Behind Youri, Leonora's flagship held formation while four Royal Knight units ignited into combat positions, ivory frames cutting sharp silhouettes against the debris field.
"Knight formation delta," Leonora ordered over open comms. "Box it in. Don't give it a vector to escape."
The Royal Knights moved in disciplined synchronization, heavy thrusters firing in controlled bursts as they encircled the rogue unit. Their shoulder-mounted cannons locked, targeting arrays converging.
"Fire."
Four beams lanced toward the black Orbiton.
It moved.
Not fast—precise.
It twisted between the first two beams, raised an arm and projected a curved energy barrier that deflected the third, then absorbed the fourth directly against its chest plating. The armor flared but held.
Youri didn't wait.
The NOIR unit vanished in a red blur, micro-thrusters screaming as he reappeared above the rogue unit, energy blade carving downward in a brutal arc. The strike connected, slicing across the rogue's shoulder and shearing off a section of matte-black armor.
For the first time, sparks burst from the enemy frame.
Leonora saw it. "Pressure it!"
Two Royal Knights charged simultaneously, hydraulic fists swinging. The rogue unit retaliated instantly—its twin back cannons rotated forward and discharged point-blank. One Knight took the blast directly to the torso.
The ivory armor disintegrated.
The unit split apart mid-space, pilot signal vanishing in static.
"Knight Three is down!" an operator shouted from the Millia.
The debris hadn't even finished scattering before the rogue unit lunged forward, plasma blade igniting in a vicious crimson flare. It drove the weapon straight through the second Royal Knight's abdomen, pinning it in place. The Knight's pilot attempted to grapple, clawed hands locking onto the rogue's shoulders—
Too late.
The blade ripped upward.
The Royal Knight exploded in a blinding white flash.
Leonora's breath caught, but her voice stayed sharp. "Maintain formation!"
Youri's jaw tightened inside the NOIR cockpit.
"You're overextending," he muttered to the rogue unit as if it could hear him.
It probably could.
The rogue turned toward him fully now, ignoring the remaining Knights. Amber visor flaring brighter.
"Good," Youri whispered. "Focus on me."
He accelerated directly at it.
They collided like meteors.
NOIR's blade met the rogue's energy lance mid-thrust, shockwaves rippling outward. Youri disengaged one arm blade and drove his knee into the rogue's midsection, denting plating inward. The rogue retaliated with a backhand strike strong enough to send NOIR spinning through drifting wreckage.
Warning alarms screamed in Youri's cockpit as hull integrity dipped.
Leonora saw the impact and made a decision.
"Deploying," she said coldly.
Her own Royal Knight launched from the Millia, ivory armor gleaming brighter than the others, command markings etched along its shoulders. She hit the battlefield at full burn, shoulder cannons unleashing a synchronized barrage.
The rogue unit staggered under the concentrated fire.
Youri used the opening, reappearing behind it and driving both energy blades through its back plating. The strike pierced deep—golden mechanical joints beneath the armor exposed in violent sparks.
For a moment—
It looked like they had it.
Then the rogue unit did something new.
Its entire frame pulsed amber.
A shockwave detonated outward in a sphere of compressed force.
NOIR was thrown violently backward.
Leonora's Royal Knight took the brunt of the blast. Her unit's left arm tore clean off at the shoulder joint, spiraling into space. Warning lights flooded her cockpit as stability faltered.
"General!" a comm officer shouted.
"I'm fine," she snapped, forcing her damaged Knight upright.
The rogue unit rotated slowly between them, armor cracked in multiple places now—but still operational.
Youri steadied NOIR, crimson veins flickering erratically.
"You're adapting mid-fight," he said under his breath. "Learning."
The rogue tilted its head again, almost curious.
Then it charged Leonora.
Youri reacted instantly, pushing NOIR's thrusters past safe limits. He intercepted mid-lunge, slamming into the rogue and dragging both machines into a spinning collision of metal and energy. Blades scraped across armor, carving deep lines.
Leonora regained partial control and fired her remaining shoulder cannon into the rogue's side.
The blast tore off one of its back cannons.
Finally—real damage.
But they paid for it.
The rogue drove its energy lance through Leonora's Knight's torso plating. The weapon pierced deep, internal systems failing in cascading flashes.
Her cockpit shook violently.
"Structural collapse imminent," her AI warned.
Youri roared and unleashed a full-power discharge from NOIR's core, blasting the rogue point-blank and forcing it to release her.
Leonora's Knight drifted backward, heavily damaged, one arm gone, chest caved inward.
Two Royal Knights destroyed.
One crippled.
NOIR heavily strained.
The rogue unit hovered between them, battered but unbowed.
And then—
A new signal appeared.
Unidentified.
Massive.
Dropping from high orbit without conventional engine signatures.
Everyone froze.
A dark shape emerged from the void behind the rogue unit—a sleek, elongated ship unlike any Terrian design. Its hull was smooth, almost organic, no visible weapons ports yet radiating power. No markings. No transponder.
"Do you have that on scan?" Leonora demanded.
"Reading nothing, General. It's… it's like it's not there."
The rogue unit turned slightly toward the approaching vessel.
Amber visor dimmed.
For the first time since the battle began, it hesitated.
Youri saw it.
"So you're not alone," he said quietly.
A beam of pale light extended from the unidentified ship, enveloping the rogue Orbiton in a soft containment field. The black machine did not resist.
Within seconds, both the rogue unit and the strange ship began to distort—space folding subtly around them.
"Stop them!" Leonora ordered.
Youri fired.
NOIR's blade discharge sliced through empty space—
Too late.
The rogue Orbiton vanished.
The unidentified ship followed, dissolving into nothing as if it had never existed.
Silence returned to the debris field.
Only drifting wreckage remained.
Youri floated there in the NOIR unit, breathing steady but heavy.
Leonora's damaged Knight drifted nearby, barely operational.
Two Royal Knight units gone.
The enemy wounded—but alive.
And now they knew the truth.
This wasn't one machine acting alone.
It was part of something larger.
And whatever had just intervened had no intention of revealing itself yet.