Chapter 8: Blood in the Lightning
Ruby didn't hesitate. She lunged first.
Her blade shimmered in the air, a sliver of white-hot energy forged from quantum threads and Titan legacy. The room cracked with kinetic tension as she brought it down where Korrin had been standing—but he was gone before the blade met stone.
He always was faster than he looked.
Vesh was already moving, his cybernetic limbs making no sound, no hesitation. He'd been upgraded. This was no ordinary bounty hunter anymore—this was a living war machine. His left arm morphed mid-step, snapping into a barbed energy flail that crackled with thunder arcs. Ruby rolled to the side as it smashed into the floor, sending a web of microquakes across the surface.
Debris sprayed, and Lyra ducked behind a column, drawing her sidearm. "We doing this now?" she shouted.
"Wasn't planning on a reunion!" Ruby snapped back.
Korrin circled the perimeter like a ghost. Watching. Calculating. His expression unreadable.
Vesh came in again, swinging the flail with precision designed to break armor, not merely injure. Ruby deflected with her blade, sparks igniting in a storm where the weapons clashed. Her muscles screamed under the impact. The leveling system inside her kicked into awareness, calculating kinetic absorption, potential outputs, and pulse counters. Her HUD flickered—only partially operational. The Watchspire was interfering with her systems.
They were inside a kill box, and Korrin had designed it for her.
"You never understood balance," Korrin said as he finally joined the fray. "All that power, and you burn through it like wildfire."
Ruby parried another blow, this time from a dagger that appeared in Korrin's hand like a thought. His style hadn't changed—quick, cruel, and efficient. Where Vesh was brute force, Korrin was a tactician.
But Ruby was something else entirely.
She dropped low, slid beneath Vesh's swing, and used the momentum to strike at Korrin's exposed flank. He barely deflected the blow, his feet skidding back. She advanced, pressing him hard. Her blade carved arcs of raw light. One strike cut across his coat, leaving molten thread. Another grazed his gauntlet, splitting it.
Still, Korrin smiled.
He wanted this fight.
He was testing her.
"You're holding back," he said.
"I'm just getting started."
"You think hiding from death makes you immortal? You're still bleeding, Ruby. Just slower than the rest of us."
Then Vesh came from behind, his mechanical footfalls silent but Ruby's instincts louder. She ducked. His blade grazed her shoulder, drawing a line of blood that hissed against her skin. The pain was sharp, but her Titan side surged with retaliation. Her form shimmered for a split second—veins of gold lacing through her body as her power threatened to awaken fully.
She forced it back down.
Not yet. Not here.
Not where the entire galaxy was still hunting Titans.
Lyra took her chance. From the shadows, she fired a charged pulse round that struck Vesh in the side. It wasn't enough to kill him, but it made him stumble.
"Got your back," she called.
"Remind me to give you a raise."
"I don't work for you."
"You do now."
Korrin vanished again, retreating up the inner stairwell that spiraled along the Watchspire's spine. Vesh cursed, then activated a blink-jump, disappearing in a crackle of light as he pursued his master.
Ruby exhaled hard, trying to control the tremble in her limbs. "They're heading to the core."
"What's in the core?" Lyra asked, stepping up beside her.
"I don't know," Ruby said. "But Korrin made this place for one reason—control."
Lyra reloaded. "Then let's go take it from him."
They ascended quickly, using the collapsed panels and access points like a memory. Ruby had trained here. She'd killed here. She remembered where every trap was likely placed, though it still didn't make her feel safe. The deeper they went, the more the air hummed. Something was pulsing at the tower's heart.
Ruby's HUD flared again—unstable temporal activity. And then a warning.
Unknown anomaly detected.
By the time they reached the top floor, the storm had arrived.
A literal storm, trapped inside a spherical vault.
At the heart of the room was a massive engine, built of interlocking Titan tech and Syndicate design. Lightning surged through its core, jumping between suspended fragments of ancient runes. Korrin stood beside it with his hands raised, manipulating controls only he understood. Vesh waited nearby, guarding the entry point.
"What is that?" Lyra asked.
Korrin glanced at them, not startled. He looked relieved.
"It's not what. It's who."
Ruby frowned. "What are you talking about?"
He touched the control panel. The lightning intensified.
"The multiverse is shattering, Ruby. You've seen it. You've *felt* it. This engine stabilizes reality… but it requires a tether."
"You built a storm engine from Titan cores?" she asked, aghast.
"From the fragments of those we lost."
"That's why you wanted me here. You needed one more."
"One pure one. You. The last."
"No."
"Don't you get it?" Korrin's voice cracked. "You *are* the key. Not just because of your blood—but because the multiverse *remembers* you. Your reputation spans systems. Your legacy is a thread running through it all."
"You want to tie me into your machine? Use me as a stabilizer?"
"It's better than dying."
"I'd rather die on my feet than live like that."
Korrin nodded. "Then I have no choice."
Vesh activated his weapons. Lightning coiled from the machine into his arms, feeding him, making him glow.
Ruby drew her blade.
This time, she didn't hold back.
Her Titan form erupted—not fully, but enough. Her eyes burned gold. Her voice echoed with ancient power. Her feet cracked the ground with each step.
And when she met Vesh in combat, the tower shook.
Every blow between them sent shockwaves out through the room. The machine behind them began to glitch, its lights stuttering. The lightning grew erratic.
Korrin panicked. "Stop! You'll destroy the anchor!"
But Ruby didn't stop.
She slammed Vesh into a column. He twisted, reversed the hold, nearly stabbed her through the ribs. She countered with an elbow to his jaw, then struck him down with a surge of Titan energy. His body hit the floor, sparking.
Korrin screamed. "You don't understand what you've done!"
The machine began to overload.
Ruby grabbed Lyra. "We're leaving. Now."
"But—"
"Now!"
They leaped from the tower, Ruby wrapping her arms around Lyra as she channeled the last burst of flight power she could afford without fully revealing herself.
Behind them, the Watchspire cracked.
And then exploded.
Chunks of multiversal metal rained through the air, the sky darkened, and reality warped in the distance.
Ruby collapsed on a cliff miles away, coughing, her energy drained.
Lyra groaned beside her. "Tell me we got him."
"No," Ruby said. "We didn't. He survived."
"You sure?"
"I can feel it."
Lyra looked up at the swirling tear in the sky. "So… what now?"
Ruby stared at the breach. "Now? We follow the storm."