"Nyx," Noah said quietly. "Ascend."

Reality tore. A vertical slash of purple-black void energy splitting the air like someone had cut the world with a knife. The wound spread, edges crackling with power, and red mist began pouring from the opening. Thick. Hot. Wrong.

Then came the roar.

It wasn't sound so much as pressure, a noise that traveled through bone and organs before reaching ears. The ground trembled. Wreckage shifted. Every Harbinger on the battlefield turned toward the portal, recognizing threat before they could even see what was coming.

Nyx emerged like a small mountain deciding it was tired of being stationary. Thirty feet of scaled death, red armor catching light and throwing it back wrong. His golden eyes locked onto the Harbingers with intelligence that carried absolute hatred. Heat radiated from his form, making the air shimmer, turning breath to visible steam.

The dragon's Molten Core activated without Noah needing to command it. Red scales brightened to almost white, temperature spiking so fast that frost on nearby wreckage began sublimating directly to steam. One of the Harbingers actually took a step backward, recognizing something it couldn't fight.

Nyx dove toward it without hesitation, wings tucked, building terminal velocity. The two-horn tried to dodge, but twenty tons of angry dragon moving at terminal velocity didn't offer many escape options. They collided with force that cratered the ground, sent shockwaves rippling outward, scattered debris in a perfect circle.

Noah didn't watch the rest. Nyx could handle one. That left three.

The nearest Harbinger turned its attention from the dragon fight to the smaller targets, intelligent enough to apparently calculate the odds that three humans were easier prey than whatever nightmare Nyx represented. It charged, covering thirty meters in maybe two seconds, fist drawn back for a strike that would pulverize steel.

Noah blinked.

Void energy flared, reality folding around him, and he reappeared ten feet to the Harbinger's left. Excaliburn came around in a horizontal slash aimed at its midsection. The blade hummed, void energy coating the edge in purple-black light that unmade anything it touched.

The Harbinger twisted mid-charge, impossibly fast for something its size. Excaliburn carved through empty air where its torso had been a millisecond before. It landed, spun, backhanded at Noah with force that would have turned him into paste.

He activated Phase Step.

His body phased out of sync with reality for exactly two seconds. The Harbinger's fist passed through him like he was smoke. Noah phased back in, drove Enhanced Null Strike into its exposed ribs.

The impact was beautiful. Void energy exploded outward from the contact point, his enhanced strength multiplied by purple-black power that erased matter on contact. The Harbinger's natural armor cracked, flesh underneath simply ceasing to exist, a hole appearing in its side roughly the size of Noah's fist.

It screamed and the sound was so high-pitched and sounded organic and absolutely furious. Black blood that wasn't quite liquid poured from the wound, already trying to close, but void energy fought against the regeneration. The healing was slower here, corruption spreading through tissue, making recovery difficult.

'Good. They can't just tank everything.'

The second Harbinger joined the fight before Noah could press his advantage. It came from his right, moving low, trying to tackle him while his attention was split. Noah saw it peripherally, blinked again, reappeared twenty feet back. Both Harbingers tracked him immediately, intelligence recognizing the teleportation pattern.

One darted left. The other went right, flanking him.

'They're smarter than the average two-horn. Great.'

Noah raised his left hand, fingers forming a gun shape. Void Barrage activated, purple projectiles erupting from his fingertips in rapid succession. Ten bolts, twenty, thirty, converging on both targets from multiple angles.

The Harbingers scattered. Most of the bolts missed, impacting wreckage behind them, erasing chunks of metal and stone. A few connected, punching holes through natural armor, forcing them to acknowledge the threat. They weren't hit at vital spots and even with gaping wounds they were still absolute monsters through and through.

They adjusted tactics immediately, staying mobile, not giving him stationary targets.

Noah switched strategies. Excaliburn came up defensively as the wounded Harbinger charged again, and he met it head-on instead of dodging. The blade carved upward, aiming for its throat. It leaned back, the void edge missing by inches, and drove its knee toward Noah's chest.

He caught the knee with his free hand, enhanced strength barely sufficient to arrest the momentum. The impact drove him backward three feet, boots carving furrows through scorched earth. Before he could counter, the second Harbinger was there, fist coming at his exposed side.

Noah activated Storm Call.

The sky darkened instantly, clouds materializing from nothing, building toward something violent. Lightning began gathering overhead, purple-white electricity that responded to his will rather than physics. The first bolt descended, not at the Harbingers but at the ground between them and Noah.

The explosion was pure concussive force and electrical discharge. Both Harbingers were thrown backward, their charge interrupted, bodies skidding across the battlefield. Noah used the opening to create distance, blinking to higher ground on a pile of wreckage that gave him better sightlines.

Both Harbingers recovered fast. Too fast. They were on their feet within seconds, circling his position, looking for angles. The wounded one was favoring its injured side but not letting it slow the advance. The other looked completely fresh apart from a few void barrage wounds.

'I need to finish the wounded one before they can coordinate properly.'

Noah blinked directly at the injured Harbinger, appearing within arm's reach. Excaliburn came around in an overhead strike aimed at its skull. It raised both arms to block, natural armor intercepting the blade. The void edge bit deep, carving through the tough skin but it responded before things got worse with a devastating headbutt.

THOOOOM!!

The impact was like getting hit by a transport. Noah's vision exploded with stars, his nose breaking, blood immediately pouring down his face. He staggered backward, and the second Harbinger was already moving, capitalizing on the opening.

Its fist came at Noah's midsection. He twisted, took it on his side instead of center mass. Ribs cracked. Pain exploded through his torso. He blinked reflexively, reappearing thirty feet away, breathing hard.

[Health Points: 3,380/3,520]

'That hurt. Okay. New approach.'

---

Sophie and Seraleth had engaged their own two-horn maybe fifty meters from Noah's position, and the fight was going about as well as fighting a fifteen-foot murder machine could go.

The Harbinger moved like something that had been built specifically to kill. Its first strike had nearly taken Seraleth's head off, a backhanded swing that created visible displacement waves. She'd ducked under it, came up inside its guard, drove her fist into its midsection with white chi blazing around her knuckles.

The impact was massive. Her vibration-enhanced punch hit once but felt like twice, localized resonance making the Harbinger's internal organs shake. It staggered, surprised something so much smaller had actually hurt it.

"Strong," it said, voice carrying that rough gruff quality Harbingers possessed. "But I am stronger."

It headbutted her before she could dodge. Seraleth's head snapped back, her feet actually leaving the ground from the force. She hit the earth hard, rolling with the impact, came up with blood running from her nose.

Sophie was already moving. She came from the Harbinger's blind spot, plasma blades crossing in an X-pattern aimed at its throat. The killing blow, precise and brutal.

The Harbinger's hand came up, caught one blade between its fingers. The plasma burned, seared through natural armor, made its palm smoke. But it held, kept the blade from reaching its throat.

Its other hand swung at Sophie like a freight train. She saw it coming, tried to dodge, wasn't quite fast enough. The fist missed her by maybe an inch, close enough that the displacement wave caught her anyway. Sophie was thrown sideways, hit the ground rolling, came up twenty feet from where she'd been standing.

"Sera, pressure from the right!" Sophie shouted, already moving back in.

Seraleth charged from the opposite side, her height giving her reach most humans couldn't match. Her fists were a blur, white chi enhancing every strike, each impact resonating through the Harbinger's body. Left jab to its floating ribs. Right cross to its gut. Uppercut to its jaw that actually lifted it slightly off the ground.

The Harbinger tanked the hits, absorbing most of the damage, and grabbed at her. Seraleth twisted, almost got clear, but its fingers caught her shoulder. It yanked her forward, drove its other fist into her stomach with enough force to make her armor crack.

Seraleth gasped, blood spraying from her lips. The Harbinger didn't let go, preparing for a follow-up that would punch through her entirely.

Sophie's plasma blade took it across the back of its knee. The joint buckled, throwing off its balance. Seraleth used the opening to break free, staggering backward, one hand pressed against her stomach where blood was already soaking through her armor.

"I'm fine," she said before Sophie could ask. "Keep moving."

They circled, forcing the Harbinger to split its attention. It was limping now, that knee wound bleeding black ichor, but hardly slowed. These things had been designed to fight until they stopped functioning, and one damaged leg wasn't sufficient to stop function. More over, it would heal.

Sophie came in low, both blades spinning in patterns designed for maximum coverage. The Harbinger blocked the first two strikes with its forearms, took the third across its chest. Plasma scored a line through armor, burning deep, making it hiss in pain.

Seraleth hit it from behind, both fists driving into its spine with resonating impacts. The Harbinger arched backward, turning to swipe at her. Sophie used the opening to drive both blades into its side, angling upward toward where organs should be.

The Harbinger screamed. Real pain now, not just acknowledgment of damage. It spun, caught Sophie with a backhand that sent her flying. She hit wreckage hard, felt her left arm break on impact, and collapsed in a heap.

"Sophie!" Seraleth's voice carried genuine fear.

The Harbinger advanced toward Sophie's prone form, limping but determined. Seraleth threw herself at it, wrapped her arms around one of its legs, trying to slow it down through sheer bodyweight. It dragged her forward, not even acknowledging her attempts.

Sophie pushed herself up with her good arm, vision swimming. Her plasma blades had deactivated when she'd dropped them, the weapons lying several feet away. The Harbinger was ten feet away.

Eight.

Six.

Then Nyx's roar split the air, and a dark core the size of a fist landed in the dirt beside Sophie. Still glowing faintly green, pulsing with residual energy. The dragon's kill, delivered while Noah was still engaged.

Sophie grabbed the core with her good hand, felt the energy inside responding to her touch. Not useful as a weapon. But proof that Harbingers could die.

The two-horn reached her position. Raised its fist for the killing blow.

Seraleth hit it from the side like a freight train, white chi blazing so bright it hurt to look at. Her punch connected with its temple, vibration resonance making its entire skull shake. The Harbinger staggered, disoriented.

Sophie rolled, grabbed one of her plasma blades, ignited it with a thought. Rose to her feet despite the broken arm, despite the pain. Walked toward the Harbinger while it was still trying to recover from Seraleth's strike.

"Sera, hold it!"

Seraleth wrapped both arms around the Harbinger from behind, locking it in place through sheer strength and determination. It thrashed, trying to break free, but she held firm despite the claws raking across her arms and torso.

Sophie drove her plasma blade up through the Harbinger's jaw. The weapon punched through the roof of its mouth, kept going, carved through brain matter, emerged from the top of its skull. She twisted the blade, burned everything inside.

The Harbinger convulsed once. Went still. Collapsed forward, taking Seraleth with it.

Sophie dropped to her knees, exhaustion and pain catching up. Her broken arm hung useless, and blood ran from a dozen smaller injuries she hadn't noticed during the fight. Seraleth pushed the corpse off herself, breathing hard, her armor torn to pieces, deep claw marks visible across her stomach and arms.

"We won," Seraleth said, voice carrying disbelief.

"We won," Sophie agreed.

---

Noah finished his second Harbinger maybe thirty seconds after Sophie and Seraleth finished theirs. Enhanced Null Strike to the back of its skull while it was distracted by Storm Call lightning, void energy carving through bone and brain matter, erasing the core structures that kept it alive. It dropped like a puppet with cut strings.

The battlefield went quiet except for small fires and the sound of distant movement. Noah stood among the wreckage, breathing hard, Excaliburn dripping with black blood. His void energy reserves were down to maybe sixty percent, his body carrying a dozen minor injuries that his regeneration was slowly fixing.

"Kelvin, status?" Noah said into comms.

"Got her!" Kelvin's voice came back, carrying relief so profound it was almost physical. "Cora's alive! Injured but alive! Diana's extracting six other survivors from a different section!"

Noah felt tension release slightly. They'd done it. Fought four two-horns, got the survivors out, nobody on their team was dead. That counted as a win.

Then he heard it. The distinct sound of military transports approaching, engines recognizable from a kilometer away. EDF craft, multiple contacts, coming in fast.

Diana's voice came through comms, dry and sardonic. "EDF's finally showing up. One would think after all their students nearly got killed on Cannadah, they'd learn to respond faster. But here we are."

Noah watched the transports approach, already knowing this conversation was going to be complicated. Eclipse Faction showing up at a military academy disaster, killing Harbingers on what was technically EDF jurisdiction. This was going to create problems.

But right now, Kelvin was carrying Cora in his arms, her short hair matted with blood but her eyes open and aware. Diana emerged from wreckage with two students supporting each other, three more following behind. Survivors. Actual survivors despite the massacre.

The EDF could complain later. Right now, Eclipse had done what they came to do.

Noah dismissed Excaliburn, letting the blade dissolve into void energy. Turned to help Sophie, whose broken arm needed immediate attention. Nodded to Seraleth, who looked like she'd been through a meat grinder but was still standing.

The transports landed, disgorging EDF personnel who immediately began securing the area. An officer approached Noah, expression suggesting this conversation was about to become official and unpleasant.

But that was a problem for later.

Right now, they'd won.

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