Broken pavement crunched beneath Echo's boots as another shockwave echoed somewhere deeper in the ruined district.
A building several streets away collapsed inward with a violent roar, dust billowing into the already fractured skyline. The distant clash of metal, screaming concrete, and awakened abilities rolled through the city like a storm.
But Echo barely paid attention to any of it because something else had entered the battlefield.
Something strange.
Something that made the vibrations beneath him feel… muted.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
Across the ruined street, a man walked calmly through the destruction with both hands resting in his pockets.
He was tall, with broad shoulders, and he stood with a relaxed posture.
Every step he took changed the world beneath him.
The concrete darkened and dried until it cracked apart.
Then it slowly collapsed into streams of loose sand that spread outward behind him like infection creeping through flesh.
