Xin ran.
Not because he thought he could outrun Zane.
Because moving forward was the only direction that mattered.
The ground blurred beneath his feet. Rocks cracked. Dust exploded upward as he pushed his body past what it was comfortable doing. Raxton plates hovered tighter now, humming louder, correcting his balance every time his stride slipped.
Then the air in front of him folded.
Zane appeared.
Instantly.
Speed of light.
Not a blur. Not a streak. He was just there, floating inches from Xin's face, smiling like he had been waiting the whole time.
"Wrong direction," Zane said.
Xin barely had time to raise his arms.
The punch landed.
The world flipped.
Xin felt his spine compress, felt the shockwave pass through him and into the ground behind him. He flew backward through stone, through earth, through the remains of an old structure that collapsed a second too late to matter.
He slammed into the ground hard enough to leave a crater.
Silence followed for half a breath.
Xin coughed.
Blood sprayed across the dirt.
Raxton screamed inside his skull, plates flaring bright as they struggled to keep him intact. Something cracked in his chest. Something else burned like it was on fire.
Zane descended slowly, boots not touching the ground.
"That one would have ended most things," Zane said. "You're improving."
Xin pushed himself up on shaking arms.
His vision doubled. Then steadied.
"Not done," Xin said, voice hoarse.
Zane laughed. "Good."
He moved again.
Xin did not see the second hit.
He felt it.
Zane grabbed him by the face and dragged him across the ground at impossible speed, carving a trench kilometers long. Mountains in the distance shattered from the shock alone.
Xin screamed once. Not from fear. From pain.
Zane released him and kicked him upward.
Xin crashed down from the sky like debris, smashing into the earth again. Raxton absorbed enough to keep him alive. Not enough to keep it clean.
His arm bent wrong.
His leg did not respond at first.
Zane hovered above him.
"Stay down," Zane said, almost bored. "You're wasting my time."
Xin spat blood and laughed weakly. "Yeah. That's the plan."
Zane tilted his head.
Xin forced himself upright. Every muscle screamed. His body begged him to stop. Raxton trembled, plates pulling closer, reacting to his refusal to quit.
He took a step.
Zane punched him again.
This time Xin rolled with it.
The blow still sent him flying, but not as far. He slammed into a ridge and slid down it, coughing, shaking, but conscious.
Raxton adjusted again.
Sync climbed.
Zane noticed.
"Oh," he said softly. "There it is."
Xin staggered forward.
Another step.
Another hit.
Zane blitzed him from three angles in the same second, fists and knees and elbows striking faster than sound. Xin's body folded. Ribs shattered. Blood soaked the ground.
He hit his knees.
For a moment, it looked over.
Xin breathed in.
Then pushed back up.
Zane stared.
"You're annoying," Zane said.
Xin wiped blood from his eyes. "Heard worse."
He turned and ran again.
Zane laughed loudly and followed, staying just close enough to hurt him but not end it. Every strike was calculated. Every blow pushed Xin in the exact direction he needed to go.
Toward the chamber.
Toward the trap.
Deep underground, Alaric watched the readouts spike.
"Anti Spinat field online," Alaric said. "He's close."
Rion stood at the control panel, hand hovering over the activation switch. "Xin has to cross the threshold."
Above ground, Xin saw it.
The terrain changed. The air felt heavier. Wrong.
Zane felt it too.
He slowed.
"What's this," Zane said, grinning. "You finally brought me somewhere special."
Xin stumbled forward, barely staying on his feet.
"Welcome," Xin said through blood and broken breath. "You like cages, right."
Zane raised an eyebrow and followed him anyway.
The ground beneath them hummed.
The trap waited.
And Xin stayed standing long enough to spring it.