They hit the ground together. The impact sent both of them tumbling in different directions. Noah rolled, came up in a crouch. The Harbinger landed badly, one of its legs bending wrong.

'The wings are gone. It can't fly anymore. But it still has its physical capabilities. Still has those shockwave techniques. And it's missing an arm. I'm wearing it down.'

The Harbinger pushed itself upright. Looked at where its wings had been. The stumps on its back tried to regenerate but the void damage was too extensive. New tissue would form, turn black, dissolve. Form again, dissolve again. The regeneration was caught in a loop it couldn't escape. Same with its missing arm - the stump blackened and corrupted, unable to heal.

Its eyes found Noah. Intelligence was still there. Rage. Desperation. But also something else. The realization that it was going to die here.

It charged anyway.

No wings. No flight. One arm gone. Just raw speed and the determination of something that refused to quit. It closed the distance in seconds, faster than most creatures its size should move. Its remaining fist came around.

Noah met it with his own.

BOOM.

The shockwave from the collision flattened the area around them. Stone cracked. The ground caved in beneath their feet. Neither of them moved. Just locked together, fist against fist, testing pure strength.

Noah felt his bones protest. Felt the armor reinforcing his arm, preventing it from breaking under the pressure. The Harbinger's fist was pushing harder, its remaining strength focused into this single point of contact.

Then Noah activated Null Strike.

Void energy erupted from his knuckles. Traveled up the Harbinger's remaining arm in an instant. The limb didn't just break. It ceased to exist. From fist to shoulder, the appendage dissolved, became nothing, left empty space where matter used to be.

The Harbinger stumbled backward, off-balance, both arms now gone. But it still had its tail. The appendage came around in a sweep aimed at Noah's legs.

He jumped, used Gravity Defiance to hang in the air, came down with both feet aimed at the creature's head.

The Harbinger's tail snapped, creating another sonic boom that caught Noah mid-air. The force threw off his trajectory, sent him tumbling sideways. He hit the ground hard, rolled through it, came up already moving.

'It's still dangerous. Even without arms, even without wings, it's still adapting. Using its tail more effectively than before. Learning every second. I need to end this.'

The Harbinger charged again. Its tail became its primary weapon now, lashing out with techniques it was inventing in real-time. Whip strikes. Stabs. Sweeps. Each motion creating those sonic booms that turned air into weapons.

Noah dodged the first three strikes. Blinked away from the fourth. The fifth caught him across the ribs. He felt something crack despite the armor.

[-45 HP]

[Health Points: 2,860/3,520]

But he was learning too. Watching the patterns. Seeing how the tail telegraphed its movements, how the Harbinger had to shift its weight before each strike.

The next tail sweep came from the left. Noah didn't dodge. He activated Phase Step, became incorporeal, let the tail pass through him. Then he materialized, grabbed the appendage with both hands, and held on.

The Harbinger tried to pull away. Tried to create another sonic boom to force separation. But Noah's grip was reinforced by void energy, by armor, by determination that refused to let go.

He pulled.

Drew the Harbinger toward him, used its own momentum against it. Brought it close. And activated Null Strike with his knee aimed at its exposed midsection.

The blow connected. Void energy exploded through the creature's torso. This time there was no protection, no defensive adaptation. The impact point simply ceased to exist. A hole the size of Noah's fist appeared, went straight through, came out the other side.

The Harbinger gasped. Black blood poured from the wound. It staggered backward, the hole in its torso not regenerating, couldn't regenerate. Void damage spreading outward from the point of contact.

But it still wasn't down. Still trying to fight. Its tail came around one more time, slower now, weaker, but determined to land one final blow.

Noah didn't give it the chance.

He activated Phantom Step. Five copies peeled off, scattered in different directions, each one a perfect replica moving at Mach 2. The Harbinger's tail swept through the nearest copy, hit empty void energy, found nothing.

The real Noah was already above it. He'd jumped, used Gravity Defiance to run up the air itself, gained altitude through pure momentum. At the apex of his arc, he flipped, positioned himself perfectly, and descended.

Mach 2. Straight down. Both boots aimed at the Harbinger's skull. Void energy coating his legs, the Void Striders amplifying force beyond what normal physics would allow.

He felt his ankle snap the moment his kick connected. Felt bone break, ligaments tear, but the force had already transferred. The Harbinger's head went down, its neck bent wrong, and then the void energy hit.

The creature's entire head ceased to exist. Not exploded. Not crushed. Just gone. Empty space where it used to be.

The body collapsed. Twitched once. Went still.

Noah landed badly, his broken ankle unable to support his weight. He stumbled, caught himself with his hands, knelt there breathing hard. The pain was immediate and overwhelming. His ankle was definitely broken. His ribs were cracked. Cuts and bruises covered his body where feathers had punched through armor gaps.

[Health Points: 2,860/3,520]

[Void Energy: 22,250/24,000]

The Knight's Grace was already working to repair the damage, his enhanced vitality combining with the armor's regeneration bonus to accelerate healing. But it would take time. Time he might not have.

Noah looked around at the battlefield. The clearing was gone. What remained was a wasteland. Destroyed trees, cratered ground, furrows carved into stone. The devastation stretched in every direction, marking where two powerful things had tried very hard to kill each other.

'That thing evolved mid-fight. Grew wings, adapted to void energy, developed counters for everything I tried. If another Harbinger shows up with wings already developed, with time to master flight...'

The thought settled over him like ice. He'd barely won against one that was learning to fly. Something with full aerial mastery would be exponentially more dangerous.

Noah tried to stand. His ankle protested violently. He sat back down, leaning against a boulder that had somehow survived intact. His breathing was labored but steady. The immediate threat was gone.

Then he saw movement in the distance.

Another three-horn. This one was running through the forest beyond the destroyed clearing, its massive form carving a path through trees that hadn't already been destroyed. Deep gouges appeared in the ground where its feet landed, each step leaving craters. It wasn't headed toward Noah.

It was headed toward camp.

'Sophie. Lila. The crew. They don't have the armor. Don't have my regeneration. If that thing reaches them...'

Noah activated Shared Awareness, spent void energy to connect his consciousness with Sophie's. The sensation was disorienting. Seeing through her eyes, hearing through her ears, feeling her presence like an overlay on his own.

The camp was under attack. Two-horn Harbingers everywhere, at least eight of them, their bodies scattered throughout the defensive perimeter. Several were already dead, black blood staining the ground, but the survivors were coordinating. Moving with intelligence.

Sophie stood in a combat stance, both plasma blades ignited, facing down two two-horns simultaneously. Lila was behind her, objects floating around her in telekinetic orbit, launching projectiles at anything that got close. Angel moved through the chaos with lethal efficiency, her blaster taking precise shots that dropped Harbingers with headshots.

But they were outnumbered. And that three-horn was minutes away from joining the fight.

Noah cancelled Shared Awareness. His vision returned to normal, showing him the devastation around his position and the distant three-horn still approaching camp.

'I can't move fast enough. My ankle's broken. Even with the armor healing me, I won't reach camp before that three-horn does. But I have other options.'

He checked his void energy reserves again. It was enough for what he needed to do. Barely.

Noah activated Surge, chose his targets carefully. Sophie Reign. Lila Rowe. He felt the connection establish, felt a about 2 percent of his void energy flow through the Domain Link into both of them. They'd experience it as a sudden burst of power, purple aura around their bodies that would vanish instantly, leaving them feeling reinvigorated.

[Void Energy: 22,000/24,000]

Then he activated Shared Awareness again, spent more energy to see through Sophie's perspective. The purple aura had faded from both her and Lila, but he saw them moving faster now, striking harder. The boost was working.

Two two-horns tried to flank Sophie. She spun between them, plasma blades carving through natural armor like butter, movements amplified by the 20% enhancement Noah had provided. One Harbinger's arm hit the ground. The other took a blade through its throat. Both dropped.

But more were coming. And that three-horn would arrive soon.

Noah cancelled Shared Awareness again. Looked at his void energy.

[Void Energy: 21,750/24,000]

At the current rate, it was not enough for sustained combat. But enough for one more technique. One more gamble.

He pulled off a piece of his Eclipse gear. The insignia patch from his tactical vest. The black fabric with purple stitching, the symbol everyone in Eclipse knew. He looked at it for a moment, then made his decision.

[REAPER'S HARVEST ACTIVATED]

[COST: 18,000 VOID ENERGY]

The system notification appeared and Noah felt the drain immediately. His reserves dropped catastrophically, void energy pouring out of him into the technique. But he didn't stop it. Couldn't stop it even if he wanted to.

Black-purple energy erupted from the ground in front of him. A pillar that stretched upward, condensed, took shape. Twelve feet tall. Feminine. Four horns. The Widow's construct materialized, her form made of solidified void energy rather than flesh, her eyes glowing with empty purple light.

She had no intelligence. No personality. Just purpose programmed into her construction. Protect the Eclipse team, eliminate threats, follow commands.

Noah held up the insignia patch. "You wear this around your neck. So they know you're not an enemy."

The construct didn't respond. Had no capacity to respond. But she took the patch when Noah tied it around her neck like a scarf, the black fabric with purple stitching standing out against her void energy form.

"There's a three-horn Harbinger heading northeast toward our camp," Noah said, pointing in the direction the creature had gone. "Our people are already fighting multiple two-horns. You go there. You protect the Eclipse team. You eliminate all hostile Harbingers. Understand?"

The Widow construct's head moved in what might have been a nod. Or might have just been readiness to move. Noah couldn't tell and didn't have time to confirm.

"Go."

She moved but it didn't look like she was running because of how fast she went. It looked just like displacement, her void energy form teleporting in short bursts, covering distance faster than conventional motion. Within seconds, she'd disappeared into the forest, heading toward camp, toward the team that needed backup.

[Void Energy: 3,750/24,000]

Noah looked at that number and felt exhaustion settle over him. The Knight's Grace was supposed to provide 15% regeneration, but that only helped if you had energy to regenerate from. He was running on almost empty now for the size of his pool.

With almost nothing left except what the armor could provide.

But the three-horn wouldn't reach camp uncontested. The Widow construct would intercept it. And she was built from Noah's memory of the real Widow. Four-horn power, capabilities that had nearly killed him, techniques that had worked against SSS-rank combat. The construct wouldn't be quite as strong as the original, but it would be close enough to matter.

Noah pushed himself to his feet. His ankle screamed protest but held. The healing from Knight's Grace had progressed enough that weight-bearing was possible if painful. He started moving, limping through the destroyed clearing, heading toward camp.

The three-horn had maybe a three-minute head start. The Widow construct would catch it before it reached the team.

Probably.

Hopefully.

And if she didn't, Noah would get there as fast as his broken body could carry him.

One way or another, this ended soon.

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