The streets near Zone 6 looked like a failed transmission—
Jagged metal. Collapsed walkways. Static falling from the sky like digital ash.
Kael had never seen the city like this.
Everything buzzed wrong. Signals dead. Buildings glitching at the corners. A purple glow radiated from a central breach in the street, where the Nullborn stood.
It wasn't like the others.
This one didn't scream or twitch.
It waited.
Its armor looked stitched together—black plating fused from corrupted EXE fragments. Its core was visible, embedded into its chest like a parasite feeding off light.
Ryke stopped three meters ahead of the team, fists clenched.
"That's not a scout," he said. "That's a Reclaimer."
Kael coughed behind him. "Is that supposed to mean something?"
"It's a collector. Sent to erase unstable Valiants and repurpose their Frames."
Juno took position to the left, gun already drawn. Mira's hands hovered near her drone, which now floated in a low glide beside her shoulder again.
Kael gritted his teeth.
"I'm going in."
"No," Ryke said. "You're not synced enough."
"Don't care."
Kael tapped the frame core at his hip.
Red lines flickered across his jacket—faint, weaker than before.
It didn't lock in.
The suit didn't respond.
"Shit…"
Mira stepped beside him.
"You used too much energy yesterday," she said softly. "It's not rejecting you… it's protecting you."
"That's a first."
The Reclaimer stepped forward.
And the ground cracked beneath it.
Then it vanished.
Kael barely saw it reappear before it launched a shockwave across the street. Ryke took the brunt of it—thrown back into a rusted wall with a heavy grunt.
"Ryke!" Juno shouted.
Too late. The Nullborn was already mid-strike.
It came for Kael next.
And this time, he had nothing.
No armor.
No weapon.
Just his body.
Kael raised his arms instinctively—but the creature's strike never landed.
A shimmer exploded between them.
Illusions. Dozens of them. All Mira.
She stood across the street, her eyes glowing faint violet, one hand on her drone, the other extended.
"I said back off."
Her frame core pulsed in her palm—flashing once, twice.
Then her sync hit.
Hard.
Violet armor flared over her limbs in quick, glass-like shards. Her helmet curved back like a mantis visor, glowing with pale energy. Her suit didn't look built for damage.
It looked built for control.
"ECHO.EXE—online," she whispered.
The Reclaimer swung wildly through the illusions, unable to track her true position. Juno opened fire from a ledge above—every shot landing cleanly into exposed joints. Sparks flew.
Then Ryke rose from the rubble—his armor fully synced again, molten lines flaring with impact heat.
He charged.
Not fast. Just inevitable.
The Reclaimer turned.
Too slow.
Ryke hit it like a meteor—crushing it against a car frame, denting the street below. He didn't stop. Blow after blow, he hammered it until the air around them burned.
Kael watched, stunned.
Then winced.
His core still wouldn't activate.
"I can't…" he muttered. "Not yet…"
Mira walked over to him, still glowing faintly.
"You don't have to finish the fight," she said. "Just survive it."
The Reclaimer burst upward with one final blast—sending Ryke and Juno flying back. Mira grabbed Kael's wrist and yanked him behind a barrier just in time.
"I got it," she said.
Her drone launched upward, scattering interference particles across the battlefield.
The Reclaimer screamed now.
Not human.
Not code.
Something in-between.
It vanished again.
But this time, Mira was ready.
The moment it appeared—she dropped her illusion.
And Ryke's fist was already waiting.
The Reclaimer shattered on impact.
Its body dissolved into corrupted mist.
Gone.
Later, when the dust settled, the four stood together in the wreckage.
Not united.
But alive.
Kael sat on the edge of a toppled column, holding his still-dormant core.
"It didn't work," he muttered.
"You survived anyway," Mira said beside him.
Juno checked her ammo. "You're not useless."
Ryke crossed his arms. "You're just not ready."
Kael looked up at the three of them.
And for the first time since syncing…
He didn't feel alone.