Chapter 22 – No Escape

Cain's heart pounded as the dust cleared, revealing the three Warbringers standing in perfect formation. Each of them was identical—towering figures of reinforced Elysium armor, their energy cores pulsing with raw destruction. Their weapons hummed with restrained power, as if they were holding back the true extent of their capabilities.

They weren't just here to kill him.

They were here to erase him.

Beside him, the woman let out a slow breath, flexing her fingers as the remnants of her warped energy stabilized around her. She was still reeling from the Warbringer's grip—Cain had seen the way space had nearly folded around her body, the way she had flickered like a dying light.

She was damaged.

And now, they were facing three of these things.

Cain clenched his fists. His Titan Core roared in his veins, demanding action, but every instinct in his body told him there was no winning this fight. He had barely been able to land a blow on one Warbringer. Against three?

They wouldn't survive.

The Warbringers stood motionless for a single breath, as if assessing them. Then, in eerie unison, their heads tilted slightly.

Then the one in the center spoke.

"Final anomaly containment sequence engaged."

The moment the words left its mouth, the world collapsed inward.

Cain's breath hitched. The air bent around them, reality itself pulling toward the Warbringers like a vortex of crushing force. The ground cracked under his feet, entire sections of earth ripping away into nothingness.

They were rewriting space itself.

Cain moved instantly, grabbing the woman by the arm and pulling her backward as the ground beneath them imploded. The effect spread outward, swallowing everything it touched—a controlled destruction, an execution written into reality itself.

His feet barely touched solid ground before he launched himself away, golden flames bursting from his limbs, carrying both of them away from the collapsing earth.

The woman coughed sharply, barely holding onto consciousness as they landed behind a fractured stone outcrop. Her breathing was uneven, but her eyes were still sharp.

Cain could tell.

She was just as terrified as he was.

His hands shook. This wasn't a battle anymore.

This was extinction.

"We can't fight them," she rasped, gripping his cloak as she pulled herself upright.

"No kidding," Cain muttered, scanning their surroundings.

The Warbringers were already adjusting. They moved forward, weapons shifting, their spear-tips now crackling with contained void energy. Their next attack wouldn't just collapse space—it would erase them both entirely.

Cain inhaled sharply. They needed an out.

But there was nowhere left to run.

The surrounding area was wrecked. The initial explosion from the first Warbringer's strike had already torn apart the landscape, and now with their containment field expanding, every escape route was shrinking by the second.

Cain's mind raced.

His Titan Core was still burning, still screaming for release. He had been holding back, forcing it to stay contained—because every time he pushed too hard, he felt something break inside him.

Something he couldn't understand.

Something worse than the Warbringers.

But now?

If he didn't use it—they were dead anyway.

His fists clenched. There had to be a way.

Then, suddenly—he felt it.

A ripple.

Not from the Warbringers.

Not from the Titan Core.

From something else.

His head snapped toward the far edge of the battlefield, where the last remnants of the ruined structures stood.

A faint golden glow.

Not Titan energy. Not his.

Something older.

Something waiting.

Cain's pulse spiked. The Warbringers didn't react to it—they were locked onto him, blind to anything outside of their designated execution order.

Which meant—

Cain grabbed the woman's wrist. "We're running."

She gave him an incredulous look. "You just said there's—"

"No time," he growled. "Trust me."

For a second, he thought she would resist. That she would argue.

Instead, she nodded.

Cain didn't hesitate.

Golden flames exploded from his feet as he launched forward, pulling her with him. The Warbringers reacted instantly, their containment field surging forward to swallow them whole.

Cain pushed harder.

He could feel his body breaking down, the Titan Core drawing on more energy than it ever had before. His skin burned, his blood felt too hot, his muscles threatened to snap.

But he kept going.

The golden glow in the distance grew brighter.

Behind them, the Warbringers unleashed their final attack.

Cain felt it before he saw it—the space around them bending, pulling them inward. Their final execution protocol.

He could hear it in his bones.

"Eradication complete."

Cain roared.

And then—he reached the glow.

The moment he did, the entire world shattered.

A surge of golden light engulfed everything, swallowing the battlefield, consuming the Warbringers' attack.

Cain felt himself being ripped away.

Then—nothing.

Somewhere Else.

Cain gasped, his entire body convulsing. The golden energy around him flickered, dimming, stabilizing.

He wasn't in the battlefield anymore.

He wasn't anywhere he recognized.

The air was still. Silent.

The woman was next to him, coughing, shaking, but alive. She looked around, then at him.

"Where the hell—?"

Cain turned, his golden eyes scanning the strange, untouched ruins around them. The energy in the air was familiar, but… not his.

His gaze settled on something at the center of the room.

A massive throne.

Not just any throne.

A Titan Throne.

And sitting on it—

Cain's breath caught.

A figure.

Still as stone, yet radiating impossible power.

Eyes closed.

Armor ancient.

A presence older than anything Cain had ever felt.

Then—the figure's eyes opened.

Golden flames.

Titan flames.

Cain's heart stopped.

And then—it spoke.

"You are late."