The smoke was still thick in the air when Captain Marella lifted her plasma lance and let it rip.
The beam cut through the haze, aimed straight at the tall figure standing in the middle of all that destruction—Omnikill, sleek and deadly in his humanoid form.
But faster than any drone they'd ever faced, he yanked a nearby Rootstrider captain right into the blast. The poor guy just... vanished. Gone in a flash of light and scattered atoms.
Then everything went to hell.
"Myrvane—Thornkin—Ashari—everybody, light him up!" Marella screamed, her voice already going hoarse.
The battlefield exploded into chaos.
Thornkin archers started firing glowing arrows from behind their twisted root bunkers.
Myrvane gunners opened up from the high ground, their rail-lances crackling with electricity.
Ashari soldiers—some bleeding, others running on pure adrenaline and terror—joined the assault.
Omnikill just walked through it all.
No fear. No second-guessing. Just cold, calculated murder.
Every move was perfect. He brushed volleys aside with his arms, twisted his body at impossible angles to deflect arrows.
When a Thornkin war-beast charged him, Omnikill split the thing clean in half with an energy blade that formed right in his palm. The screams that followed were awful.
Captain Marella herself rushed forward, her exosuit groaning under the pressure. "You're gonna pay for that, you machine bastard."
He met her halfway.
One quick movement. Hand to throat. He slammed her down so hard her armor dented and the ground cracked beneath them. Her shield died with a spark. She gasped, rolling away just as he raised his arm for the killing blow.
But then a different sound shook the whole battlefield.
The heavy, steady march of giants.
From the broken ridge to the east, the Ascendant Infinity units came charging in—Guardian (IF-3) leading the way, shield-arms up, moving like a walking fortress.
Then Solarblade (IF-1), sunlight gleaming off the curved energy blade extending from his forearm.
And finally, dropping from above in a controlled burst of heat and blue fire—Fission Lance (IF-2), his core glowing like a reactor about to blow.
They didn't say a word.
They didn't need to.
Guardian stepped right between Omnikill and what was left of the Ashari vault entrance.
Solarblade attacked first, his blade flashing toward Omnikill's chest. Omnikill caught it mid-swing, redirecting it with his forearm in a shower of sparks. Guardian followed up with a double-fisted slam that sent shockwaves rippling through the stone. Fission Lance blasted a stream of plasma across Omnikill's side.
It was actually working.
For the first time, the Alliance forces thought they might have a chance.
The three Ascendants moved together like they'd been doing this forever. They weren't just machines—they were pure determination, precision weapons controlled by the best minds the Ashari had ever produced.
The fight shook the earth, sent chunks of debris flying everywhere, lit up the clouds with flashes of raw power.
But then Omnikill stepped back and pulled out this small black thing.
A geometric prism. Perfectly smooth. Scary in how simple it looked.
He held it up like he was about to teach them a lesson.
"These units are impressive," he said, his voice calm and cold. "But they're still stuck with first and second-generation tech."
He pressed something on the device.
Guardian froze mid-punch.
Solarblade stopped with his blade raised.
Fission Lance dropped to one knee, his weapon sputtering out.
Their cores went dark. Their armor flickered. One by one, they collapsed—silent, motionless statues where hope used to stand.
Micah screamed over the comms. "Override them! Get them back online!"
Nothing. Just static.
Omnikill walked forward through the wreckage.
Nobody dared to move.
Even the Thornkin spellsingers stood perfectly still, holding their breath. Sera Lin knelt beside Marella's unconscious body, frozen somewhere between grief and awe.
And Omnikill just kept walking toward the vault.
A signal light pulsed green above the access gate.
Someone had opened it.
Micah's eyes went wide. "No..."
Down below, inside the vault's main chamber, Dr. Eland Voss stood there calm as anything, hands clasped behind his back.
Across the room, a small screen showed Omnikill getting closer.
Next to it, data was streaming across a control panel, artifact containment locks cycling open one by one.
Lio Venn came running in from the lower command level.
He stopped dead when he saw Voss.
"Dr. Voss?" His voice cracked. "What the hell are you doing?"
Voss turned around, his face completely neutral. "Finishing what I started."
Lio's voice shook as he stepped closer. "You're—you're helping him? Omnikill? The Omniraith?"
Voss didn't even try to deny it.
"They told me my wife would be safe in Gamma Prime," he said quietly. "Said the breach was contained.
She kept begging for help over the comms until the signal died. Nobody answered. Nobody came. Not then. Not ever."
Meanwhile, Micah was running like his life depended on it.
His acceleration boots pounded against the floor, each step like a controlled explosion. His cloak whipped behind him like a broken wing.
Sparks were raining down from busted conduits overhead. He ducked low, vaulted over a collapsed beam, his heart hammering in time with the Hollow that pulsed in his chest.
Voss. The vault. Omnikill. The Ascendants—all gone.
His thoughts were scrambled, like static on a broken screen.
Each memory made his vision sharper and killed whatever mercy he had left. His fingers wrapped around the multi-tool on his hip, already setting it for combat mode.
"I'm not letting him take everything."
He hit the final blast door hard, shoulders slamming into the control panel. It buckled and threw sparks. He overrode it manually—fingers flying—and the door screamed open.
Inside, the vault chamber felt like a cold, empty cathedral.
Dr. Voss stood near the main terminal, outlined by the dim blue glow of containment locks cycling open.
Next to him, Omnikill loomed—a silent tower of death with violence programmed into every joint. On his back, a reinforced carrier shimmered with protective fields. The relics were already inside.
Across the room, Lio just stood there. Pale as a ghost. Eyes hollow.
"Dr. Voss?" Lio's voice cracked like a kid's. "You... you meant everything to me. I built my whole life around you. You weren't just my mentor. You were family."
Voss didn't turn around. He kept his hands behind his back, staring at the relic chamber like he was looking into hell itself.
"My heart stopped beating the day they left her behind," he said softly. "Everything warm in me... just burned away. What's left is just calculation."
Lio stepped forward, barely whispering. "You're not him anymore."
Behind them, Micah burst in at a dead run, a squad of Ashari soldiers right behind him. Dust swirled around their feet. Weapons came up.
"Step away from the vault, Voss," Micah said, his voice cold and tight. "It's over."
Voss didn't budge. "No, Micah. It's just beginning."
Omnikill tilted his head. Took one step forward. No weapons out, just a presence that made the whole world go quiet.
Then the Ashari opened fire.
The corridor lit up with plasma bolts and rail bursts. The soldiers yelled, charged forward.
Omnikill moved.
Not fast. Not chaotic. Just... perfect.
In a blur, he stepped through their line—grabbed one soldier by the neck and threw him into the ceiling.
Another crumpled under a blow that shattered bone right through his armor. A third guy's weapon exploded in his hands when Omnikill twisted it mid-fire. No wasted movement. No hesitation. Just death.
Micah lunged forward, his multi-tool shifting into blade mode. He met Omnikill head-on. Metal screamed against energy-steel as he struck.
Omnikill caught the blade with his bare hand.
A flash of heat, then pain. Micah went flying backward, slammed into a console, and rolled. His breath left him in a hiss. He scrambled back to his feet, coughing up blood.
Lio still hadn't moved.
Voss turned to him. Not triumphant. Not sorry. Just quiet.
"You were the only thing that made me hesitate."
Lio's voice was barely a whisper. "Then why didn't you?"
"Because hesitation doesn't rebuild the world."
He put his hand on the scanner. It chirped—accepted.
The vault locks disengaged.
Micah dragged himself upright. "Don't do this!"
But it was already done. The relics disappeared into Omnikill's carrier—secure and sealed.
A low hum filled the air. Omnikill activated something on his wrist. The floor beneath him started to shimmer, rippling like disturbed water.
Then he jumped.
The ceiling shattered in a bloom of blue fire and twisted air. Molten debris came raining down. The shockwave knocked Micah and Lio to the floor. Their ears were ringing. Dust choked the air.
And then—silence.
Micah sat in the wreckage, one hand pressed to his temple where blood was trickling through his hair. His other hand was clenched around the hilt of his broken tool.
Across from him, Lio was rocking slightly, hand over his mouth, his eyes wide with the kind of grief that doesn't scream—it just collapses inward.
The vault chamber flickered with dying energy. Empty.
They were gone.
Above them, faint booms echoed—Omnikill breaking through into the storm-black sky.
And below...
Below, in the scorched remains of the fortress, two sons of the Ashari knelt in the cold.
"The war wasn't lost," the silence seemed to whisper. "But the heart of the fight just walked away and left them behind."