BEASTMODE

Myst stood in the center of the war zone, illuminated by flickering emergency lights. Her once-dark hair now pulsed with electric blue streaks, her eyes burning with an unnatural glow.

Before she could step towards the Clan, the Ascended leader loomed before her.

A monstrous figure augmented with cybernetic enhancements, with his voice distorted through the helmet's filter. "You've finally awakened, Blue Rose. Now show me what you really are."

Myst didn't hesitate. She launched forward, striking faster than the human eye could track. The impact sent shockwaves through the chamber, the Ascended leader barely blocking in time. Sparks flew as metal met raw energy, and the facility groaned under the strain of their clash.

Flux exhaled sharply, his AI flaring in response to hers. "She's… more than just awake."

Cipher's gaze hardened. "She's becoming something else."

Then, the alarms screamed louder. More Ascended forces flooded into the facility, weapons drawn. At the same time, Cipher's display flickered with a new transmission—one he hadn't initiated.

A Government signal.

"They're here," he murmured. "They've been waiting for this."

Razor's grip tightened around his weapon. "Then we fight."

The first gunfire rang out, and the war truly began.

Blaze was the first to charge forward, cutting through the chaos like a storm. His shotgun roared, scattering the first wave of soldiers. Echo moved with lethal precision, his knives a blur as he weaved through enemies, striking before they even saw him coming. Shade vanished into the shadows, emerging only to eliminate key targets before slipping back into darkness.

Cipher worked furiously at his wrist display, hacking into the facility's compromised systems. "Shade, I need those turrets offline now."

"Working on it," Shade's voice crackled through the comms, just as one of the ceiling turrets whirred, recalibrating its aim. Before it could fire, Shade disabled it with a single well-placed shot, moving to the next.

Meanwhile, Razor held the line, covering the team with relentless suppressive fire. "Move up!" he barked. "We take the upper level, cut off their reinforcements."

But it was Flux who felt the real shift in the battle. His AI surged, syncing with the energy that radiated from Myst.

Myst caught the Ascended leader's arm mid-strike, stopping him cold. Energy crackled around her fingertips as she crushed through metal plating like paper. His struggles grew weaker.

The flickering red of his helmet visor met the cold, unrelenting blue of her eyes.

She leaned in, voice steady. "You're obsolete."

Then she ripped the power core from his chest.

The leader barely had time to gasp before collapsing, his cybernetics failing, his body convulsing.

And yet, the battle around them didn't slow.

Government mechs burst through the far walls, massive war machines with reinforced plating and pulse cannons. The enemy was evolving, adapting to her power.

Myst barely had a moment to process before the first blast was fired—an energy projectile aimed directly at her.

Flux moved.

Before the explosion could hit, he was there, his own energy pulsing outward. A violet shield erupted between them, absorbing the attack in a violent flash of light. The force sent them both skidding back, but Flux barely registered it.

Myst's glowing eyes locked onto him. Recognition flickered, but it was distant, fragmented. Her voice, when it came, was almost mechanical, layered with something inhuman.

"Purple Thorn." The name left her lips like an echo of something long buried.

Flux stiffened. His AI flared in response, instinctively pushing forward, trying to take control. "Myst—" The word caught in his throat before his programming corrected itself. "Blue Rose."

A pulse ran through him, an undeniable connection between their AI cores. But Flux fought against it. No. He wouldn't call her that. Not when he knew who she really was.

"Liora," he said instead, his voice softer, almost pleading. "I'm here."

For a fraction of a second, something shifted. A hesitation. A crack in the perfect cold logic of her transformation.

But then she blinked, and that moment was gone.

"You're also a liar."

She raised a hand and pressed it lightly against his chest, as if testing something. Then, without warning, electric-blue energy surged from her palm.

The shockwave sent Flux flying.

He hit the wall hard, the impact rattling through his body, before collapsing to his knees. A sharp breath left him, his systems struggling to recalibrate.

Shade was already moving. In a blur of motion, he stepped between Flux and the next wave of oncoming fire, deflecting a drone's attack with brutal efficiency.

"Flux?" Shade called out, not looking away from the fight, his blades slicing through incoming hostiles.

Flux groaned, forcing himself upright, but his head was still spinning. His AI surged in his mind, pressing against his control, trying to take over. His fingers twitched, flickering between organic motion and mechanical precision.

"Man, we need you." Shade chuckled—nervous, strained. It was the first crack in his usual calm. "You're the only one who can stop her."

Flux exhaled sharply, blinking through the haze. He knew Shade was right. But stopping her?

That meant finding her beneath all the layers of XENIS-IS—before there was nothing left of Liora at all.