Location: Timeline 077 — Aftermath of the Spire Collapse
Event: Siege of the Broken Atlas
Time Remaining Before Grid Collapse: 02:57:18
Scene 1: A Storm of Shadows
The corrupted Rangers dropped from the tear in the sky like meteors—dozens of them.
Each wore fractured Morph armor. Helmets split like jagged teeth. Red-glowing visors pulsing with broken code. Some had weapons made of molten timelines—clocks turned to blades.
Kael barely had time to raise his guard before one slammed into him, knocking him across the cracked stone plaza.
"Incoming!" Ayla shouted as she somersaulted back, tossing a trick-charge that detonated mid-air and scattered a group of attackers. "I vote we never visit Thorne's home again!"
Rin was already in motion, teleporting mid-slash. His blade sang through the air, cutting clean arcs through corrupted armor. "These aren't just projections," he warned. "They're echoes. Real Rangers. Twisted."
Thorne's breath fogged as he stood beside Mira. "How many?"
"Thirty-seven," Mira said, scanning with her wrist. "Possibly more forming behind the breach. Elios is stalling us."
Kael flipped back into the fight, visor cracked but burning. "Then let's un-stall him."
They morphed in unison.
"Fractured Grid—Override Mode!"
And the battle began.
Scene 2: Six vs. Thirty-Seven
Ayla blurred between enemies, sliding under a dual-blade slash and planting two disruption mines at their feet. They blinked—too late.
BOOM.
Kael unleashed twin crimson sabers, cutting through the corrupted like fire through paper. "Two down—don't slow down!"
Thorne crashed shoulder-first into a Ranger twice his size and twisted, flipping them over his back with a brutal toss. "They fight like we do."
"Worse," Mira called. "They know us. Like parasites in the code!"
Rin gritted his teeth and leapt off a collapsing beam, slicing mid-air. "Then we fight smarter."
Mira's hands blurred across her gauntlet.
"Uploading counter-echo algorithm. Feeding it to our morphers."
A pulse shot through the air.
One by one, the corrupted Rangers stuttered—their movements lagging, broken.
Kael seized the moment.
"Finish them!"
They struck in synchronized fury—every blow precise, every move polished by loss and rage.
And just like that…
The corrupted fell.
All except one.
Scene 3: Eclipse and Disappear
Floating above the battlefield, untouched, cloaked in an obsidian mantle, was Elios.
He hadn't moved once.
His hand extended toward the Phantom Atlas.
"Try it," Kael growled, stepping forward.
Elios tilted his head, amused. "Still clinging to the illusion of defiance."
Thorne gripped his sword. "We beat your army."
"You beat ghosts," Elios replied. "Shadows cast by your fear."
He stepped forward—and time fractured.
The skies twisted. The city folded inward.
"Enough!" Mira activated the Atlas, sending a surge of stabilizing energy through the crumbling landscape.
Reality began to stitch back together.
But Elios didn't flinch.
"You're learning," he said. "That makes this fun."
Ayla launched a direct charge toward him, riding a spiral of collapsing energy—
—but Elios caught her midair, twisted gravity around her body, and dropped her softly to the ground.
"You can't touch me. Not yet."
Rin's eyes narrowed. "You're afraid of something."
Elios met his gaze, for just a moment.
Not hate.
But recognition.
"Funny," Elios whispered. "You're closer than you realize."
He stepped back toward the rift.
Thorne hurled his blade—but the moment it neared him, it disintegrated into sand.
Elios vanished in a swirl of black static and fragmented stars.
Gone.
Scene 4: Breathing Ashes
The team stood among the remains of broken corrupted armor. Wind howled through the ruins.
Kael stared at the tear where Elios had vanished.
"…He could've killed us all."
"He wanted to," Rin said. "But something stopped him."
Mira held the Phantom Atlas against her chest. "We need to move. If he's pulling corrupted Rangers from every fallen timeline, then the next breach will be worse."
Thorne looked around—at the statues of himself. The ghosts of what could have been.
He turned his back on them.
"Let's get out of here."
Ayla tried to lighten the mood. "On a scale of one to multiverse-level doom, how screwed are we?"
"Seven-point-five," Mira muttered.
Kael smirked grimly. "I'll take it."
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