Unknown
Obsidian District, New Boston
North Atlantic Federation Arc Zone
Western Hemisphere, UEF
2435 A.D
Naia felt it before she heard it—the crushing weight that descended on the building like a tidal wave. The air trembled. The walls groaned. The faint hum of the security systems began to crackle and distort, the steady rhythm of the Luminis disruptors stuttering in protest. Her pulse quickened. That resonance—dense, commanding, unstoppable—she knew it anywhere.
Elias.
Her brother's Resonance Pressure flooded the structure, saturating the air with pure, lethal intent. Even from her confined cell, Naia could feel his Luminis field pressing down through the foundation like a storm of molten gravity. The dampening tech embedded in the walls flickered erratically, sparks sputtering from the ceiling as systems began to overload.
The resonance of his rage was so intense it was disrupting the technology itself.
Naia's crystalline arm vibrated faintly as she sat up, her gaze darting toward the walls. The emitters that had been suppressing her energy flickered, their teal lights dimming to dull gray. For the first time since her capture, she felt the faint, pulsing flow of Luminis returning to her body—weak, sluggish, but real.
The energy trickled from the Gem embedded in her chest socket, threading through her conduits and into her lattice network. The flow was uneven, like trying to breathe through a cracked mask, but it was enough.
Her lips curved in determination.
With what little strength she could muster, Naia focused, her breathing steadying as her clarity sharpened. Clarity—the precision stat of her training—allowed her to stretch each spark of energy to its maximum potential. If she couldn't overpower the cell's defenses, she could still outthink them.
Her prosthetic arm began to glow, the crystalline veins along its structure flaring with white light. Deep within the gemwork, kinetic energy built in rapid oscillations—charging, focusing, compressing. The mechanism whined as its threshold approached.
"Just a little more…" she whispered.
The light reached its apex, her arm trembling from the power stored inside. She angled her wrist toward the door. One good strike—one White Blaze—and the reinforced frame would be reduced to molten slag.
But before she could release it, the lock hissed. The door slid open. Naia froze, arm still glowing, ready to strike. Standing in the doorway was Ellira Solenne.
Golden-green eyes met lilac. For a heartbeat, Naia thought she was hallucinating—the dim light, the smoke from the sparking wires making everything blur. But no. The familiar energy signature washed over her, steady and warm against the chaos.
"Ellira…" Naia breathed, disbelief breaking through her composure. Ellira stepped into the cell, her aura dimmed to avoid detection, her expression both relieved and urgent.
"Naia," she said softly. "I've got you."
And in that instant, all the tension in Naia's body unraveled. The charge in her arm dissipated in a soft burst of light as her brother's Resonance tremor shook the building again—reminding them both that they had little time left.
Naia grabbed Ellira's arm without hesitation, the urgency in her movements cutting through the haze of adrenaline. "Come on!"
The two of them sprinted down the narrow corridor, the dim lights flickering as alarms wailed throughout the facility. But halfway through their escape, Ellira's instincts flared—an approaching presence, heavy and suffocating, descending from above.
"Wait—!" she started, but it was too late.
The ceiling exploded.
Chunks of metal and concrete crashed down as a dark figure plummeted through the collapsing roof. Dust and smoke burst outward in a violent wave. Both Naia and Ellira leapt back, their reflexes saving them from being buried.
When the debris settled, a man stood in the center of the wreckage. His black armor shimmered with faint crimson lines pulsing through its plates like veins of molten ore. His aura was crushing—a Crown-tier Luminiaron, radiating power so dense it warped the Luminis flow around him.
Diego.
He grinned beneath his helmet, his voice carrying a manic thrill. "Looks like I finally get to let loose."
The air vibrated with his excitement.
Naia didn't waste a second. Her prosthetic arm flared white, gathering energy faster than her body could keep up with. She shot forward, the ground cracking beneath her step. The corridor blurred as a streak of light—Naia's fist—cut through it like a comet.
Emberflow Martial Fist: White Blaze.
Her strike connected with a blinding explosion of light. The sound thundered through the corridor, white flames roaring outward, engulfing everything in searing brilliance.
Ellira shielded her face with her arm, her golden aura hardening instinctively to protect against the shockwave. Even through the blaze, her senses stayed locked on the fight—the resonance signatures clashing before her.
When the light faded and the smoke cleared, her heart sank.
Diego stood there, unmoved. His left arm was raised, his gauntlet glowing with intricate Weave patterns—thin, serpent-like lines of Luminis energy coiling around his fist and weaving across his armor. The ground beneath him was scorched, but his stance hadn't budged an inch.
Naia staggered back, stunned by the sheer resilience. Her eyes darted over the glowing patterns that pulsed along his armor like veins of light.
"Reinforcement Weave," she breathed.
Diego's grin widened behind his visor. "And you too, huh? I almost forgot—humans can still use basic Weave arts if they've got enough gems resonating in sync."
His aura flared hotter, heavier, as the crimson veins of light across his armor brightened. "That speed of yours—impressive. You're reinforcing your movements with Luminis flow, aren't you?"
Naia squared her stance, her crystalline arm crackling as it recharged. "You talk too much."
Diego laughed, the sound deep and eager. "Good. You're a Vasselheim just like Elias. You Vasselheims, see yourself as honorable and just right. Then show me what you can really do in a fight."
Ellira stepped forward, her staff manifesting in a burst of golden light, its crystalline body humming softly with her resonance. She planted it against the ground, her stance firm but calm.
Naia stretched her prosthetic arm, energy flickering faintly along the veins of her crystalline forearm. She glanced sideways at Ellira, her tone softer amid the rising tension.
"You don't have to fight if you don't want to," Naia said. "I know violence isn't something you're comfortable with."
Ellira's eyes hardened, her grip tightening on her staff. "I'm fighting," she said. "I promised Elias I'd protect you."
Naia's expression shifted—half gratitude, half worry—but before she could respond, Diego laughed, the sound echoing off the metal walls of the corridor.
"I don't mind," he said, rolling his shoulders as his armor adjusted, the red weave lines pulsing brighter with every movement. "Two opponents will make this fight more interesting."
Naia took a step forward, her stance steady. "Before we start… your name."
Diego tilted his head, amused. "You want to know who's going to kill you?"
"It's only fair," Naia replied. "You already know who I am."
A smile curved beneath his visor. "Diego Grimwall."
Naia froze. "Grimwall…" she repeated, the name cutting through her composure.
Ellira looked at her, confused. "You recognize it?"
Naia nodded slowly, eyes narrowing. "Before your people came to Earth—pre-Revelation era, during the First Gem War—the Grimwall Corporation was one of the largest military manufacturers on the planet. They specialized in weaponizing Gem technology… much like House Vasselheim. But after the war, they were destroyed. Every member of the family line wiped out. Their patents and assets were seized by another company."
"Chronostone," Diego finished for her, his tone suddenly heavy.
The moment he said the word, the air shifted. His killing intent surged, thick and suffocating. The veins of crimson light across his armor flared violently, and even Ellira could feel the pulse of anger radiating off him like a physical force.
"So the Grimwall bloodline still exists," Naia said quietly.
Diego's laugh came low and bitter. "No—thanks to your House, it doesn't."
Naia's brow furrowed. "My family offered asylum to those who survived the war. We opened our territories to anyone seeking refuge. Your people refused our help."
"Refused?" Diego snapped, his tone twisting with venom. "We didn't refuse—you betrayed us. Chronostone Corporation offered rewards for every Grimwall head brought in. New patents. New Gem vein territories. And your House—your precious Vasselheim—stood by and took their share like the other Houses!"
The corridor vibrated under the weight of his fury, his aura flaring high enough to rattle the walls.
Naia didn't respond. Her expression didn't change, but her silence said everything. There was no point in arguing with the past—no truth she could give that would erase the hatred burning in Diego's voice.
She raised her glowing arm instead, her eyes sharp and unwavering. And then, like lightning, they both moved. ChatGPT said:
Naia moved first—swift, fierce, and precise. Every strike she threw carried the mark of her training: a martial art born not from ancient Luminis traditions, but from the brutal pragmatism of war.
It was a style forged by her father, a veteran of the Second Gem War—a synthesis of human close-combat technique and Gemcraft resonance control. Naia had mastered it from childhood, and now, each movement reflected its purpose: to overwhelm, to adapt, to destroy.
Ellira watched from behind, staff poised but unused, her golden eyes following the blur of motion. She recognized the pattern immediately—the looped geometry of Naia's attacks mirrored the principles of Luminis Weave formations, but inverted, internalized into motion rather than spellwork. The circular flow of her shoulders gathered force like a forging ring, channeling kinetic energy into each punch. A faint white halo shimmered around her upper body, marking the cycling of her energy field—constant compression, release, compression again.
Naia moved like a flame incarnate—fluid yet explosive, every motion feeding into the next in seamless rhythm. Her strikes painted streaks of light across the corridor; the floor fractured beneath her feet with each impact.
But Diego met her head-on.
Despite his size, the Crown-tier Luminiaron moved with terrifying agility. Every blow Naia threw met his open palms or forearms, each parry smooth and effortless. Sparks of Luminis energy burst where their limbs clashed, the sound of shockwaves bouncing off the steel walls.
The corridor was rapidly turning into a war zone—panels torn from the walls, floor plating caved in, smoke filling the air from ruptured conduits.
Naia pivoted, her right arm flaring white as she unleashed a spinning kick followed by a flurry of jabs. Diego absorbed the full assault, his gauntlets glowing crimson as he redirected her strikes with the precision of a master duelist.
"Too slow," he muttered, deflecting another blow with a backhand that sent sparks flying.
Naia gritted her teeth, darting in again, her movements blurring as she used Luminis reinforcement to push her body past its limit. The ground split beneath her, her aura surging brighter with each strike.
Yet Diego barely budged.
His sheer strength—raw, condensed power wrapped in the glow of Reinforcement Weave—neutralized every ounce of her explosive force.
He was no ordinary brute; every counter he made revealed technical precision. For all his bulk, Diego Grimwall fought with the balance and poise of someone who'd lived on the battlefield. His movements carried discipline—a soldier's rhythm, a killer's calm.
Ellira's grip tightened on her staff as she watched the clash unfold. Naia fought with everything she had, her flame-like aura roaring, but Diego's pressure grew heavier with every exchange. It was strength meeting skill, power meeting precision—and Naia was beginning to feel the weight of it.
And yet—despite the difference in scale, the raw gap between a Resonant-tier and a Crown-tier being—Naia refused to yield. Each impact between them shook the corridor, her strikes detonating like miniature explosions against Diego's armored frame. He blocked one, countered another, but she was still there—closing the distance again and again, her movements sharp and unrelenting.
He felt it now. Something was off. Naia's power output didn't make sense. She shouldn't have been able to withstand his blows, much less match his speed. A Resonant-tier shouldn't be able to hold ground against a Crown. And yet, here she was, keeping up—her energy flow far richer, brighter than it should have been.
Diego's crimson eyes narrowed behind his visor, scanning the fluctuations of her Luminis field. Then, out of the corner of his vision, he saw her—Ellira, standing several meters behind Naia. The golden-haired Luminia had her staff raised, her aura steady and focused. Thin, barely visible threads of light extended from her form, shimmering in and out of view like strands of woven silk. They pulsed faintly between her and Naia, connecting them soul to soul.
Diego's grin widened. "I see," he muttered under his breath.
He could feel it now—the amplification. Ellira's energy wasn't just supporting Naia; it was merging with her. The Solenne tribe's signature weaving art—Luminis Threadbinding—a technique that allowed resonance to flow between two cores. But Ellira's version was something rarer, far more exclusive to her than her tribe.
Her Sol Gem glowed faintly against her chest, its light synchronized with Naia's own gem core.
The base Facet she wielded—Radiant Resound—was designed to amplify the output of Luminis itself. Through her threads, she could harmonize her energy with another's lattice, increasing not just the flow but the efficiency of how that energy was used.
Right now, Ellira wasn't fighting with Naia—she was fighting through her. Her amplification pushed Naia's Carat—the measure of her Luminis output—to levels comparable to the Crown tier. Naia's strikes hit harder, her steps moved faster, her energy field condensed with terrifying density.
For the first time, Diego actually had to exert effort to keep up. Still, that wasn't what thrilled him. What made his heart pound and his grin sharpen was not the amplification itself—but what Naia did with it.
Even with Crown-tier strength flowing through her veins, her movements were controlled, precise, surgical. Her Clarity—the measure of how well one could direct and regulate Luminis flow—was exceptional.
Each pulse of energy through her lattice was perfectly timed, perfectly distributed. She wasn't wasting a single spark. The way she reinforced her limbs, layered her strength, redirected kinetic backlash—all of it was beyond textbook control.
Diego blocked another punch, his armor cracking faintly from the pressure. He stepped back, chuckling low.
"Impressive," he said, voice vibrating with excitement. "Your Carat might be borrowed—but your control…" His grin widened. "Your Clarity is exquisite."
Naia didn't answer. She was already moving again, closing the gap, her body glowing with the white heat of condensed willpower.
While Diego's brute power still eclipsed hers, her speed and explosive timing made her a nightmare to pin down. Every motion of her martial art built momentum, storing energy that detonated the moment her fists or feet connected. She became a cycle of pressure and release, flame and force—a living embodiment of the Emberflow Martial Fist.
Diego blocked another barrage, the walls fracturing around them as shockwaves tore through the metal. He could barely contain his laughter now.
"Good!" he shouted over the noise. "Show me more, Naia Vasselheim!"
And Naia, teeth clenched, eyes burning with determination, launched herself at him once more. Naia could feel the tremor in her muscles—the dull ache that warned of overextension. Her breathing came sharp and measured, the white glow around her arm flickering in and out of focus. She needed to end this, and she knew exactly how.
Her signature technique—White Blaze—burned at the edge of her consciousness like a star begging to ignite. It was devastating, beautiful, and dangerously consuming. She could only use it twice before her Luminis reached critical depletion, even with Ellira's amplification pushing her reserves beyond their natural limit.
She had already used it once. That meant she had one more shot left.
Her mind raced, looking for the opening, timing every movement, every breath. The wrong strike, the wrong angle—and she'd collapse before landing a blow.
Across from her, Diego Grimwall grinned, his armor cracked and smoking, his body still radiating Crown-tier pressure. He looked nothing like a man losing a fight. If anything, he looked alive.
He ducked under her next kick, blocking the follow-up strike with the back of his forearm. The clash sent a shockwave down the corridor, scattering debris and heat.
For a heartbeat, Diego just stared at her—chest heaving, eyes gleaming like an excited predator.
"You're actually winning," he said, laughing breathlessly. "You're beating me in close combat."
Naia didn't answer. Her stance tightened, energy gathering at her core.
Diego's laughter grew louder, manic, echoing through the shattered corridor. "Xerna was right about you all along, Naia Vasselheim!"
He lunged forward, their fists colliding in a burst of white and crimson light. "What happened to you?" he shouted over the explosion. "This level of power—it's not natural for your bloodline. What did you do? Why waste it hiding behind your House?"
"It's none of your business," Naia said coldly.
She shifted her weight, flowing seamlessly into a flurry of Emberflow combinations—a cascade of punches, kicks, and spinning counters that blended precision with sheer fury. Her movements blurred, each one reinforced by the perfect rhythm of her Luminis flow. Diego tried to parry, but her timing was flawless; every feint led to a strike that pushed him backward, every hit shaking his reinforced armor.
He could feel the tide turning—the tempo of the fight slipping out of his control. And instead of fear, a thrill surged through him. He loved it. His grin widened beneath his visor, eyes burning with madness.
"Do you know what my bloodline ability is?" Diego asked, stepping back just enough to draw in a breath. "You seem well-versed in Grimwall history. So tell me—do you recognize this?"
Naia's eyes narrowed, reading the shift in his energy field. His Luminis was folding inward, compressing around his body like a tightening spring. The patterns of Weave that lined his armor began to pulse in sync with his heartbeat, red light coiling through the seams like veins ready to burst.
Then his form began to distort.
The limbs of his armor elongated, the plates shifting and grinding against themselves with the sound of tortured metal. Naia's stomach dropped as she realized what he was doing—the very energy she had been pounding into him wasn't dispersing.
He had been absorbing it. Every strike she'd landed, every shockwave that had rippled through his armor—he had taken all that kinetic force and stored it within his body, winding it like coiled springs.
"Grimwall bloodline trait," Diego said, his voice low and trembling with excitement. "Kinetic Retention. The harder you hit me…"
His right arm expanded grotesquely, armor creaking as the energy built to a blinding red glow. "…the stronger I strike back!"
And then, with a roar that shook the entire corridor, Diego released it. The stored kinetic force detonated outward through his limb, transforming his punch into a cannon blast. The shockwave tore through the air, warping the corridor walls as molten debris exploded outward, a tidal wave of destructive energy surging straight toward Naia.
But the blast never reached her.
A sudden pulse of violet light rippled through the corridor, freezing everything in its wake. The air warped, the shockwave halted mid-motion, and space itself locked into place like glass turned solid. Diego's devastating energy wave hung suspended in front of Naia—motionless, harmless.
For a heartbeat, the world was utterly still.
Then Naia felt it—a familiar presence, calm and radiant beneath the chaos. She turned, her eyes catching the soft shimmer of gold and violet merging.
Ellira.
She stood a few meters away, her staff extended, eyes glowing with concentrated focus. Thin streams of purple light branched from her fingertips, anchoring the space around Diego like threads of starlight woven into reality itself. The spatial facet—one of Ellira's rarest abilities—had fully manifested.
Naia immediately understood. She was holding the entire corridor still.
Ellira's gaze flicked to her. Come.
Naia didn't hesitate. She leapt backward, landing beside Ellira just as the barrier began to flicker from the strain of holding Diego's power at bay.
As soon as Naia reached her, Ellira lowered her staff and shifted her stance. Golden light replaced the purple hue as her bloodline weave—the Solar Weave of the Solenne tribe—flared to life. Threads of warmth and radiance unfurled from her body, spiraling outward in luminous patterns.
"Restoration Weave: Solar Rejuvenation," she murmured.
The golden threads enveloped Naia, flowing into her lattice network. Her body instantly responded—fatigue vanished, and her depleted Lumenis reserves surged back to full capacity. Then Ellira's Verdant Gem activated, bathing the air in soft green light. The restorative essence merged with the Solar energy, healing the bruises along Naia's body and washing away the ache from her exhausted limbs.
Naia gasped softly. Her prosthetic arm began to glow brighter, veins of light coursing through its crystalline frame until it burned pure white. Even her breathing steadied, her spirit sharpened.
She looked at Ellira in awe. "You… you restored everything."
Ellira smiled faintly, though sweat beaded on her brow. "I know you want to use that technique of yours," she said. "So do it. You focus on attacking—I'll handle protection and energy restoration."
Naia frowned. "But what about you? The more you amplify my Carat, the faster you'll burn out."
Ellira's aura flared higher, her golden and green energies intertwining, filling the hall with soft luminescence. "I'm fine," she said. "I can replenish my Lumenis while maintaining the link. It won't last forever, but it'll hold long enough for you to finish this."
Naia's expression softened, gratitude flickering behind her fierce determination.
Then the stillness broke.
A crack split through the purple air in front of them. Another followed—then another—until the frozen wave of Diego's energy shattered like glass. The kinetic blast dissipated harmlessly, but the force behind it surged back toward its source.
With a deep growl, Diego Grimwall flexed his body, muscles bulging beneath the armor as the spatial restraints gave way. Fractures spread through the barrier, shards of violet light scattering like dying embers before collapsing entirely.
He stood tall amid the ruin, steam rising from his armor. "That's a pretty good defensive technique," he said, rolling his shoulders. His crimson eyes flicked to Naia and Ellira. "And you healed her. Wonderful."
He grinned—a savage, eager grin. "Now it's finally fair."
Diego's right hand rose to his chest. Without hesitation, he gripped his armor plate and tore it off, the sound of metal twisting under his strength echoing through the hall. He ripped free several more segments, each crashing to the ground with a metallic thud until his upper body was bare.
Underneath, his dark skin gleamed with silver tribal markings that pulsed like living circuits. The Luminis in his core began to roar, doubling—no, tripling—in volume as it surged through his veins.
"The armor," Diego said, his voice low, vibrating with energy, "was a limiter—a Luminis dampener to control my flow. But it seems I can't defeat you while chained."
The air trembled as his true aura erupted outward. His Luminis field expanded violently, saturating the space in red light, the floor cracking beneath him as his Resonance Pressure bloomed in full.
The weight of it was suffocating, pressing against Naia like an invisible mountain. But before it could overwhelm her, Ellira stepped closer, her hand brushing Naia's shoulder.
Their fields merged. Golden radiance intertwined with white flame, forming a harmonic resonance that countered Diego's pressure. The corridor groaned from the collision of their energies—red against gold and white, chaos against harmony.
Naia steadied herself, her aura burning brighter under Ellira's support.
"Let's finish this," she said.
Ellira nodded once, her voice soft but resolute. "Together."
"Most of us humans who became Luminiaron through Project Heliospire were given the option to learn Lumenis Weave under the Captain," Diego said, flexing his hands as the air around him shimmered with contained energy. His voice carried a note of pride twisted with bitterness. "We were experiments—but we got to choose how we'd shape what was left of us. Each of us specialized in a different kind of Weave. I chose Reinforcement Weaves—strong, practical, simple to layer over the body. It complements my bloodline Facet perfectly."
He rotated his shoulder, a low hum of power resonating through his veins. "But I didn't stop there."
He spread his fingers wide, and the atmosphere warped. Threads of Lumenis emerged from the air—thin, razor-like filaments of violet and crimson that began to twist and coil together. Naia and Ellira watched as the threads interlocked into a rotating structure—a lattice of energy, forming sigils and runes that expanded outward in symmetrical beauty.
The design was geometric precision given life—a mandala of glowing shapes spinning slowly before him. Circles layered upon triangles, sigils intersected with fractal lines, until it all folded into a square plate of light—a Weave Array dense enough to make the floor tremble.
The symbols within the mandala pulsed like a heartbeat, storing power at a terrifying rate. Each rotation built momentum, each line thickened, until the space around Diego crackled with unstable resonance.
"I don't really like using this," he said with a grin, his eyes reflecting the swirling lights of the Weave. "But it looks like I'll have to use the full package against you."
The mandala flared. The runes screamed. And Diego's aura spiked—his entire being becoming a living conduit of raw Lumenis, as if the world itself had begun to bend around his will.
Naia's breathing steadied, her focus sharpening until the world slowed around her. Her crystalline arm pulsed with inner light as she activated her Base Facet—Luminal Heart.
A glow bloomed from within her chest, expanding outward in luminous rings. Threads of white-gold Lumenis spiraled around her, forming patterns that rippled like silk. Luminal Heart was an emotional Facet—its power and stability were tied directly to what she felt. The stronger her conviction, the denser her creations became.
And right now, her heart burned with determination.
The air shimmered as her body split into multiple forms. Each duplicate shimmered with solid light, identical down to the last detail—the same violet hair streaks, the same crystalline arm, the same fierce gaze. They breathed as one, synchronized through her emotional pulse.
Normally, she could craft only one clone. But with Ellira's amplification resonating through her lattice, Naia's emotional output had multiplied, allowing her to manifest four additional constructs. Now, five Naia Vasselheims were standing before Diego Grimwall.
Diego's grin widened. "Beautiful," he said. "Five of you… That'll make this interesting."
He spread his hands. The Flux Weave he had prepared earlier flared to life, its mandala of symbols spinning like a mechanical halo behind him. Each sigil pulsed once, twice—and then the entire array ignited.
Beams of pure Lumenis energy screamed forth, a dozen lines of violet-white light firing in rapid succession. The corridor was instantly consumed in light and thunder.
But the Naias didn't flinch.
Each clone moved with uncanny precision—dodging, rolling, or weaving through the storm. Their coordination was almost inhuman, guided by Naia's central consciousness and Ellira's harmonic field. One clone intercepted a beam with a luminous construct—a prism-like shield that shattered on impact, but bought another clone time to close the distance.
Above them, Ellira raised her staff. A golden shimmer spread outward like the unfolding of a flower.
"Defensive Weave—Veil of Aegis"
A series of layered, refractive barriers unfolded between the clones and Diego. Each veil carried a different refractive index, scattering incoming Lumenis beams into harmless splinters of light. The result was a mesmerizing aurora—a curtain of fractured brilliance shielding the battlefield.
Diego's eyes widened as his Flux Beams struck the barrier and dissolved into motes. The array didn't just block energy—it deconstructed it, scattering each beam across multiple harmonic frequencies until it faded into dust.
He chuckled, both impressed and frustrated. "A multi-layered barrier with variable refraction ratios," he said, studying the construct like an engineer examining a rival's work. "You really don't see that outside of the Concord academies. Impressive."
Naia didn't respond. One of her clones darted in, her luminous fist cutting through the residual haze. Diego pivoted aside, the punch grazing his shoulder. Another Naia appeared at his flank, driving an uppercut toward his chin. He ducked low, catching her arm, only for a third clone to slam a kick into his ribs.
Their rhythm was relentless—a seamless dance of mirrored movement, each clone anticipating the next attack's timing.
Diego was being pushed, forced into reactive motion for the first time. His laughter turned ragged, exhilarated. He caught one of the clones by the arm and threw her into the wall—but the construct shattered into white shards before impact, reforming instantly behind him.
"Persistent little ghosts," he muttered.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Ellira, standing firm at the end of the corridor. Her staff glowed like a miniature sun as she continued weaving, maintaining both her defensive layers and Naia's amplification link simultaneously.
Diego's instincts kicked in—she was the true threat. If he could break her concentration, the entire field would collapse. He shifted his weight, ready to blitz toward her. But Naia was already there.
Her clones converged in front of him, fists blazing with condensed Lumenis, their movements a blur of speed and force. The air cracked with each strike as she launched her Emberflow barrage, her martial rhythm filling the corridor like rolling thunder.
"Not this time," Naia said, her voice echoing through every clone at once. Each punch hit with purpose, each strike faster than the last—driven by a single thought pulsing through her Luminal Heart:
Protect Ellira. End this fight.
The barrage of White Blaze tore through the corridor like a storm of divine fire. Each strike detonated into blinding flashes of white heat, the shockwaves shredding walls and melting steel. The air itself screamed as Naia's fists unleashed the full destructive force of her martial art—an inferno of kinetic and Lumenis energy compressed into every blow.
When it was over, the entire section of the building was gone. The corridor was nothing but molten slag and rising embers, the floor warped into glass from the sheer temperature.
Naia exhaled, sweat dripping down her brow, her crystalline arm flickering faintly from overload. But as the smoke began to thin, her eyes caught a glow through the haze.
A cocoon of energy pulsed at the far end of the ruined hall—radiant silver threads woven tightly into a sphere. From within it, Diego's deep laughter rumbled.
"Cute trick," his voice echoed through the haze. "But you didn't really think that would kill me, did you?"
Inside the shimmering cocoon, Diego's hands moved with surgical precision. His fingers danced through the air, pulling invisible strings of Lumenis that snapped into glowing formation—thin, brilliant lines like filaments of molten glass. He worked them quickly, forming a new pattern, a weave unlike any Naia had seen before.
"While I love fighting two-on-one," he said, his grin returning, "you two are starting to get on my nerves."
Naia's instincts screamed a warning. Her gaze darted to the broken pieces of armor scattered across the floor—the same plates Diego had torn from his body earlier. They began to stir.
Metal rippled like liquid. Segments folded and unfolded, their structure dissolving into pure Lumenis threads that slithered like serpents through the air.
"Ellira—!" Naia shouted, but she was too late.
In an instant, Diego vanished, his afterimage burning in the air. Before Naia could even raise her guard, he appeared right in front of her—his speed now completely unrestrained.
The kick hit her square in the stomach.
Naia's body slammed into the wall, the impact shattering the steel plating and leaving a crater in the concrete. Pain flared through her chest as she hit the floor, and her breath ripped out of her lungs.
Meanwhile, the threads of Lumenis armor had already reached Ellira. She spun her staff, activating her spatial facet, violet glyphs flaring in the air around her as she tried to freeze them mid-flight. But Diego's threads were moving too fast—far beyond normal resonance speed. They twisted and branched, forming a luminous net that wrapped around her in seconds.
The barrier hummed, its lattice vibrating with an eerie rhythm as it expanded, separating Ellira from Naia in a shimmering wall of silver light.
Diego's smirk returned as he stepped forward, his fingers guiding the threads like a puppeteer. "My personal Weave—" he said, "—Thread Dampener."
The air pulsed once, and the web tightened around Ellira's body. Her aura flared in resistance, but every attempt to push back only made the threads constrict harder.
"It lets me regulate Lumenis flow—mine, or anyone I touch." His eyes gleamed. "The armor I wore was woven with these very threads, designed to suppress my own power. Now I'll use them to bind and suppress you, Ellira Solenne."
Naia's heart sank as she felt it—the empathic tether between her and Ellira suddenly snapped. The harmonic resonance vanished from her body like a candle snuffed out.
"Ellira!" she cried, reaching toward her, but her hand passed through the glowing net as if it were a wall.
Her clones flickered, their forms destabilizing before shattering into motes of white light. The surge of energy she'd relied on vanished in an instant, her Lumenis reserves dropping to half.
Her breathing grew ragged. Her strength—her speed—everything that Ellira had amplified—was gone. And across the room, bound within that lattice of silver threads, Ellira struggled silently, her golden aura dimming beneath Diego's smothering weave.