The sky opened like a wound.
Not a Rift this time it was something worse. A deliberate tear. A controlled slice into the atmosphere by a hand that knew exactly where to cut.
Lightning didn't flash.
It froze.
Mid-air. Crystallized in place. Stuck in time, like the laws of physics had been told to sit this one out.
And from that rupture, two shapes dropped, first colossal, armored, and radiating enough pressure to make the building beneath Liam groan.
Then five smaller shapes landed in formation, weapons drawn, armor painted in the signature crimson spiral: the mark of the Crimson Wane.
At their center, one of the tall warriors stepped forward his face hidden beneath a helm shaped like a serpent's skull.
He bowed mockingly.
"On behalf of the Unseen Crown, we've come to collect the Singularity."
Juno muttered, "Is there ever a polite way to say that?"
Liam took a step forward, blood still crusted on his neck from the Herald fight. "Tell Vex to send stronger ones next time."
"Oh," the skull-faced warrior said, voice like sand and static. "He already did."
The other warrior moved then.
Not walked. Flickered.
In one blink, she was beside Rhea.
In the next, Rhea was flying through the air, crashing into a ventilation tower with an explosion of glass and metal.
Eira's eyes widened. "That's the Displacer. Apex Class. Vex's personal assassin."
Nova summoned her blades. "And the other?"
"The Iron Seraph. A walking fortress. Immune to all reality-warp effects."
Juno groaned. "Oh great. So I'll just go dig a nice grave and jump in now, yeah?"
The five foot soldiers moved in, weapons humming.
But Liam didn't move.
He was staring at Kairo.
Who hadn't flinched. Hadn't drawn a weapon.
"Kairo," Liam said, low. "What did you do?"
Kairo finally looked up.
And his eyes were wet.
"I didn't know they'd come now."
Juno froze. "Wait. What?"
"I sent a signal," Kairo whispered. "Weeks ago. When I thought you were losing control. I didn't tell Zorren because… I thought Vex would just track you. Not this."
Rhea groaned from the rubble. "He pinged your DNA signature. You let them find us."
Liam didn't respond.
He just stepped forward.
Something in him broke open.
Not emotionally.
Temporally.
The air around him twisted.
The gravel beneath his feet lifted floating upward, piece by piece, caught in a stutter-loop.
And then, Liam moved.
One second, five soldiers were advancing.
The next?
He was behind them.
Blood burst into the air. Bones snapped.
One soldier's helmet exploded like tin under pressure.
Another turned and Liam crushed his entire chest cavity with a single punch.
Nova couldn't even track him. "He's… he's phasing through time."
Juno's scanner glitched. "He's not moving fast. He's skipping frames."
The third soldier raised a blade, screamed something in Wane-code, and vanished mid-sentence, his body folding in on itself as Liam twisted the surrounding seconds like a thread around his fingers.
The fourth tried to run.
Liam was already there.
"Tell Vex I'm not coming."
Snap.
The fifth dropped his rifle and begged.
Liam let him live.
Barely.
The Iron Seraph stepped in then, swinging a hammer that distorted air, designed to break time-locked threats.
Liam ducked under it, eyes glowing a pure white-blue, and drove his fist into the Seraph's armor.
Nothing happened.
Until it all happened at once.
The ground split.
The armor shattered in reverse.
Pieces pulled off the Seraph's body backward, unbuckling into the past.
The Seraph screamed a sound that looped in reverse before collapsing, a heap of scorched bone and evaporating metal.
Only the Displacer remained.
She didn't wait.
She flickered through space, blurring toward Liam and caught him across the ribs, spinning him midair, sending him crashing through a concrete column.
He bounced back up.
Breathing heavy.
Smiling.
"I needed that," he said, cracking his knuckles.
The Displacer blinked in blades first.
But Liam paused.
Not in thought. Not in body.
In time.
The world shimmered.
And Liam stepped out of the flow like he had just taken off a jacket.
He looked around.
Everyone was frozen.
Rain. Debris. Blood in the air.
Still.
He walked up to the Displacer, her blades frozen mid-swing, and looked into her eyes.
"Too slow."
He whispered a Vector command into her ear.
Then rejoined time.
She screamed.
Once.
Then her body unraveled into pure Rift static.
Gone.
Just like that.
When it ended, only Liam was still standing.
Covered in blood.
Skin cracked with power.
Everyone else stared.
Even Nova.
Even Juno.
Even Eira.
Then Kairo spoke.
"I didn't mean to betray you."
"You did anyway," Liam said, voice flat.
"I was trying to protect you."
"You picked him."
Kairo dropped to his knees. "I'm sorry."
Liam turned away.
Not because he forgave him.
But because something in the sky had begun to form again.
Another tear.
This one… different.
Golden. Silent.
And Dreya's voice whispered through every comm at once.
"The Crown… is almost through."
"This was only the vanguard."
"Brace for Phase Zero."