The Bay Area was in ruins.
Ships burned, waves lashed against broken steel, and the skies swirled with violet lightning. At the heart of it all, towering above wreckage and fear, stood Typhon—a monstrous storm of scales, wind, and venom.
Civilians screamed in the distance. The ground trembled as buildings cracked and fell.
And through it all, Rin stood frozen.
Her eyes were blank, her breath shallow. She could barely hear the chaos. Her mind was trapped in the image of her cousin—broken, bruised, barely alive.
She felt useless.
Until—
"MIT, move in!" Athena's voice rang out.
---
Illumina raised her arms, the air around her shimmered like broken glass.
**"By the masks of lies, I fracture the truth. Let illusion veil the world—
Loki Protocol: Hall of a Thousand Faces!"
Reality distorted. The battlefield twisted into an illusionary realm—crumbling towers frozen in time, sound swallowed into silence. No civilians could see the battle now.
Janus stood before a massive golden frame that manifested midair, its borders ancient and alive.
**"Where one path ends, another begins. Open the gate of passage—
Janus Protocol: Threshold Eternal!"
Golden doors bloomed all around the city, civilians guided through by echoing echoes of Janus himself. He was everywhere, a walking miracle of rescue.
Newt exhaled as his veins pulsed green, his bones shifting with a sickening pop. His jaw unhinged wider than humanly possible.
**"To hunger is to endure, to consume chaos is to control it—
Taotie Protocol: Glutton of the Nine Hungers!"
He swallowed Typhon's plasma breath whole, skin glowing as he converted it into energy.
Vcorvex launched forward, his fists igniting with searing heat as data streamed into his visor.
**"From forbidden flame I rise, bearer of rebellion's first spark—
Prometheus Protocol: First Fire: Titanbreaker!"
Each punch left behind a burning sigil on Typhon's scales, igniting him from within.
Athena dropped into the fray, eyes glowing like storm-silver.
**"With wisdom as blade, and foresight as shield—
Athena Protocol: Dominion of Strategos!"
Lines of white light traced the air around her—tactical patterns that rewrote the rhythm of the fight. Everyone moved in perfect sync, as though they were parts of her mind.
---
Still—
Typhon laughed.
"Pathetic." His voice was a hurricane. "You bring your myths… but I am a god among monsters!"
He raised his hands, drawing energy into a spiraling vortex above him.
**"Born of the storm, crowned by chaos! Tremble before extinction—
Typhon Protocol: Wrath of the Hundred Mouths!"
He roared, and serpents of lightning lashed outward, tearing through illusion and stone alike.
---
And still, Rin did not move.
She stood still—head low, fists clenched. The world muted behind the roar in her head. She wanted to scream. She wanted to break.
" Where's the little spider you call Miss Arachne…" Typhon spat the name with disdain. " Oh I forgot She's dead, a weaver who tangled herself in her own strings. What a pitiful little hero."
That did it.
The rage came first. Then the heat behind her eyes.
Then—
The whisper from deep, deep inside her soul.
"Say it."
She blinked. Her mouth trembled.
{…sleep."
"To shadow… all things return…}
So she spoke
"Awake"
The wind died. The battlefield paused.
"From darkness… all things are born…"
The sky shattered. Blackness poured through the cracks like ink across glass.
"To shadow… all things shall return."
A massive pulse of shadow exploded outward from her, sending debris flying and darkness flooding the entire bay.
"Nyx Protocol: Primordial Womb of Night!"
---
Transformation complete.
She floated above the ground now, shadows coiling around her like living wings. Her skin shimmered like obsidian, eyes shining with the entire starless void.
The true power of Nyx had awakened.
Dark mist slithered out, blanketing the area and nullifying Typhon's storm. His plasma attacks faded into whimpers. His lightning died on impact.
The others watched, awestruck.
Newt stumbled. "...Rin?"
Illumina whispered, "She… ...."
Rin stepped forward, calm, focused.
"You mock the one who saved this city?" Her voice was distorted—echoing as if spoken by a thousand shadows. "You scream of chaos, yet you don't even understand it."
A black spear formed in her hand—not conjured, but born. She hurled it.
It tore through Typhon's chest. He shrieked.
---
Far away, in the MIT command center—
Raj froze.
A slow, stunned smile spread across his face.
"She did it."
---
Athena, could only whisper:
"Captain… your gamble paid off."
---
Back at the battlefield—
Rin hovered before Typhon, cloaked in divine night.
"I'm done watching people I love suffer."
Her aura grew darker. The void pulsed. The stars above trembled.
Typhon, once proud and unstoppable, was now gasping beneath her gaze.
"This is your only warning," she said.
And with one last flick of her wrist, the shadows wrapped around Typhon and dragged him into the sea, where the Nyx shadows would hold him long enough for containment.
---