Outside the cavern, the stars were snuffed out.
The silver moonlight and the ancient canopy vanished. A suffocating void dropped over the world like a burial shroud. The Shadow-Mage cast the perimeter veil to sever the cave from the rest of the world.
Inside, the darkness met the weight of Will's territory.
[Ambient Stealth +15%]
The shadows thickened into a crawling, pitch-black mist that clung to the stone.
Six P.A.C.I.F.I.C. Cleaners slipped through the gap in Allison's rock-fold. They moved with the practiced, rhythmic silence of a hit squad. Their suppressed repeating crossbows were raised. These high-tension alloy weapons fired systemic bolts designed to punch through tank plating.
The Squad Leader tapped his helmet. The thermal optics powered on with a faint electronic hum.
Through the glowing green lens, the cavern lit up in a heat-map of fading embers and residual violet heat from the forge. He swept his optics over the shallows of the Black Pool.
Cold. Nothing but stone and mud.
His gaze snapped to the center of the camp. Through the thermals, he saw the huddled shapes inside the canvas tents.
He dropped two fingers.
The Cleaners unleashed a synchronized volley. A dozen bolts tore through the canvas in a heartbeat. A strike designed to end the Faction before they woke resulted only in the dull, heavy thwack of high-velocity metal embedding into solid bedrock and earth.
The Squad Leader stiffened. "False camp. It is a decoy."
Up on the scaffolding, Will drew his matte-black bow.
They have spent their volley, Khan's voice rumbled. Now, break them.
"Break them!" Will roared.
[Warlord's Orchestra Active: +15% Damage and Coordination applied to Faction.]
The mud trenches erupted from the black shallows. Maddie, Tyson, and Don rose from the freezing silt. The darkness surrendered their shapes completely.
[Warlord's Star-Moss]
The ground violently ignited in a wave of blue and violet bioluminescence. The flare instantly overloaded the Cleaners' thermal optics.
The hit squad ripped their visors off. They were blinded by the glare.
Maddie charged. She moved with the low, grinding momentum of a boulder tearing down a mountainside. The Squad Leader tapped his gauntlet to initiate a systemic scan.
A jarring electronic buzz blared in his earpiece. A jagged red warning flashed across his vision.
[ERROR: Target Armor Tier (Mythic) Exceeds Scanner Capacity]
Panic flickered in the Leader's eyes. He hurled a Lumen-burst grenade at Maddie's boots. It detonated with the glare of a dying star.
Maddie let out a sharp cry. She stumbled as the cavern whited out.
[Status Effect: Flash-Blind (Severe) - Vision reduced by 80%.]
Three Cleaners fired a point-blank volley at her chest. The bolts struck her [Abyssal Vanguard Carapace] and shattered into harmless splinters. Her armor held. She swung her broadsword in a wide, defensive arc. She relied on the sound of boots on stone as the Cleaners stepped back to stay just out of her reach.
On the right flank, the fight turned into a slaughter.
Tyson crashed into the frontline. A Cleaner swung a combat blade at his neck. Tyson stepped inside the guard and took a glancing blow off his shoulder to get his hands on the man.
He seized the mercenary's forearm. The reinforced carbon-fiber armor cracked under his [Strength]. The bone snapped backward. The mercenary swallowed his scream. He drew a serrated knife with his off-hand and buried it to the hilt in Tyson's side.
Tyson staggered. A ragged growl escaped his throat as hot blood soaked his shirt.
[Status Condition: Severe Bleeding (Tier 2)]
The Cleaners dropped their crossbows and drew systemic blades. They locked into a tight, back-to-back ring. Their kinetic-weave suits hummed with active energy.
They fight like the Imperial Guard, Khan murmured. Respect them, boy. Then butcher them.
In the mud, Don gripped his sword. His jaw locked. He stepped up beside the bleeding Tyson and held the line.
A grinding crunch of bedrock shook the cave.
Allison slammed her hands into the dirt. She pulled the earth together and sealed the entrance shut. Further back, Bram stood in front of the civilian bunker with his massive hammer resting on his shoulder.
The Cleaners were sealed inside.
They held their formation. The Shadow-Mage stepped to the center of the ring and slammed his staff into the stone.
[Umbral Grasp]
The shadows on the floor boiled. They whipped upward like black, multi-jointed limbs. They bypassed Maddie's dense armor and targeted the unprotected fighters. The limbs lashed out, wrapping around the hilts of Tyson and Don's swords. They ripped the weapons from their hands.
[Lethal Zone Detected: Disarmed.]
The frontline was crippled. Maddie swung blind. Tyson bled profusely. Don stood empty-handed. The hit squad raised their blades and advanced with silent corporate efficiency.
Up on the scaffolding, Will swore. He pivoted to draw a bead on the Mage.
Two shadows detached from the ledge as he drew the string. Two elite assassins vaulted over the scaffolding. Their knives glinted in the bioluminescent light.
The first assassin drove his shoulder into Will's chest. The impact pinned Will against the stone wall and trapped the heavy bow between them.
Will locked his jaw. He let the bow fall. His hand dropped to the hunting knife at his belt. He ripped the steel from its sheath and drove it upward into the dark.