron Howl in a trembling hand. "I don't need warnings. I need you to back off."
Then they came.
Reef struck first.
Not with fists this time but with force.
He launched at Axel like a missile, shoulder-first. The impact cracked Axel's ribs with a sickening snap, throwing him backward. He slammed into a stone wall, leaving a crater behind him.
Before he could recover, Reef blurred again, this time going low, jabbing a knee into Axel's gut and then a charged palm into his chest. Lightning detonated against his armor, and systems sparked violently.
Axel coughed blood into his helmet.
He swung blind with Iron Howl, but Reef had already vanished.
Then...
Syne struck.
A dagger found the gap beneath Axel's left arm.
It sank in, deep.
Axel grunted in pain as synthetic fluid and real blood leaked down his side. He twisted, trying to grab her but she was a shadow again. Her other blade sliced across his leg, targeting the servos. One knee buckled.
He roared, swung Iron Howl down like a guillotine, Syne disappeared a breath before impact.
Then came the hammer.
Braxton.
A freight train in armor.
He charged, shoulder-first. Axel tried to dodge but his leg gave out. Braxton hit him like a meteor.
CRACK.
Axel was airborne, flipping through the rain before he hit the ground hard enough to bounce.
Pain shot through his spine. His visor cracked. Internal alarms screamed.
"Don't make me keep hurting you, brother," Braxton growled, cannon recharging with a heavy whine. "Just stop."
Axel forced himself to one knee, body shaking. "I… can't."
Braxton sighed and pulled the trigger.
The blast hit Axel full-on, engulfing him in fire. His scream was swallowed in the explosion. His armor lit up, sparking, pieces of the backplate torn loose.
He collapsed.
One arm limp. The other shaking as he tried to lift his sword.
Vera stepped forward.
Her armor moved like liquid light, every step calm, cruel, certain.
Heaven Fang extended.
She stared down at Axel as he bled into the mud, face visible now beneath the shattered helmet. His eye was swollen shut. His lip torn open. His blood mingled with rain and ash.
He looked young.
Not a traitor. Not a weapon.
Just… tired.
Vera raised Heaven Fang high.
The girl cried out. "No!"
Axel didn't flinch. He looked up, face twisted in agony, lips barely moving. "Do it."
Vera's fingers tightened on the hilt.
Her blade shimmered, a divine sun in a broken sky.
But she froze.
Her hand shook.
Her mind went quiet.
"You should've let her die," she whispered.
Axel's eye met hers.
"I'd rather die human."
The blade hovered.
And then, slowly…
She lowered it.
"I should kill you," Vera said. "I know that. Every protocol says to eliminate defectors."
"But you won't," Axel rasped.
"No," she said. "I won't."
Reef appeared beside her, panting, his face pale.
Syne stepped out of the smoke, one dagger red, one clean, her head bowed.
Braxton watched silently from afar, cannon pointed at the ground.
None of them moved.
None of them finished it.
Finally, Vera stepped back. "You're not one of us anymore, Axel. But you were."
Braxton cracked his knuckles. "And that still means something."
Reef looked away. "If command finds out we spared you…"
"We'll say he fell into a river," Vera said coldly. "We'll say he bled out in the mud. Doesn't matter. He's gone."
Axel's mouth moved, but no sound came.
He collapsed.
The girl scrambled toward him, sobbing. She shook him, tried to lift him, but he didn't respond.
The four Exterminators turned.
And walked into the smoke.
Leaving the traitor broken.
And the child alone.