SEASON 2 — EPISODE 14: SIXFOLD SIEGE
Cold Open — Circle of Death
The Dying Moon was silent. Its thin atmosphere shimmered with sickly green auroras, leaking from a dying core far beneath the crust.
Dust swirled endlessly in the vacuum-thin air, never settling, never still.
Xavier's boots crunched on the glassy regolith as he stepped from his shuttle. Something in his gut twisted. This place was wrong.
He barely had time to breathe before six shadows took form inside the storm — tall, lean, and lethal. They moved without sound, closing into a perfect hunting circle.
His visor flickered.
HUD ALERT:
Hostiles: Sixfold Tribunal Elite
Levels: 3,500 → 4,000
Hunter #4's voice cut through the static, deep and deliberate.
"No ship. No allies. No escape. Just the hunt."
Xavier's pulse slowed. This was a trap. And he'd walked straight into it.
Act 1 — Opening Clash
They struck as one. Two lunged head-on, two swept wide to flank, and two more perched on the ridges above — rifles glinting in the moonlight.
Xavier blurred forward, Absolute Velocity screaming in his veins. He deflected the first strike, dodged the second, countered the third… but their coordination was flawless. Each attack herded him into the next.
A beam tore through the dust where he'd been standing a heartbeat ago. He dove for cover, forcing them into a brief stall as he slid behind the twisted remains of an old mining rig.
The scaffolds groaned, collapsing under the impact of stray blasts. Xavier seized the chance, kicking a beam loose and sending an avalanche of rock and steel crashing down to block one sniper's line of sight.
It bought him seconds — nothing more.
Act 2 — The Pressure Builds
No matter where he moved, they were already there.
Hunter #5's voice came over comms, calm as a surgeon:
"Your speed is predictable."
Hunter #6 followed with a low, grinding chuckle.
"Your strength is average."
They weren't taunting — they were diagnosing. Studying. Reading him like an open combat log.
Every dodge bled stamina. Every counter was met with a faster one. His breathing grew ragged, muscles screaming for oxygen. Dust filled his mouth. Sweat stung his eyes.
The fight had shifted into a war of attrition, and Xavier was losing ground.
Act 3 — The Breaking Point
The crater became his cage. Two bruisers charged from opposite sides, forcing him into the sniper's killzone. He twisted, barely avoiding the shot, but the cost was agony — tendons straining, fibers tearing.
He staggered, knees threatening to buckle.
But something inside him refused.
The Limit Break didn't just ignite this time — it rewrote him.
HUD ALERT:
PERMANENT ATTRIBUTE EVOLUTION:
Strength +500%
Agility +800%
Reaction Time doubled
Note: Effective speed now exceeds known predator spectrum.
Xavier grinned through the haze of pain.
"Try to predict me now."
Act 4 — Predator Unbound
Everything slowed.
Sniper rounds tore through empty air, missing by meters — not because Xavier was faster, but because his movements no longer made sense. His path was jagged, impossible, like a predator circling prey in an alien jungle.
Bruisers swung with crushing force, only to find their grips empty before impact even landed. Xavier was already gone, slipping through like smoke.
He hit back with savage precision — one punch crumpling a chestplate, another sending a hunter sliding across the crater floor.
A dropship roared overhead. Kai's voice crackled over comms.
"Covering fire incoming— wait, what the hell?"
Xavier was already behind the remaining four, forcing them into a tight defensive knot for the first time.
Act 5 — The Escape
Killing all six now would be suicide.
Instead, he broke the circle — shattering the ridge with a single kick, sending one hunter tumbling into the abyss, then vaulting onto the dropship ramp.
Kai stared at him.
"You could've stayed and finished them."
Xavier's smirk was cold.
"Not yet. They're still useful. They'll lead me to the Tribunal's real nest."
HUD:
Level Up — 2,520 → 2,525
New Passive: Phantom Step — Agility-based evasion creates afterimages that confuse tracking.
Ending Cliffhanger
Far from the Dying Moon, the Tribunal Command Ship floated in the deep void.
The Six returned, battered but breathing. Before them stood the Tribunal Master, shadowed in the glow of a vast star map marked with the Hunter Guild's territories.
"Good," the Master said. "Now he's ready. Bring him to the Titan King."
On the dropship, Xavier stared at the nav screen — a massive storm-wrapped planet growing closer by the second. The next battlefield loomed.