---
A few moments ago, Kai…. When the battle continued.
Alka's shadow stitched a thin, steady line across the flats as Kai ran beneath her, sand exploding in muted bursts from each footfall. Ahead, three points moved inside a gray haze: Mardek's grin turned to a bar, Skall's wide-shouldered patience, Oru's drift that never quite settled into a place. They had pulled back from the broken wedge and gathered their best like teeth cupped in a fist. They expected a chase; they got a hunt.
Kai didn't speak. He let the Wrath Crown rise and turn, black and weightless over his head, and felt the air thicken as it remembered what fear was supposed to do. Then he called the other thing.
"Apex Plus."
