War raged inside the sphere.
Not movement—impact.
Not motion—collision.
Allium's predatory gaze locked onto Khelos with a focus that stripped away hesitation entirely. There was no rhythm to his strikes, no discipline to anticipate—only violence delivered with intent sharp enough to cut thought in half.
Every swing was brutal.
No grace.
No restraint.
This wasn't a duel.
This wasn't combat.
This was two creatures trying to end the other before the cage decided for them.
Allium moved like something feral, his own distortion turning the sphere into a ring too small to escape. His unpredictability was the weapon—wide arcs followed by sudden lunges, reckless momentum broken into jagged, brutal direction changes. Khelos dodged what he could, phased where possible, but even that came at a cost.
Damage stacked.
Each missed strike shattered part of the sphere's interior, sending warped shockwaves back into Allium's body. His ribs screamed under repeated impacts. Bone bent. Muscles tore. He didn't slow.
Khelos answered with volume.
Not strength.
Frequency.
Thousands of micro-strikes landed in the space of heartbeats—legs, spines, shifting limbs slamming into Allium from every angle at once. It was like being crushed under a storm that learned how to aim.
Allium staggered.
Another hit.
Another.
His ribs threatened to give way completely—
—and then he bit.
Not a calculated move.
Not a technique.
Instinct.
His teeth sank into Khelos's leg with animal force, pressure snapping through layered matter and distortion alike. The shriek that followed wasn't sound—it was a violent recoil in reality itself.
The sphere convulsed.
Seconds.
That was all this nightmare lasted.
Seconds.
Outside, Jax watched the distortion cycle violently between orange and red.
His jaw tightened.
"I've got eyes on the storm," he snapped to Thane. "You help pull that node—now!"
Thane didn't argue. He ran.
Finding them was easy.
You could see Rose from half the garden away—sky-blue light flaring around her as she strained against the impossible weight. Weaver's threads wrapped the node in trembling layers, every pull threatening to snap them apart.
Thane empowered himself mid-stride, Solara energy igniting through his shield as he slammed his weight into the effort and grabbed hold.
The node lurched.
Ten meters.
Still too far.
Weaver gritted his teeth, arms numb, threads fraying as they dragged the planet itself along with them. Every breath felt like lifting gravity by hand.
Rose screamed, voice tearing raw from her throat.
"We have to get this there! Or this is all for nothing—pull! PULL!"
They did.
Cassidy dropped into position beside them, hands burning as she added her weight. Jax followed without hesitation, boots digging deep, shoulders braced.
Everyone pulled.
The node crept closer.
Inch by inch.
Then—
A scream tore through the distortion.
Thin.
Broken.
Barely there.
Blood ran cold.
Inside the sphere, Khelos finally found leverage.
Spiked limbs pinned Allium in place, impaling him against warped space as he thrashed violently. The predator edge in his eyes flickered—but the pressure was too much.
Khelos leaned close.
Evolved.
Focused.
Waves slammed into Allium's mind—precise, invasive, stripping defenses layer by layer. White surged violently now, flooding the distortion, erasing orange as it spread.
Khelos clicked, satisfied.
"…overload… destroy…."
Again.
Again.
Again.
Allium screamed as the pressure mounted, his consciousness buckling under the assault. He couldn't move. Couldn't strike. Could barely think.
Outside—
The node slammed into position.
Cassidy drove the stake into the ground with shaking hands.
They collapsed.
Rose's grip finally gave out. Threads had torn through her palms; blood streaked down her fingers as she fell backward, breath ragged, vision swimming.
Weaver's threads dissolved into nothing, their limits spent.
Cassidy looked around wildly.
"Okay—okay, it's here—how do we activate it?!"
No answer.
Rose was empty.
Weaver was spent.
Thane surged forward, shield blazing as Solara energy peaked violently around him.
"Get down!" he shouted.
They hit the ground.
Thane brought the shield down on the node with everything he had.
Light exploded upward.
The distortion screamed as cracks raced across its surface, white light pulsing violently outward as the cage failed.
Reality tore itself open.
And when the light cleared—
There was only Allium.
Standing.
Glowing.
White.
Full Overload.