The silence that followed the collapse was not peace. It was void.
Thomas knelt by the corpse — bones turning to dust, Ayvu rising like steam from cracked porcelain. His fingers numb. But he was alive.
Behind him, the others groaned.
Anahi tried to rise, supporting herself against a broken pillar. Walter coughed blood, clutching his ribs, blinking as if he still didn't believe the battle was over. Lili remained on one knee, arms stretched, maintaining a defensive barrier around them — weak, but pulsing.
The ground hissed softly.
— Thomas… — Lili called, voice hoarse. — Don't move.
He turned his head, slowly.
She had crawled to him. Her right hand pressed over his ribs, Ayvu glowing beneath her palm. The energy wasn't soothing — it burned, dense, like iron heated too fast. Her face twitched.
— I can't do much. Just enough to stop the bleeding.
Her Ayvu surged. A circle formed beneath them — white lines, pulsing irregularly. Her fingers trembled.
Thomas grit his teeth. The pain sharpened.But his vision cleared.
Then, his HUD blinked on his wrist.
[STABILIZING…]
▬ Health: ↑ 19% → 36%
▬ Fracture integrity: 21%
▬ Ayvu flow: restricted
▬ Movement allowed: limited
▬ Reaction time: degraded
Good enough.
He opened his mouth to thank her—
Then the air cracked.
A faint whistling.
Sharp. Subtle. Instinct flared.
Thomas's eyes snapped to the side.
A projectile — thin as a needle, glowing faint blue — cut through the shadows.
Too fast to dodge.
Too sharp to block with muscle.
His body couldn't react.
But something else did.
His right eye burned. His fingers twitched.
A faint vibration.
One of his daggers, still buried in the Yandu's corpse, ripped free.
It spun.
Then clanged against the incoming shard mid-air.
Sparks.
The needle was deflected — embedded into the stone floor beside Lili's foot.
She gasped. Thomas rose halfway.
From the shadows, behind a collapsed column —
A figure emerged.
— Tch. You're still standing? That's inconvenient. — Davi's voice was quiet. Almost polite.
He stepped into the light, hands raised slightly. Behind him, like a broken halo, floated dozens of translucent blades — thin, mismatched, glimmering with unstable Ayvu.
Lili's circle faltered.
Walter grunted, tried to lift his blade — but Davi's expression darkened.
— Don't. You won't even see them coming.
Anahi pushed herself forward, already limping.
— Davi…? What the fuck are you doing?
He smiled, calm.
— Collecting.
No one understood.
Not yet.
Then he snapped his fingers.
Three shards launched forward. One toward Anahi, another toward Walter, the third at Lili.
Thomas moved. Too slow.
Anahi raised her arm — the blade pierced through her shoulder.
Walter deflected with the blunt edge of his sword, but still staggered, blood pouring from his side.
Lili's shield tried to form — cracked mid-air.
The shard grazed her ribs.
They all collapsed. Screaming. Grunting.
Thomas stood fully now, blood dripping from his jaw.
— Why?
Davi tilted his head. Calm. Detached.
— Because you're all weak, at least at this moment.
He raised one hand. More blades formed behind him, orbiting him.
— You think the Order gives a damn? Think the report's gonna say we fought bravely? Hah. No. They'll reward whoever brings the cores. The body. That thing you killed? That's worth a city's fortune on the right market. And you're just… tired. Bleeding. Convenient.
He took a step forward. Another blade formed in his palm, long and curved.
— I didn't think you'd survive the Yandu. Honestly? I was going to loot your corpses. But now…
He pointed the blade at Thomas.
— I guess I'll have to finish the job myself.
And then he launched the first storm. Twenty shards — sharp as broken glass, vibrating with Ayvu distortion — tore through the air.
Thomas couldn't block them all.
But someone did.
Walter.
The large man stepped beside him with a roar, raising his curved blade. The weapon flared with raw Ipo. His stance was cracked — leg bleeding, ribs broken — but his will was whole.
He spun.
Three shards shattered mid-air.
He swung again. Another five deflected.
— I've got left. You go! — Walter barked.
Thomas nodded, limping toward Davi.
But Davi was already forming another barrage.
— You really think I'm outnumbered? I've fought worse odds.
Shards flew again — sharper now, aimed at weak points.
But then…
click-click-BEEP.
A pulse wave vibrated through the cavern.
Davi's Ayvu momentarily rippled. Some of his shards blinked out of existence.
— What the hell—?!
It was Anahi.
Bleeding, a lot, but alive — crouched behind a broken column, a small device clutched in her hand.
It was a PFR (Portable Frequency disruptor). Homemade. Scrambles Ayvu flow within three meters.
She raised her eyes.
— Suck it.
Davi screamed. His fragments began to flicker, blinking in and out like faulty lights. He redirected focus toward her — forming a full blade, thick and curved, hurling it straight at her chest.
Thomas turned to run, too slow again—
But the blade hit something invisible mid-air.
BOOM.
A ripple of white Ayvu bloomed between Anahi and the shard, dissipating both.
Lili.
Standing behind them all, both palms open, sweat streaming down her temples, eyes burning bright white.
— I said… I still have one shield left.
Her barrier trembled but held.
And behind it, she whispered to Thomas:
— I can cover your path.
One direction. One chance.
Thomas stayed silent, still on his knees, chest heaving.
Davi saw it, yet he smiled.
— That's it. Run to me.
He raised both arms. All remaining shards — nearly fifty — floated around him in a spiral.
He screamed. Ayvu cracked.
The chamber bent under the weight of it.
Thomas kept running.
Lili flared the path ahead. A corridor of light, blocking all incoming projectiles from the sides.
Walter moved again, smashing down three shards that came from above.
Anahi, injured and on the floor, tapped the disruptor again — BEEP-BEEP — halving Davi's Ayvu output for a moment.
Thomas closed the distance.
Davi roared.
He formed two long swords now — Ayvu hardened into jagged metal, both hands armed.
— COME THEN!
— YOU THINK YOU'RE SPECIAL?
Thomas ducked, rolled, and leapt — just in time to block a blade with his forearm. The pain shot up his spine.
He twisted.
Elbowed Davi in the face.
The impact sent both stumbling back.
Davi recovered faster.
The next blade cut Thomas's ribs. Deep.
He staggered, turned the momentum into a spin, caught a falling dagger mid-motion with his telekinesis — and threw it into Davi's shoulder.
The impact wasn't fatal.
But it created the opening.
Thomas ran.
His right eye flared.
The vectors aligned.
Ayvu surged behind his movements like a dying star waking up again.
He tackled Davi to the ground. It was just the two of them now.
Just blood and will.
Davi coughed once. Then twice.
His body spasmed under Thomas's weight. Blades gone. Defenses broken.
Thomas straddled him.
The dagger in his hand trembled.
Then pierced, straight into Davi's chest — between the ribs, down to the hilt.
Davi gasped, eyes widening.
— You… you piece of shit… — he muttered. Blood bubbled from his lips.
Thomas didn't blink.
He stared down, one arm shaking, the other steady — eyes hollow.
Davi began to rage, trying to attack Thomas but Anahi used her last disruptor bomb, interupting a attack Davi were planning.
— I'll… I'll to kill you, you hear me? You're nothing. A rat.
— Please... Don't make it harder, just... — Thomas said, trying to calm things down but got interrupted.
— I'll haunt your family, Thomas. I'll find them in their sleep — and rip their names out of their throats!
Thomas's voice came out low.
Flat. He looked down.
— You shouldn't have said that.
His pupils narrowed.
Davi forced his head up, veins bulging in his neck, spitting blood as he screamed one last threat.
— THEY'LL CHOKE ON MY NAME, YOU SON OF A B…
Thomas grabbed his face.
Raw hands, scraped, burned. No elegance. No technique.
He slammed Davi's head against the stone floor.
Davi's eyes rolled back.
Thomas reached in — not with the dagger, but with Ayvu. His body became a vortex, pulling Davi's spirit raw.
Davi screamed like a child being unmade.
His hands clawed at the floor.
His legs kicked, scraping stone.
Blood poured from his nose, eyes, ears —
But Thomas didn't stop.
Ayvu tore from the dying man's body like smoke from a fire.
It surged through Thomas's hands, into his chest, his lungs, his wounds.
And Davi?
He begged.
— PLEASE! NO! I… I DIDN'T MEAN IT… MEAN TO… I...
His voice cracked into sobs.
— I WAS JUST… JUST TRYING TO LIVE!
Thomas said nothing.
Because Davi had made his choice.
And Thomas had made his, too.
He kept going until Davi stopped breathing.
Until the shaking stopped.
Until the last bit of Ayvu twisted into vapor.
And then… there was only silence.
And only then did Thomas collapse sideways, gasping.
The silence afterward was suffocating.
Only the faint crackle of Lili's last barrier remained.
Walter limped forward, sword dragging behind him.
Anahi sat against the wall, holding her stomach, eyes wide.
Lili stood barely conscious, hand on her staff, watching.
No one spoke.
Until Walter muttered:
— What… the fuck… was that?
Anahi coughed. Then said, weakly:
— He… he pulled it out of him. Like it wasn't even a fight. Just… stripped his Ayvu.
Lili's eyes didn't leave Thomas.
Her voice was soft.
— That looked like a Yandu's Vekatu.
She took a step forward.
— Are you… even human?
Thomas didn't answer.
He stayed on his knees, chest heaving.
The dagger clattered to the ground beside Davi's body — now dry, collapsed, like an empty bag of skin.
Walter exhaled, then chuckled — bitter, broken, relieved.
— Human or not…
I'm just glad he's on our side.
Anahi whispered, barely audible:
— Yeah… same.
Thomas finally stood.
The light in his right eye dimmed. The blood had stopped.
The skin over his ribs — healing.
Ayvu flowed steadily through his chest.
The pulse monitor on his wrist blinked awake. A soft hum. Then data poured in:
[SYSTEM STABILIZED]
Vital Signs: Normalizing
▬ Heart Rate: 104 BPM → 78 BPM
▬ Hemorrhage Risk: 12% (↓)
▬ Neural Response: Reactive
▬ Pain Index: 68%
⬛ Cellular regeneration detected.
⬛ Ayvu integration active.
[LEVEL: 58.0 (↑)]
► Performance threshold exceeded.
► Combat data registered.
► Adrenal overload logged.
☼ Snapshot saved: "core_extraction_D17R.dmp"
He looked for remorse. Found none.
He turned away.
And said, to no one in particular:
— Let's go home.