The night bled into the city in streaks of cold silver rain.
Floodlights cut through the mist, sweeping across steel towers and shattered windows.
Somewhere deep beneath Eryndra Prime, in the forgotten undercity, the Reclaimers gathered.
For days they'd trained in the dark — hiding, waiting, preparing.
But the silence was over now.
The Council had sent its answer.
The first explosion came from the south tunnel.
The shockwave shattered old glass and sent debris raining down.
"They found us!" Rina shouted, drawing her flame-forged blade.
"Positions!" Mira ordered, activating her kinetic barrier.
Xander felt the hum before he heard it — a synchronized rhythm of hundreds of footsteps, moving with perfect mechanical precision.
Then the light hit.
A column of armored soldiers marched into the chamber, their masks glowing faintly white. Each bore the sigil of the Council's enforcers — The Purifiers.
At their head was a woman in obsidian armor, her long crimson cape whipping in the wind.
Her sword was unlike anything Xander had ever seen — a dual-core weapon humming with condensed elemental energy.
"Captain Selra Kaelith," Mira whispered. "She's ranked second among the Council's Seven Blades."
"And she's here for me," Xander said quietly.
Selra raised her sword and her voice carried easily through the storm.
"Cadet Xander Valois. Under order of the Hero Council, you are to surrender yourself immediately.
Resist, and this sector will be erased."
Her tone wasn't cruel — it was cold, calculated.
The tone of someone who had stopped believing in mercy long ago.
Xander stepped forward, his blue-gold resonance flickering faintly.
"What happens after I surrender?"
"You're studied. Contained. You'll serve in silence — like all of us."
He shook his head. "Then I'd rather be loud."
The air vibrated.
The Purifiers surged forward — their synchronized formation moving like a single living machine.
Rina's fire roared against their shields, Mira's kinetic barrier deflected energy rounds, and Renn tore through the floor itself, raising jagged earth walls.
Xander moved in the gaps — water and lightning coiling together around his arms, forming blades of pure resonance.
He parried one Purifier's spear, spun, and unleashed a current that hurled three more back into the walls.
But they kept coming — relentless, emotionless.
Selra moved like thunder itself — her sword cutting through stone, flame, and air in a single arc.
When she struck the ground, the chamber cracked open, revealing molten conduits beneath.
"You think rebellion brings freedom?" she said.
"Freedom is an illusion. Order is survival."
"Then maybe your survival's not worth living for," Xander replied.
Their blades met — lightning and flame colliding, throwing sparks across the dark.
The impact sent Xander flying.
He hit the ground hard, the world spinning — pain blooming across his chest.
Selra advanced slowly. "You're strong. But your resonance is unstable. You'll destroy yourself."
He tried to stand — and that's when it happened.
His heartbeat spiked, and the world paused.
Raindrops hung midair again, but this time… they moved.
The droplets twisted into shapes — blades, chains, fragments of light — all suspended by some unseen force.
The color of his resonance deepened to silver-white, pulsing with unnatural rhythm.
Mira's voice cracked through the static. "Xander—your mutation—"
But he couldn't hear her.
He could feel everything — every electric pulse, every vibration in the stone, even the heartbeat of Selra standing before him.
The second mutation had arrived.
And with it came something new — Elemental Convergence.
Lightning and water fused fully, creating a unique resonance field that amplified the energy of anyone nearby.
For a brief instant, the Reclaimers' powers surged tenfold.
Rina's flames turned white-hot. Renn's stone armor glowed. Mira's barrier expanded.
"What is this…?" Renn gasped.
"It's him," Mira whispered. "He's resonating with us."
Selra staggered back slightly, her armor flickering.
"Impossible. No one can synchronize multiple cores."
Xander stood, eyes burning faintly silver.
"Maybe not alone."
The battle turned chaotic.
The Reclaimers pushed forward with renewed strength, driving the Purifiers back through the tunnels.
But the power was unstable.
Every second the field grew stronger, the ground began to crack, the lights to flicker, the air to burn.
Mira shouted, "You're overloading—turn it off!"
"I can't," Xander said, gripping his chest. "It's not listening anymore."
Selra watched him carefully, then lowered her blade slightly.
"That's not control," she said quietly. "That's corruption."
"No," Xander hissed, lightning flaring. "That's freedom."
He slammed his palm to the ground. A surge of silver-white energy erupted outward, flooding the chamber.
Every Purifier's armor shorted. Lights exploded.
The entire undercity went dark.
When the light finally faded, the Purifiers were gone — retreating through smoke and debris.
Selra was last to leave, her gaze lingering on the boy still standing amidst the wreckage.
"You can't change the system by breaking it," she said.
"Maybe," Xander replied softly. "But someone has to show it's broken first."
She turned without another word.
Rain poured through the cracks in the ceiling as silence fell again.
Mira knelt beside Xander, checking his pulse.
"You could've died."
"Maybe next time I will," he murmured, half-smiling.
Renn laughed weakly. "Hell of a first mission, huh?"
The Reclaimers had survived — barely.
But in the chaos, one thing had changed:
The world had seen them.
And nothing would be the same again.