Dawn never came.
The sky had started to lighten when the air fractured.
Not thunder.
Not magic.
Reality itself cracked open above the camp like glass under pressure.
Rowan barely got to his feet before the blast hit.
A spear of crystalline metal slammed down from the sky, embedding into the earth—followed by impact shockwaves that shattered stone and knocked the fire dead.
> [ALERT: Class-9 Combat Entity Detected]
[Designation: SHARD ENGINE]
[Intent: Elimination of System Contaminants]
Darius rolled to his feet, blade out. "This isn't like the Watcher—"
It dropped from the sky like a god of war. Humanoid, but wrong—too tall, too sharp. Armor that wasn't built but grown from code and crystal. Its chest pulsed with a red-lit core. Arms folded into living blades.
And it didn't talk.
It moved.
Rowan charged—and vanished in a blur of sparks. One swipe of the Engine's blade, and the ground behind Rowan split in half.
Aric raised his shield, absorbed the strike—and was launched across the battlefield, shield crumpled, ribs cracked.
Kaelira didn't hesitate.
"Move!"
She unleashed three blasts of corrupted system energy—sharp, direct, fatal. They hit.
But the Engine absorbed them. Converted them. Its core flared brighter.
> [Attack Logged. Origin: Defunct Crown-Class Entity.]
[Priority Upgrade – Monarch Detected.]
Kaelira's eyes widened. "It's learning."
Darius's system flickered.
> [System Intervention Option Available – 5 SP Required]
[Activate?]
"Do it!" he roared.
> [Intervention Activated – Summon: Obsidian Construct (Vanguard-Class)]
The ground split again—this time from his side.
A black-armored giant rose, spiked and glowing with lava-core energy. A construct of the empire, long buried, now reawakened.
The Shard Engine paused.
Then it charged.
Construct met Engine. Blade met blade.
Darius turned to Kaelira. "What is that thing?"
She wiped bloo
d from her lip. "That? That's not just cleanup. That's a message."
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