Each drone that came close, he cleaved apart. Each one that detonated, he endured. Slowly, meter by meter, he advanced toward the Core again.
Nebula, watching from the side, clenched his jaw and slammed his hand against the ground. The metal beneath his palm shivered and rose, forming a jagged barrier that caught a cluster of drones before they reached him.
He wasn't helping Cain out of kindness—it was instinct, self-preservation.
The Core turned toward him, and a spear of light shot out, punching through the barrier and searing the air.
Nebula barely dodged. His armor split open down the middle, and he crashed to the ground, coughing blood. "This… this is beyond us," he rasped.
Cain didn't answer. He didn't even look back.
Every muscle in his body screamed, every breath hurt, and the ground was collapsing under him, but he kept moving.
{Eidwyrm} pulsed with golden light—unstable, fracturing at its edges.
