Andrea's scream tore through the field.
The beasts answered… but not all of them.
That was the first thing Nero noticed.
He drove his burning blade through the throat of the nearest real beast, felt infected cartilage split, and then turned the fire inside out. Blue-white heat flashed through rotten muscle. The creature's skull cracked open with a wet pop, black blood boiling before it hit the ground.
Three projections vanished with it.
Five did not.
Nero's smile faded.
"Wrong," he said.
Hale's voice cut through his comm. "What is wrong?"
Nero stepped over the collapsing body and burned another beast from jaw to spine. Its legs kicked even after the head came apart. He crushed the twitching skull beneath his boot and watched the remaining swarm.
Only part of it reacted to Andrea and charged the soldiers.
The rest moved badly.
"They are not all fighting us," Nero said.
Arion's voice tensed. "Explain."
Nero raised his eyes toward the forest in front of them.
