"Some battles are not won by strength, but by refusing to yield when the world demands it."
Elite Confrontation
The cell block went still for a breath.
Then the atmosphere shifted.
Lights trembled overhead. Dust curled from the ceiling. Footsteps echoed from both ends of the corridor, heavier and more controlled.
Gregorio sensed the change immediately. "We have company! Take your positions," he ordered.
Agosto stepped into the center lane, Kampilan ni Lam-ang humming in a low, predatory pitch. Marian slipped into the haze, Sundang ni Makiling threading mist along the shadows. Renato expanded the Kalasag barrier around Flavio, anchoring his stance.
The far end of the corridor darkened.
A figure advanced through the smoke with steady, unhurried steps.
The Captain of the Anino Capture Unit entered.
His Myth-Tech suit was heavier than the others, reinforced for close-range dominance. In his hand he carried a short black blade that scraped gently against the wall as he walked.
Itak ng Mamamaslang.
Black metal. Red glyphs glowing like a heartbeat. A bone hilt carved with age and violence. A relic that fed on blood and returned strength in escalating waves.
He never raised the blade. He did not need to.
Gregorio shifted into the Kisap Mata stance. "He is mine."
Before anyone could respond, the air behind them snapped.
A second presence dropped in.
The Vice Captain landed from an overhead hatch with perfect, silent precision. Gold knuckles gleamed on both fists, Baybayin glyphs flickering faintly each time he flexed his hands.
Gintong Asero.
Capable of crushing anything it struck. Even relics. Even God Armors.
Agosto pivoted immediately. "I will take rear."
"Do not engage alone," Renato warned.
Marian whispered through comms, "He is already moving."
He was.
The Vice Captain surged forward, not with supernatural speed, but with flawless biomechanics. Every step transferred clean power. Every angle maximized impact. His fist drove straight toward Renato's Kalasag.
Renato braced.
Impact.
The Kalasag field warped inward, sparks cutting across its surface. Gintong Asero fractured the top layer. Almost no relic in existence could do that.
Renato slid back, boots leaving sharp grooves on the floor.
Marian struck from the flank.
Sundang ni Makiling sliced through mist and steel.
The Vice Captain twisted a fraction and tried to grab her by the veil. He missed as Marian turned herself into cold vapor with clockwork timing.
Gregorio never turned.
He faced the Captain.
Their eyes locked.
The Captain moved.
Itak ng Mamamaslang slashed in a swift, precise arc. Gregorio caught the strike on his bracers. Kamay ni Bathala absorbed the force and discharged a counterpulse that pushed the Captain back half a step.
He recalibrated instantly, blade shifting angles with surgical economy.
Gregorio attacked.
Fast.
Accurate.
Relentless.
The Captain deflected each strike using the smallest movements possible. The blade only moved when necessary, redirecting Gregorio's momentum with mechanical precision.
Then it happened.
During a tight exchange, the Captain angled the Itak along Gregorio's guard and its tip grazed Gregorio's cheek, drawing a thin line of blood before he could twist away.
A single drop hit the blade.
The Itak ng Mamamaslang reacted instantly.
Its red glyphs flared.
Its edge vibrated as if awakened.
Its aura thickened with hungry intent.
The Captain inhaled once, absorbing the surge.
His stance deepened.
His movements sharpened.
His strength increased.
Behind them, Agosto clashed with the Vice Captain.
Kampilan ni Lam-ang cracked spatial pressure with every swing, teleport-slashing through micro-gaps in the air. The Vice Captain evaded with minimal sidesteps, letting each strike pass a hair from his ribcage. His counterpunch slammed into Agosto's armor, crushing nanomachines and revealed skin.
Agosto growled, "He hits like an armored truck."
Renato reentered the fight, Kalasag stabilized and angled for another block. Marian reappeared, locking on to her target. She disappeared into the mist again, reappearing behind the Vice Captain to strike blind spots.
He adapted instantly.
He blocked Marian's blade with the back of his gauntlet.
He redirected Renato's shield strike with a shoulder pivot.
He forced Agosto into retreat with a tight hook that cratered the wall.
"Focus," Gregorio warned without looking. "They are eyeing for a checkmate."
Gregorio charged and drove his rising knee into the Captain's torso. The Captain absorbed it, pivoted, and countercut downward.
Gregorio twisted aside midair.
The blade sliced through a steel rail. Sparks showered the corridor.
Flavio watched from behind Renato, breath thin.
He had never seen combat like this.
Never seen relics behave like predators.
Never seen death move with discipline.
The Captain's blade cut toward Gregorio's neck.
Gregorio blocked with crossed forearms, Kamay ni Bathala flaring purple as it absorbed the strike. The force still drove him back two solid steps.
Agosto shouted, "We need to end this now! More squads will flood this corridor any minute."
"I know," Gregorio said.
The Captain advanced.
The Vice Captain closed from the rear.
Two elites.
Perfect synchronization.
A tightening kill zone.
The corridor erupted with heavy steel, blood-fed glyphs, crimson rifts, slashing mist, and shockwaves.
The full force of four relic wielders fighting to break the noose around them.
Gregorio raised his fists.
"Sandata Unit," he said.
"Neutralize them."
Defanging the Beast
Gregorio moved first.
His fists blurred as he surged straight for the Captain, attacking before they could tighten the kill zone. Kamay ni Bathala flared with controlled pulses, each strike calibrated to break stance and momentum.
The Captain matched him step for step.
The Itak ng Mamamaslang carved short, brutal arcs, now fueled by Gregorio's blood. The Captain's strength spiked sharply. His footwork grew heavier, faster, more devastating.
Gregorio caught the next strike on his gauntlet, but the force was different now. It shoved him back half a meter, boots skidding across the floor.
The Captain pressed forward, calculating the kill.
Gregorio snapped his stance lower. "Marian! Blind him!"
Mist exploded as Marian swept her Sundang towards the Captain. She slashed, redirecting mist-light across his visor. His vision warped.
Gregorio struck with a chained combination of elbow, cross, knee, and rising fist.
Each impact staggered the Captain. The Itak tried to compensate, glyphs flashing in frantic hunger, but Gregorio's strikes came too fast and too precise.
He finished with a Kisap Mata charged straight to the solar plexus.
The Captain's spine arched violently.
His grip on the Itak loosened.
His body was launched towards the wall, fracturing it during the process.
The Itak skidded across the tiles, glyphs still pulsing, hungry for blood.
Marian swept it immediately with a containment wrap. "Secured."
Across the corridor, Agosto, Renato, and the Vice Captain clashed in a storm of force.
The Vice Captain hammered forward.
Gintong Asero cracked the air with each punch.
Agosto teleported a half-step sideways and used Kampilan's spatial cuts to redirect the heavier strikes.
Renato joined in and reinforced him by summoning an armor version of the Wall of Giants, covering Agosto with it.
Agosto allowed some of the strikes to hit charging the Kalasag.
When the Vice Captain thought that he was about to puncture through the Wall of Giants covering Agosto, Marian flicked through the haze, striking tendon points from the flank.
One heartbeat.
Two.
Three.
He was immobilized.
Gregorio took the opportunity and dashed towards the Vice Captain with Kisap Mata charged speed. He spun and delivered a hammering roundhouse kick to the Vice Captain's jaw with perfect timing. His world crumbled with his vision.
From behind, Agosto followed it up with a diagonal teleport-cut to his flank which dropped the Vice Captain to his knees.
Lastly, Renato flash-leaped on top of the elite adversary and delivered the final blow: a shield strike to the top of the head, powered by his own strikes to the Wall Giants. It's power and precision, enough to knock out an elephant.
The ground exploded scattering dust and debris to the surrounding area. When the dust cleared, Renato stood on top of the Vice Captain. The Gintong Asero shone in his grip before he passed it to Marian, sealing it in the same containment wrap as the Itak.
Gregorio exhaled sharply. "Both elites neutralized. Formation shifting. We move before the swarm arrive."
Alarms wailed in the distance.
Agosto glanced at the corridor. "They felt that. Secondary squads en route."
"Stay tight," Renato warned. "We push through everything."
"Submersible ETA two minutes," Marian said, checking her display.
Gregorio lifted his fist.
Before they started moving, water bursted like mini geysers from the cracked walls and ceiling, flooding the area at an alarming speed.
Gregorio growled, "Sandata Unit. Move!"
The Extraction
The first vibrations rolled through the floor beneath their boots.
A thin stream of water spilled from a cracked wall seam, winding across the corridor like a thin silver line. Another crack followed, releasing a steady flow that gathered around their feet.
The facility was bleeding.
Gregorio did not waste a second. "Diamond formation! We move out."
They snapped into position with practiced precision.
Gregorio took point, Kamay ni Bathala raised.
Agosto guarded the left flank, Kampilan vibrating with surging power.
Marian slipped along the right, Sundang's mist trailing in thin ribbons.
Renato anchored the rear, Kalasag field protecting Flavio at the center.
"Stay between us, move when we move," Renato instructed.
Flavio nodded quickly. "Understood."
A metallic clang echoed behind them.
Three Engineered Wielders charged around the corner, formation tight, relics primed. Their steps created synchronized ripples in the shallow water.
Gregorio answered with speed.
"Kisap Mata."
He vanished.
A violet blur struck the first attacker with a left hook to the jaw. Gregorio reappeared beside the second, a straight the sternum with concussive force. The third turned too late.
Echo Projection activated.
Three afterimages burst forward in perfect timing. Each projection delivered identical punches. The combined strikes launched the attacker back into a rising curtain of water.
"Corridor clear," Gregorio said. "Move."
They advanced, water now reaching their ankles.
Sirens blared along the walls. Emergency lights flashed in red pulses that reflected across the wet floor. Marian's visor displayed movement signatures fanning across intersecting corridors.
"Two squads converging ahead. One above. All moving fast."
"We cut through before they close," Gregorio replied.
He tapped a sequence into his wrist console.
Submersible recall status
ETA: minute and 30.
A heavy shutter began sliding down at the far end of the hall.
Marian sprinted ahead. The Sundang carved a crescent through the locking plate, jamming the mechanism mid-descent. Agosto reached it next, bracing the half-closed shutter with his shoulder plates.
"Move!" he shouted.
They slipped through in sequence as sparks popped across the damaged frame. The shutter slammed behind them, trapping the approaching squad on the other side.
The new hallway split three ways.
Renato checked thermal readouts. "Intake shaft is north. Two junctions."
Marian dissolved into mist, scouting ahead. She reformed moments later. "Two Anino guarding the choke point."
"Agosto," Gregorio said.
Agosto blink-stepped forward without hesitation. The Kampilan cut across the narrow space. Two bodies dropped before they could vocalize an alert.
They pressed on.
Water continued to rise, now brushing their shins, swirling with each step. The deeper they moved, the stronger the pressure became.
A second squad appeared from the right corridor, six operatives moving in tight formation.
"Renato", Gregorio called.
"Understood", Renato confirmed as he raised the Wall of Giants around the team.
Gregorio struck first.
He raised his right fist, and slammed it to the ground.
"Godfist Strike.",
The impact detonated across the floor in a violet shockwave. Water exploded outward with force of a tsunami. The six attackers were blown off their feet, crashing into the walls with broken helmets and bent armor.
Flavio flinched at the blast. Renato steadied him. "Eyes forward. Keep breathing."
The Unit surged ahead.
Another tremor shook the facility. A stronger surge of water burst through a ceiling vent, raining over the metal walkway.
"Submersible is approaching the intake shaft," Marian reported.
"We reach it in forty seconds," Gregorio answered.
Two more operatives sprinted from the next corner.
Gregorio moved before they could raise weapons. His fists blurred, striking with rapid, precise combinations. A cross to the jaw. A knee to the abdomen. A backfist that sent the second assailant spinning across the hall.
"Forward," he commanded.
They turned into the final passage. A faint blue glow shimmered ahead where the intake shaft opened to the sea. Water pooled deeper with every step, reaching mid-shin, currents pulling outward as the shaft depressurized.
Behind them, footsteps splashed through the rising water.
Marian glanced back. "Squad approaching. Three seconds."
No one turned.
The submersible surfaced just beyond the intake grate, its hull rising like a black blade from the deep.
Gregorio opened the grate's outer lock. Ocean air swept into the corridor.
"Board," he ordered.
The formation collapsed inward. They leapt onto the submersible as a unit. Renato shielded Flavio as he climbed inside. Marian followed, sealing the containment wraps around the recovered relics.
Then footsteps pounded the final meters of the corridor.
More splashes.
More silhouettes.
The water surged higher.
Gregorio slammed the hatch controls.
"Hatch sealing."
The submersible detached from the intake shaft and descended. Water engulfed the view. The corridor vanished behind the darkening currents.
Inside, Flavio sagged against the bulkhead, breath shaking.
Gregorio steadied him with one hand.
"You're safe," he said quietly. "We have you."