They came like a tide of blades.
The first wave struck just as the dust from the last battle settled thirty Crimson Wane foot soldiers descending in a perfect formation, armor blackened and chrome-marked, their weapons humming with unstable Rift energy.
But it wasn't just the number that stopped Liam cold.
It was the feeling that came before them.
Like the world had leaned in.
And held its breath.
Then he saw them.
Three figures.
The air bent around them as they landed not like mortals, but like impacts. Each one hit the ground hard enough to leave cracks in the rooftop.
Alpha Unit. Vex's personal execution squad.
Nicknamed by survivors, when there were any, as
Vraen the Hollow, a juggernaut who consumes kinetic force and returns it tenfold. Wears a full helmet with no faceplate. Silent.
Kaela Vane a rogue time-slicer who can erase seconds of reality with a gesture. Moves like a glitch in a skipping video.
Lucen Marr a Vector Breaker, capable of nullifying powers within a radius. Known for leaving piles of helpless bodies behind him, still breathing, barely human.
Juno took one look and said, "Okay. Now we're boned."
Rhea summoned every shard she had at once.
Nova's hands glowed brighter than they ever had.
Liam didn't move.
Because the third figure the one in the middle, tall, silver-armored with a cloak made of crystallized Rift threads was looking directly at him.
Lucen Marr raised a hand.
Then pointed.
"You. You come with us. Or everyone here dies."
Liam cracked his neck. "I'm getting real tired of that ultimatum."
Lucen's grin was subtle. "Good. I prefer the messy way."
And the sky broke open.
The rooftop became a battlefield in a breath.
Foot soldiers rushed the squad from all sides.
Juno hurled a sonic mine, detonating in a blast of raw sound that sent five of them flying. Rhea cleaved through six more with a sweeping arc of her crystal glaive, her movements sharp and cold.
Nova became a blur twisting through the enemy with blades of light slicing perfect lines through the chaos.
Kairo fought, his guilt, fueling every bone-crushing strike.
But there were too many.
And the three elites hadn't even started yet.
Then Lucen Marr moved.
He stepped forward and the world dimmed.
Rhea's weapon evaporated in her hands. Juno's gloves sparked and died. Nova stumbled, blinking rapidly.
"My powers," she gasped.
"He's dampening the field," Rhea hissed. "He's a Breaker!"
Liam turned to them. "Get back. He's mine."
Lucen Marr chuckled. "Brave. Stupid. But brave."
Liam launched at him and Lucen caught the punch with ease.
He countered with a backhand that shattered Liam's nose and sent him crashing through a generator. Sparks flew. Blood hit the air.
Liam stood up, staggering, bones mending slowly.
He had strength.He had speed.But Lucen wasn't fighting the same game.
Liam vanished, blinked through a time skip, and came at Lucen from behind.
Lucen didn't even turn.
He absorbed the strike mid-air and slammed his elbow backward into Liam's gut, folding him like paper and slamming him into the ground.
Nova screamed his name but her blades flickered and died as she tried to move toward him.
Lucen's null field was still expanding.
"Your time tricks are sloppy," Lucen said. "Vex taught me real control. You're just the prototype."
Liam spat blood. "Then let's see what the prototype looks like when it breaks."
He reached deeper.
Not into his muscles.
Into the pulse.
The true Catalyst energy.
And something answered.
His body lit every cell burning blue. Not just glowing. Shining.
Lucen Marr stepped back. "What?"
Liam grinned through the blood.
"I've been holding back," he whispered. "Because I was afraid of becoming him."
The air snapped.
Time inverted.
Liam launched forward at a speed so fast the world warped to keep up. His fist collided with Lucen's chest not just once, but from three angles at once a stuttering loop-punch that bent space.
Lucen grunted, body cracking his field shuddering.
Liam grabbed his collar and whispered in his ear:
"I'm not Vex.I'm what comes after him."
He slammed Lucen into the ground hard enough to crater the entire rooftop.
Meanwhile, the rest of the team was locked in their own hell.
Kaela Vane was slicing time itself, erasing seconds out of her enemies' movements. She blinked, and Rhea suddenly found herself with a spear lodged in her arm, with no memory of the throw.
Vraen the Hollow tanked Juno's explosive barrage and threw a punch that knocked Kairo straight through a steel wall.
Still, they didn't fall back.
Nova re-engaged, blades glowing with fury, slicing in between temporal skips.
Kairo rejoined with blood on his face and murder in his eyes.
Even Eira fought, shoulder-to-shoulder with Rhea like it hadn't been war between them for years.
The rooftop was chaos.
Noise. Light. Pain.
But at the center of it all Liam stood, panting, over Lucen's twitching body.
The fight wasn't over.
But something had changed.
Because now the elites looked at Liam not with arrogance…
…but with fear.
Lucen wheezed. "He'll come for you now. You're not hidden anymore."
Liam looked toward the stars, where that golden shimmer of the Crown's horizon still pulsed faintly.
And he said, without bravado:
"Let him."
But inside, he knew.
This wasn't the end.
It was the beginning of his war.