Noah stepped out of the shelter, needing air that didn't smell like sweat and recycled breath. The camp had settled into an uneasy quiet, crew members in their assigned shelters, trying to sleep despite being stranded on an alien world with Harbingers somewhere in the darkness.

Lyra stood about twenty meters away, her silhouette visible against the strange light from the three moons overhead. She wasn't moving, wasn't doing anything except staring up at the sky like she was searching for answers in the orbital mechanics of celestial bodies that didn't make sense.

Noah walked toward her, his boots crunching over the blue-tinted grass. She didn't turn around when he approached, didn't acknowledge his presence until he was standing right beside her.

"Couldn't sleep either?" she asked, still looking up.

"You know I'm going to stop you," Noah said quietly. "Right?"

Lyra smiled, and the expression looked genuine despite everything. "I have no doubt you'll try." She finally looked at him, her face half-illuminated by moonlight. "Being your teammate for a few months taught me a lot about Noah Eclipse. You're strong, the second SSS-ranked human in all of humanity. That puts you in a category most people can't even comprehend. On top of that, you're smart. Incredibly, maybe even scary smart when you actually focus."

She turned back to the sky. "But most of all, I learned you're someone who keeps coming. A grinder. You're ruthlessly motivated. You don't quit, don't accept defeat, don't stop until the problem is solved or you're dead. So yeah, I know you'll try to stop me."

"And you're counting on it," Noah said.

"Of course." Her smile widened. "Where's the fun otherwise?"

Noah's jaw tightened. "What's your play here, Lyra? You sabotaged the ship. Somehow you coordinated with Harbingers to attack us. You put dark chi in the governor's head." He gestured at the crash site behind them, at the alien forest, at their impossible situation. "And now we're trapped here. Is this Arthur's plan? His 'phase two' he mentioned?"

Lyra's expression shifted to something that looked like genuine confusion. "Phase two? What are you talking about?"

"I know Arthur's end goal now," Noah continued, watching her face carefully. "He wants to pass on his abilities to his offspring. Create successors who can carry on whatever twisted mission he's been running for a thousand years. Matter of fact, I was near defeating him on Hollowstar before everything went sideways."

He leaned slightly closer. "Does he tell you anything? Or are you just a useful tool he keeps in the dark?"

Lyra's laugh was soft, almost affectionate. "You're cute, Noah. Trying to distract me with—"

A scream cut through the night.

Not just any scream, but the kind that came from pain so intense it bypassed dignity and went straight to primal terror. It was coming from the governor's shelter, and it was getting louder.

The camp exploded into movement. Crew members burst from their shelters, some half-dressed, others carrying weapons they'd grabbed reflexively. Angel was out of her tent and sprinting toward the governor's shelter before most people had even processed what they were hearing.

Noah ran, Lyra right behind him. They reached the shelter to find Angel already inside, kneeling beside Sebastian who was thrashing on his bedding, both hands pressed against his head, still screaming.

"My head!" Sebastian gasped between screams. "It feels like something's burning through my skull!"

Two healers pushed their way inside, their hands already glowing with healing energy as they moved to examine the governor. One placed her hands on his temples, the healing energy flowing visibly, but Sebastian's screaming didn't stop. If anything, it got worse.

"I can't find anything," the healer said, her voice strained. "No injury, no abnormality, nothing that explains this kind of pain."

The second healer tried, his healing energy flowing into the governor's head, searching for damage that should be obvious given the intensity of Sebastian's reaction. "There's nothing here. No trauma, no bleeding, no pressure. I don't understand."

Angel's expression was carved from stone, fury and helplessness warring underneath the surface. "Then fix it anyway. Do something."

"We're trying, but if we can't identify the source—"

"Everyone out," Angel said, her voice cutting across the cramped space. "Give the healers room to work. Now."

The crew members who'd crowded around the entrance backed away. Noah moved toward the exit, Lyra following. Outside, people were clustering in small groups, whispering, fear evident in every face. A scream like that, from someone who should have been safe, made everyone realize how fragile their situation actually was.

Noah's hands were clenched into fists. He turned to Lyra, who was standing near the shelter's entrance with an expression of concern that would have fooled anyone who didn't know what she'd done.

"Lyra," Noah said, his voice pitched to carry to the nearby crew members. "I need you to join me for a quick patrol around the perimeter. Make sure that scream didn't attract anything."

She looked at him, and for a moment the mask slipped enough that he could see her calculating. "I should stay with the governor."

"Angel's with him. The healers are with him. We need to make sure the camp is secure." Noah's jaw was so tight it hurt. "Follow me. Now."

The way he said it made several crew members look over. Lyra's eyes flicked toward them, then back to Noah. Starting a scene here, refusing a reasonable security request in front of witnesses, would raise questions she clearly didn't want raised.

"Fine," she said.

They walked into the jungle, moving away from the camp's lights. The umbrella trees blocked most of the moonlight, turning the forest into a maze of shadows and blue-tinted vegetation that rustled with wind or possibly something else. Noah kept walking, kept putting distance between them and anyone who might overhear, until they were maybe five minutes from camp and surrounded by alien wilderness.

Then he turned and grabbed her.

His hands closed around her throat, lifting her off her feet. Lyra's eyes went wide, her hands coming up to claw at his wrists, her legs kicking, trying to find purchase on ground that was suddenly too far away. Choking sounds came from her compressed windpipe, wet and desperate.

Noah held her there for three seconds that felt like forever. Then he dropped her.

Lyra hit the ground hard, rolling onto her side, gasping for air that suddenly felt precious. Her hands went to her throat, feeling where his fingers had left marks.

"I'm sorry," Noah said, and he meant it. "I lost it for a second. I shouldn't have—"

Lyra started laughing. The sound came out rough and damaged from her bruised throat, but it was genuine laughter, the kind that suggested she'd found something hilarious in being strangled.

"This is the second time in hours you've gotten handsy with me," she said, still coughing slightly. "I wonder if Sophie would approve of you touching me like this. Should I ask her? Compare notes on how Noah Eclipse's hands feel when he's being aggressive?"

The way she said it made Noah's skin crawl. There was something wrong in her tone, something that turned a statement about violence into something that sounded intimate and twisted.

She coughed again, spat blood onto the alien grass. "But I suppose you've always been the type who likes things rough."

"What are you doing to him?" Noah's voice came out louder than intended, frustration and rage bleeding through. "The healers can't detect anything, which means Sebastian is suffering for no reason except your sick games. I trusted you, Lyra. We all did. We put our lives on the line in battle, counted on you to have our backs, and you were working for the enemy the entire time."

He gestured back toward camp, toward the shelter where a man was screaming. "This is who you are now? Torturing innocent people to maintain leverage? Working for someone who wants to destroy humanity?"

Lyra got to her feet, brushing dirt and grass from her uniform. "I warned you, Noah. Did you really think I was stupid? Coming out here to talk to me, keep me distracted, while one of your teammates tries to remove the chi?" She shook her head. "I know you like the back of my hand. Know how you think, how you strategize. You're predictable when you care about someone."

She stepped closer, close enough that Noah could see the bruises forming on her neck. "I won't let you get any upper hand. Not now, not ever. You might be SSS-ranked, you might have dragons and void powers and all your impressive capabilities, but I'm always going to be three steps ahead because I understand your weaknesses."

She was right in front of him now, looking up at his face. "You care too much. That's your fatal flaw. You'll sacrifice yourself for others, hesitate when someone innocent is at risk, compromise your own advantages to protect people who don't even know they're in danger. Arthur knew that about you. It's why he wanted you captured instead of killed. You're more useful—"

BOOM!

A fist materialized from nothing, punching through the space where Lyra's head had been a microsecond before. The impact was so violent that Lyra's body seemed to stretch, after-images trailing as she was launched sideways through the air like she'd been hit by a vehicle.

She crashed through vegetation, her body tumbling, and the trees behind where she'd been standing exploded. Bark shredded, wood splintered, the shockwave from the punch continuing outward in a visible cone of destruction.

Noah had moved reflexively, diving away from where Lyra had been, but he still felt something hot across his cheek. Blood. A cut that burned, opened by nothing more than proximity to whatever had just happened.

[-5 HP]

[Health Points: 3,515/3,520]

The shadows between trees grew darker, deeper, and something stepped through. Eight feet tall, proportions that suggested human ancestry twisted by something that didn't care about biology.

Three horns curved from its skull, not the brutal straightforward design of the three-horns Noah had fought before, but elegant, almost artistic in how they swept backward. Its body was lean, built for speed rather than raw power, muscles defined under grey skin that looked almost metallic in the moonlight.

"MOTHER KILLER!" The Harbinger's voice was clear, intelligent, carrying rage that felt personal. "You took her from us. Our MOTHER."

'They know,' Noah thought, ice settling in his stomach. 'Information sharing. Hive mind connections. They all know I killed the Widow, and they seem to care enough about revenge.'

The Harbinger was fifteen meters away. It wound up, arm pulling back, and then it swung.

Nothing connected. The creature's fist didn't reach Noah, didn't come close to touching him. But the air itself became a weapon. The shockwave from the punch created a visible distortion, atmosphere compressed and released in a directional blast that carved through the forest.

The ground between them cratered. Trees bent, trunks cracking, some snapping completely. Debris exploded outward, leaves and branches and chunks of wood becoming shrapnel. The wave of force continued past where Noah had been standing, destroying everything in a cone that extended maybe thirty meters.

[VOID BLINK ACTIVATED]

Reality folded. Noah disappeared from in front of the attack, reappeared behind the Harbinger, his body already spinning mid-air. His heel came around in a kick that carried all his enhanced strength and momentum, aimed at the back of the creature's skull.

The Harbinger clapped.

BOOM!!!

The sound was thunder compressed into a single moment. Its hands came together with force that created another shockwave, this one omnidirectional. The blast caught Noah mid-kick, before his attack could land, and launched him backward through the air.

He hit vegetation at speed, his body tumbling through ferns and low-growing plants that shredded under the impact. His shoulder hit a tree trunk, spinning him sideways. His back slammed into another tree, this one thicker, and he felt ribs protest before his enhanced vitality absorbed damage that should have been catastrophic. He finally came to rest against a boulder, blood in his mouth, his vision swimming.

[-45 HP]

[Health Points: 3,470/3,520]

Noah spat blood onto alien grass and pushed himself upright, his body already working to repair the damage. This was a three-horn. He'd fought them before, knew their general capabilities, but this one was different.

'One and two-horns always look similar,' Noah thought, his tactical mind engaging despite the pain. 'Two-horns are bulkier, stronger, but they follow the same basic template. Three-horns start showing variation. Kruel was built like a tank, raw power and overwhelming regeneration. The Widow was faster, more intelligent, with abilities that went beyond simple physical force. This one—'

He studied the creature as it stalked toward him through the destroyed forest. Lean build. Precise movements. That clap technique showing it understood timing and counters. This was a fighter, something that had trained or evolved or whatever Harbingers did to develop actual combat skills beyond just being naturally deadly.

Noah reached up to activate his comm, to warn Sophie and Lila that a Harbinger was near camp. His hand found his ear and came away wet. Blood. The earpiece was gone, shattered, probably destroyed by the shockwave from that first attack.

He grunted, got to his feet properly, rolled his shoulders despite his ribs screaming in protest. The Harbinger was ten meters away now, watching him, its three horns catching moonlight in ways that made them look like they were glowing.

Noah met its gaze, wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, and felt his void energy beginning to cycle through his body.

"Fine," he said. "I'll end you quickly."

The Harbinger smiled, and its teeth were too sharp, too many, filling a mouth that opened wider than anatomy should allow.

Then it moved, and the real fight began.

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