The decision was absolute. Kael didn't wait for Lysandra's agreement. He pulled his Keybearer, projecting a quick, sharp beam to cut a grip into the thick, rusted metal of the high-voltage conduit running along the terminus ceiling. He was exhausted, but the lingering energy from the pure spring pulsed with defiant strength.
"This is not logical!" Lysandra yelled, but Kael was already ascending, hauling himself onto the conduit. "It's a direct exposure! Talon will simply collapse the structure!"
"Then we move faster than his attack!" Kael's voice called back as he grabbed her hand, pulling her onto the slick, cold metal beside him.
Below them, Talon roared, his eyes tracking their ascent. He didn't waste time climbing. He aimed a punch at the nearest support column. The blow relied not on physical strength, but on a concentrated burst of binding energy meant to induce structural fatigue. The metal groaned, beginning to buckle.
"Left!" Lysandra screamed, her Karmic Arbitration predicting the collapse's exact trajectory. Kael swung sideways, dodging the grinding shrapnel just as the column gave way, sending dust and debris raining down.
Talon realized his brute force was too slow. He engaged his suit's microthrusters, leaping onto a rusted crane arm, gaining altitude. He was now close enough to use his specialized close-combat weapons.
"Absolve the metal on his armor!" Lysandra barked, her fear replaced by the cold, clear focus of strategy. "His plating is a lie of invincibility!"
As Talon lunged, Kael didn't focus on the impact point. He focused his remaining Absolution on the microwelds of Talon's left shoulder pauldron a single, minute point of physical debt used to affix the armor. He focused his will, forcing the weld to acknowledge its own exhaustion and failure. The pauldron instantly exploded outward in a shower of sparks.
The disruption was minor, but it was enough. Talon's lunge was thrown off, and he slammed into the main conduit, clinging on desperately.
Kael and Lysandra scrambled forward, the end of the conduit a massive, shattered skylight now visible. They were almost out.
But their hunters were methodical. As they reached the edge, two new figures dropped onto the lip of the skylight, cutting off their escape. Silas and Echo.
The trap had closed.
"End of the line, Reclaimer," Silas said, his voice calm and utterly devoid of emotion a tone far more terrifying than Talon's rage. He aimed his Sovereign Siphon directly at Kael's chest. "I have quarantined this space. You have no consequences left to exploit. Surrender, and the Broker will cease the hunt."
Kael knew it was a lie. The Broker would simply devour him. He looked at Lysandra. The jump required complex calculations cosmic coordinates, energy modulation, and a precise temporal window a sequence that took precious seconds.
"Coordinates," Kael projected, his voice firm, ready to sacrifice his last ounce of power to shield her.
Lysandra didn't hesitate. Her hands flew over her gauntlet, the necessary cosmic sequence flashing in the air. "I have the coordinates for the Cartographer's exchange point. But the exit window is too small; the Siphon will negate the jump field!"
Kael raised his Keybearer, preparing to throw himself into the Siphon's blast, ready to offer his purity as a final, explosive shield.
But Lysandra moved first.
"Arbitration: Accelerated Consequence!" she screamed. With terrifying speed, she ripped a specialized, high capacity energy cell from her own suit's power supply and hurled it at the base of the conduit. The cell pulsed with furious, overloading energy a localised time bomb that would destroy the conduit and block the skylight, but it would also buy the critical temporal space they needed.
"Go! I will slow the consequence!" she ordered, shoving Kael toward the jump coordinates.
Silas saw the move instantly. He redirected his Siphon, aiming to neutralise the explosive cell. He was too late. The cell detonated with a blinding flash of white energy. The conduit shattered, sending Kael tumbling into the chaos.
In that final, blinding flash, Lysandra grabbed Kael's hand and forced the pulsing Cartographer's coordinates into his grasp. She knew the consequences of staying: immediate capture and interrogation. But she also knew that both of them dying was the Broker's ultimate victory.
"The coordinates are unstable!" she yelled, her voice frantic, a rare show of emotion. "You must initiate the final jump alone! Find the Cartographer! I will follow the consequences of your escape!"
Kael didn't have a choice. With the Sovereign Siphon closing in, and Lysandra disappearing into the blinding, chaotic storm of the explosion and the collapsing ceiling, Kael slammed the coordinates into his Keybearer.
He plunged his will into the cosmic code, screaming past the fragmented warnings of the system. The world dissolved in a swirl of spatial tears and unstable light, not a clean jump, but a desperate, violent tear in reality.
He was gone. Kael had escaped the grasp of the Broker, but he was alone, hurtling toward an unknown cosmic rendezvous, having left his only ally behind to face the terrible consequences of his freedom.