The battle wasn't like before.
This wasn't a trial. It wasn't monitored. It wasn't sanctioned.
It was personal.
Every move the phantom made was one Kade recognized—his old strategies, his past instincts. But they were distorted now, like echoes trying to kill their source.
Kade let himself slip into the same rhythm, baiting the phantom into repeating a series of feints he once used during the Siege of Halron.
The phantom took the bait.
Kade reversed the momentum.
Steel met shadow. Sparks erupted. And then—
Kade drove his blade straight into the phantom's chest. Instead of collapsing, it exploded into a vortex of light and memory.
He fell to one knee, vision blurring.
[Catalyst Shard Reintegrated: Echo-Ω]
[Memory Fragment Restored: "The Silent Evacuation"]
[Cognitive Sync: 63%]
He gasped. The vision hit hard.
He remembered civilians boarding dark transports. No sound. No light. They hadn't been saved—they'd been erased. A silent cleansing of a failed quadrant. And he'd signed off on it.
He opened his eyes. Marei stood over him, silent.
"You okay?" she asked.
"No," he whispered. "But I remember now."
And he couldn't stop shaking.