The sky shimmered with unnatural brilliance.

The Messiah hovered mid-air like a divine executioner, arms outstretched as if embracing the heavens. A halo of golden light spiralled into existence above him.

No, it wasn't just one.

Multiple concentric rings flared into being, each one rotating slowly, vibrating with terrifying energy. It wasn't mere showmanship; this was something ancient and cataclysmic.

Each golden ring pulsed like the heartbeat of a deity.

The pressure thickened with every passing second. The halos spun faster, brighter, until the entire sky above the port looked like it might collapse in on itself. Heat radiated from the man's body like the core of a sun, and the ground beneath them began to crack and blister.

Sven gritted his teeth. "What the hell is that?"

Kai didn't answer. He could feel it. All of them could. The sheer concentration of energy being fed into that attack—it was monstrous. He wasn't just going to kill them.

He was going to erase the entire area.

It was stupid of them to even consider facing his final attack head-on, and they were helpless to stop him from unleashing it...

The Messiah opened his mouth, and his voice echoed across the port like thunder laced with madness.

"Divine Retribution!"

The name was less an incantation and more a sentence.

Then it hit.

A pillar of golden light surged down from the sky like a wrathful lance from the heavens. The air itself combusted. A wave of blinding brilliance swallowed the entire port in a heartbeat. The force wasn't just heat or light - it was obliteration. Steel containers melted like wax. Concrete foundations cracked and evaporated. The ground ruptured beneath their feet.

The attack didn't discriminate.

Subordinates, drugs, the remaining cargo - all of it vanished in white fire.

And it was fast. Too fast.

Kai's eyes widened. 'Shit, no time.'

They were dead. That's what his instincts screamed.

But just as the wave surged toward them, a hand latched onto Nadya's ankle and yanked.

Isaac's head burst up from the ground like a phantom. He didn't even say anything, he just grabbed her and pulled her into the earth with him. Sven's reflexes kicked in instantly. He lunged and grabbed Nadya's shoulder just as she vanished, piggybacking on Isaac's phasing to slip beneath the surface a split-second before the blast swept through.

That left one who couldn't act nearly as quickly as Sven.

Kai.

'Of course it's me again.'

The golden wave thundered toward him, consuming the world in light and fire. Kai stood, teeth clenched, unable to form his blood armour in time. He didn't have the energy. His limbs were heavy. His veins were boiling just from proximity.

Outrunning it?

There was no way.

And defending against it was equally as unfeasible.

'It's pointless.'

The attack seared through entire steel containers like they were butter left in the sun, twisting them into molten slag. Air screamed. Ground blistered.

Kai stared into the incoming fire, a bitter thought scraping through his mind.

'This is going to hurt, if I even manage to heal from this.'

But just as he braced himself...

A blur of motion. A sudden flash of green.

And a figure slammed down in front of him, cracking the earth beneath their feet.

Kai's eyes widened. "Wait-"

"Lenny?"

-

Earlier in Lenny's rundown apartment, the antique wall clock ticking was the only sound.

Lenny sat hunched over, his massive frame awkwardly folded into a chair much too small for him. The poor furniture creaked under his bulk, clearly seconds away from surrender. Across from him, Amina sat cross-legged on the floor, picking up empty bottles and brushing crumbs into a pile with a cracked dustpan. The room was dim, cluttered, and smelled faintly of instant noodles and disinfectant.

Silence hung thick between them.

Lenny peeked at her, then quickly looked away. His tail gave an anxious twitch.

"…You don't have to do that, y'know," he mumbled, scratching the back of his scaly neck. "Cleaning, I mean."

Amina glanced back with a grin. "Well, someone's gotta do it. This place smells like a reptile hibernated in a dumpster."

He blinked. "I did."

She blinked back.

And then she laughed. "Okay, fair. Still gross, though."

He chuckled sheepishly, his claws fidgeting with a loose thread on his giant shorts. Despite the green scales, muscular build, and reptilian snout, there was something endearingly human in the way he shifted from foot to foot, unsure of what to do with himself.

She didn't look scared of him. Not even a little. Not like the others in his life who screamed or stared or avoided eye contact entirely. She just… talked to him.

"I haven't really… talked to a girl my age in years," he admitted after a moment. "Especially not alone. In my apartment. With pizza crumbs on the ceiling."

She raised a brow. "Wait, is that pizza on the - ugh, never mind."

His grin widened.

"I used to be normal, y'know," he said softly. "Then the Z-Virus hit. My body changed. I got big. Scaly. Everyone thought I was some middle-aged mutant and told me to act like it. But I just…" His voice trailed off. "I just wanted to be a kid."

Amina's expression softened. "Lenny… you are normal. Just a different kind."

He looked up at her, surprised by the words, and then, as if something passed between them in that moment, Amina froze.

Her head turned, eyes narrowing toward the window. Something invisible prickled at her skin. A tension. A weight in the air.

"…Something's wrong," she muttered.

Lenny tilted his head. "What?"

"I don't know," she said, beginning to pace. "I just… I feel it. Like something bad's happening. Kai, Sven, Nadya… I want to check it out."

"No," he said firmly. "They told you to stay here. It's safe. If you leave, people will see me. The Association might show up. We might get into trouble. You can't-"

"I'm not a child," she cut in, glaring. "They keep treating me like one, but I can handle myself too, same as them."

Lenny opened his mouth. Then closed it. She kept pacing, arms folded, biting her lip.

Finally, he let out a heavy sigh.

"Do you even know where they went?"

Amina's lips curled into a smug little smile. "They talk in front of me like I'm invisible. I know exactly where they went."

He groaned. "Fine. But if I get detained again, I'm blaming you."

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