The light of the Golden Bastion reflected off the polished Inertia-Plating of the one hundred and twenty-eight soldiers standing in the central plaza. They were no longer the broken "Tunnel-Rats" who had crawled through the sulfur vents of Z-Town. Under the steady 1.0x gravity of Kael's new domain, their bodies had begun to heal, their bones thickening and their Runic channels clearing of the "Crush-Grit" that had plagued them for years.
But Kael stood on the high dais, his platinum eyes cold and demanding. Beside him, Sia was calibrating the new Satellite Link, her fingers dancing through a holographic mesh of the surrounding geography.
"They are moving well, Kael," Jax rumbled, his Runic bellows letting out a steady, rhythmic hiss of steam. "They can march, they can shoot, and they can hold their ground. But if the Overlord sends his Goldsmith Elites, these men will be slaughtered. Individual strength only goes so far when you're fighting a Bloodline that has had a thousand years to perfect its brutality."
"I know," Kael said. He looked down at the Legion. "That's why they aren't going to fight as individuals."
Kael stepped off the dais. He didn't use the stairs; he simply walked onto the air, his Aries-Inertia creating invisible platforms beneath his boots. He descended into the center of the formation.
"Legion!" Kael's voice wasn't a shout; it was a frequency. It vibrated in the chest plates of every soldier, forcing them to stand at attention. "You have learned to survive the weight. Now, you will learn to share it."
He turned to Lieutenant Vora. "Vora, strike me."
The one-eyed veteran hesitated. She knew Kael was a god compared to her, but the discipline he had instilled was absolute. She stepped forward, her hydraulic-boosted fist whistling through the air with the force of a wrecking ball.
Kael didn't move. He didn't block.
As Vora's fist made contact with Kael's chest, a ripple of platinum light erupted from the point of impact. But instead of the energy dissipating into the air, Kael reached out and grabbed Vora's shoulder.
The kinetic energy of the punch flowed through Kael, into the ground, and then—impossibly—shot back up through the floor into the boots of the other one hundred and twenty-seven soldiers.
The entire Legion staggered as a faint, amber-gold thread of light connected them all to Kael.
"This is the Taurus Resonance," Kael explained, his voice echoing in their neural links. "The House of Terra uses gravity to isolate and crush. I use it to connect and distribute. When one of you is struck, the weight of that blow will be shared by all one hundred and twenty-eight. You are no longer individuals. You are a Continental Plate."
[SOVEREIGN STAR PROTOCOL: SYSTEM OVERLAY] [NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: LEGION TRAIT — 'THE UNBROKEN MANTLE'] [EFFECT: 90% OF ALL INCOMING KINETIC DAMAGE IS REDISTRIBUTED EQUALLY ACROSS ALL CONNECTED UNITS.]
"Try it again," Kael commanded.
This time, he signaled for Jax to help. Jax raised his massive, hydraulic-hammer arm and slammed it toward the ground in the center of the formation. Ordinarily, the shockwave would have shattered the legs of anyone nearby.
As the hammer hit, the amber-gold threads flared brilliantly. Every soldier felt a slight "thump" in their boots, a momentary pressure in their knees—but no one fell. No one was injured. The force of a blow meant to crush a mountain had been divided by one hundred and twenty-eight and neutralized by the Bastion's floor.
A roar of realization went up from the Legion. They weren't just soldiers; they were a living fortress.
Suddenly, Sia's voice cut through the celebration, sharp and urgent. "Kael! The Satellite Link... it's picking up a high-energy signature three miles to the North, hidden in the 'Shatter-Canyons'."
Kael leaped back onto the high dais in a single blur of movement. "Is it the Overlord?"
"No," Sia said, her face pale as she projected the image into the air. "It's an Azure Research Signal. But it's not an outpost. It's a mobile unit. Kael... they're tracking a Calamity Fragment."
Kael's eyes narrowed. The Azure were his original enemies, the ones who had tried to execute him in the Spire. If they were in the Taurus Wastes, it meant they were looking for a way to counter his growth.
"They've found a piece of the Second Calamity: The Tectonic Maw," Lyra's voice chimed in from the outpost, her tone grim. "If they stabilize that fragment, they can create a 'Gravity-Nullifier' that will render your Inertia-logic useless. They're planning to strip the Bastion of its shield from the outside."
Kael looked at his Legion. They were ready for their first test.
"Jax, take the First Platoon and secure the canyon rim," Kael ordered. "Vora, take the Second and prepare the 'Mantle' for a sustained siege. Rin, you're with me."
"And the Gemini traders?" Sia asked, gesturing toward Silas, who was watching the military drill with intense fascination.
"Let them watch," Kael said, his obsidian cloak beginning to swirl with a dark, gravitational pull. "I want the House of Gemini to see exactly what happens to those who try to bring 'Balance' to my world by helping the Azure."
Kael turned toward the North, his gaze piercing through the iron walls of the Bastion.
"Year Two isn't just about building," Kael whispered to himself. "It's about hunting."
[DEAD MAN'S SWITCH: 06:15:22] [MISSION START: THE SHATTER-CANYON AMBUSH] [ZODIAC SYNC: 28% (TAURUS)]