******* [Elena Ironhart - Billion's Mother PoV]
I was already preparing to deactivate the final formation anchors when something changed.
At first, I couldn't identify what it was.
The four beasts were still attacking. The shield was still cracking. People were still moving toward the evacuation points. Yet a strange unease suddenly spread through the battlefield, causing me to look up from the formation controls.
Around me, others were doing the same.
The creatures had stopped.
All four of them.
For a moment I thought they were preparing some kind of coordinated attack, but the longer I watched, the stranger their behavior became. The enormous monsters that had been relentlessly battering our defenses only seconds earlier had gone completely still.
Then I felt it. Not only me, everyone felt it.
A presence.
My eyes immediately moved beyond the barrier.
Someone stood between the outpost and the four beasts.
