Katya hit the ground hard enough to split it, red streaks burning in her eyes as she steadied herself. Whatever Onyx had done to her, it wasn't just corruption, her aura surged like a storm forcing its own shape.
Zak stepped forward first, voice trembling. "Katya... please. Come back with us. You're scaring the hell outta us."
Theo moved with him, shoulder to shoulder, just like they always did. "We're your family. You don't gotta listen to him."
Katya twitched, an involuntary shake, like her nerves were fighting themselves.
Behind the brothers, Meredith and Lyra formed a defensive line, wings flaring.
Lyra's eyes sharpened. "Her strength isn't natural. Onyx dumped ether into her channels, forced enhancement."
Meredith frowned. "Meaning?"
"Meaning she's strong enough to throw all four of us into the dirt, but her body's paying the price for it."
Katya lunged before Meredith could reply.
Zak cried out and barely dodged her heel as it slammed into the ground, debris flying. Theo threw up a barrier, but Katya cut straight through it like it was wet paper. The backlash sent him rolling.
Meredith stepped in, blocking Katya's next strike with her forearm. The impact numbed her whole arm. "Katya, stop! You know us, don't let him use you like this!"
For a heartbeat, Katya froze. Her red eyes flickered, green struggling underneath. "…Zak?"
Zak's breath hitched. "Yeah! I'm right here, Katya, snap out of it!"
But then... A cold force jerked through Katya's body. Her back arched. Her wings locked. Her aura darkened to pitch.
Onyx's voice shimmered around them like a whispering blade: "If she will not fight by will... she will fight by command."
Katya screamed... ...and shot forward, faster than any of them had ever seen her move.
Theo intercepted, yelling, "She's being puppeted! Push her back, don't hurt her too deep, just knock her loose!"
Lyra dashed in, sparks crackling at her palms. "Then stop holding back!"
The four of them collided with Katya at once: Zak caught her fist. Theo caught her blade. Lyra struck her shoulder. Meredith slammed her wings downward to pin her movement.
For a split second, the pressure made Katya's eyes flash green again, wide, scared, reaching. "I... I don't want this-"
Onyx's influence crushed the moment instantly, dragging her back under.
Katya roared... ...and the ground trembled as the forced power inside her erupted.
The real fight began.
The Sunburst faded, but the echo of it lingered in the air, warm, heavy, humming against Eleanor's skin. Melody staggered backward, fingers brushing the cracked line running across her mask.
For the first time since this nightmare started, Melody wasn't smiling.
The fog around them thinned, melting like frost under a torch. Eleanor held her stance, lungs burning, vision shaking at the edges. Sweat slid down her temple, stinging the cut near her eye.
Lucy landed beside her with a rough exhale. "Yo, you hit her so hard the weather changed."
Eleanor didn't laugh. Not now. She kept her eyes locked on Melody, who was dragging her harp's strings with a trembling hand, like she was trying to steady her own heartbeat.
Silvia sprinted up next, sliding into position behind Eleanor. "Her rhythm's broken. That attack actually damaged her core."
Robert kept pressure from a distance, spears of light streaking past Eleanor and erupting against Melody's shifting silhouette.
For a moment, it almost looked manageable.
Then Melody tilted her head. A soft crackle rippled down her body, like glass breaking from the inside. Her voice split into two tones at once. "Eleanor... that hurt." The sound twisted, doubled, glitched. The cracked mask pulsed like a heartbeat.
Lucy's sword hummed. "She's... unstable?"
"No." Silvia swallowed. "She's getting worse."
Melody dragged her fingers across the harp again. This time the strings shrieked. The ground trembled hard enough to knock Robert off balance. Shadows warped, folding into jagged shapes around Melody's feet. Her wings twitched, one feathered, one blackened, each moving with its own rhythm.
Eleanor felt her stomach tighten. She'd pushed Melody too far, straight into something even more dangerous.
"Spread out!" Eleanor called.
But Melody moved first. A burst of sound detonated under her, launching her forward in a blur. Her scream split into layered, discordant harmonies that scraped against the squad's ears.
Lucy sliced through a wave of noise just before it solidified into spikes, but the pressure still drove her backward.
Silvia threw up a barrier around her and Robert, gritting her teeth as cracks spread across the shield.
"Hold it, just a second longer!" Robert yelled, charging a blast.
Melody's hand flicked. A single, needle-thin note cut across the battlefield, silent at first. Then it detonated.
Robert took the hit full force. His body flew back, crashing into a ruined pillar with a choked cry.
"No!" Eleanor sprinted toward him.
Melody was faster. She materialized behind Robert, harp string pulled back like a blade. The corrupted light along it vibrated, sharp enough to slice clean through bone.
Eleanor didn't think. Her body moved on pure instinct, something deeper, hotter, older than she understood.
The air around her flared gold. Heat burst from her spine in a wild, uncontrolled surge, cracking the ground beneath her. She crossed the distance between her and Melody in a blink, tackling Robert out of the way just as the sound-blade sliced the air where his neck had been.
Eleanor hit the ground, rolling. Gold static danced across her skin, burning like fire and ice.
Lucy's eyes widened. "Eleanor, what... what is that?!"
Eleanor didn't know. But she could feel it. Something buried inside her had woken up.
Her wings glowed at the tips, bright gold leaking into the feathers like sunlight bleeding through storm clouds.
Melody watched her with eerie fascination. "Oh... so that's what you were hiding."
Eleanor pushed herself up, breathing hard, vision swimming with gold sparks. Her muscles shook. Her heartbeat roared.
This wasn't a transformation. Not like her future gold-winged form. This was something smaller, raw potential tearing its way out before she was ready.
Silvia stepped beside her, eyes wide. "Your aura... it's changing."
"Later," Eleanor whispered. "I just need to keep her away from all of you."
Melody's cracked mask twitched. "Don't speak like you're winning," she said, voice splitting and rejoining in unnatural patterns. "I haven't even finished warming up."
She raised her harp. Strings tightened. The air vibrated. The next sound wasn't music. It was a weapon, razor-sharp, explosive, vibrating with corrupted fury.
Eleanor braced, sun aura flickering.
Melody smiled beneath the mask. "Let's see how bright you really are, little sun."
She launched the note.
Eleanor wasn't fast enough. The blast hurtled straight toward her-