Cain barely had a second to process her words before another bolt of white-hot energy seared through the air, shattering the crate beside him. Splinters rained down as he and the woman dived in opposite directions, rolling to avoid the barrage.
The Enforcers were advancing in formation, their weapons glowing with charged energy, their movements precise and calculated. No wasted effort. No hesitation.
They were here to kill.
Cain's mind raced. He had fought Enforcers before, but not like this. These weren't just standard executioners. Their armor was reinforced, their tactics cleaner, sharper. Elite hunters.
And they were focused on her.
Cain shifted his weight, scanning their approach. He needed to break their rhythm, disrupt their cohesion—but he didn't know if he could trust the woman at his side.
She had just admitted she had been one of them.
"Mind explaining that while we're being shot at?" Cain growled, his voice low as he ducked behind another crate.
She didn't answer immediately, her glowing blue eyes flicking toward the Enforcers with something far too familiar. Not fear. Recognition.
Then she exhaled sharply. "They used to be my squad."
Cain's fingers twitched. Of course they were.
He had been led into an ambush before, but this? This was something else.
The Enforcers weren't chasing an anomaly. They were cleaning up their own mess.
Cain ground his teeth. "So they're here to kill you."
"They're here to erase me," she corrected. "Same thing they'll do to you."
Cain inhaled sharply, forcing himself to push aside the thousand questions burning at the edges of his mind. Now wasn't the time.
Right now, he had two options.
He could run. Get out while they were still focused on eliminating their own, disappear back into the underworld before Elysium's forces tightened the noose.
Or…
He could fight.
Cain closed his eyes briefly, listening to the Titan Core pulsing steadily within him. His power was no longer an uncontrollable force—it was his. And every time he used it, he understood it more.
He didn't know who this woman really was.
He didn't know why Elysium had turned on her.
But right now, she was standing against the same enemy.
And that meant—for now—he wasn't letting her die.
Cain exhaled sharply. "Keep their focus," he muttered. "I'll break their line."
She blinked at him. "That's your plan?"
"Unless you have a better one."
She hesitated—just for a second—but then nodded. Whatever doubts she had, she buried them fast.
Cain moved.
The Enforcers fired as soon as he broke cover.
His body reacted before his mind. The Titan Core flared, golden light bursting to life around his limbs as he twisted, dodging the first barrage. He moved with impossible speed, his reflexes far beyond human limits.
The air cracked with energy as he closed the distance.
One of the Enforcers stepped forward, weapon raised, but Cain was already inside his guard. His fist crashed into the man's chest, the impact sending a ripple of golden force through his armor. The Enforcer was launched backward, crashing into his squadmates.
The formation shattered.
Cain twisted, ripping the weapon from the fallen soldier's grasp, pivoting just in time to block another strike. The moment the second Enforcer's weapon connected, Cain redirected the force, flipping his attacker over his shoulder and slamming him into the ground.
Another Enforcer tried to fire—too slow.
Cain blurred forward, slamming his elbow into the man's helmet. The Titan Core pulsed again, and the force of the impact sent cracks through the metal visor.
The remaining soldiers adjusted, switching their tactics immediately. Two of them moved back, raising their rifles—aiming not at Cain, but at the woman.
Cain's pulse spiked.
The Enforcers weren't fighting to win.
They were eliminating threats in order of priority.
And they had just decided she was the greater one.
Cain didn't think. He moved.
Too late.
The first rifle fired. The shot streaked through the air, a direct hit—
Or at least, it should have been.
Instead, the moment the energy bolt struck the woman's body, her form flickered—like a mirage—before twisting impossibly. The energy warped around her, bending midair before dissipating entirely.
The Enforcers hesitated.
Cain did too.
That wasn't normal.
That wasn't human.
He met her gaze for half a second. She didn't look surprised. She looked… annoyed.
Then she vanished.
Cain barely caught the movement as she reappeared behind the nearest Enforcer, her hands glowing with the same strange, flickering blue energy that had warped the shot before. Before the man could react, she slammed a hand into his chest, and the air rippled violently.
Cain felt pressure in his ears, like the world had just caved in on itself.
The Enforcer didn't scream.
He simply collapsed into nothing.
Cain's stomach twisted.
"What the hell was that?" he demanded.
She didn't answer.
Because at that moment, the remaining Enforcers pulled back—not in fear, not in panic—but as if receiving orders.
A low, mechanical hum filled the air.
Cain's eyes snapped up.
From the edge of the burning wreckage, something massive descended from the sky.
Cain barely had time to move before the impact shook the entire ground. Dust and debris exploded outward, the force of the landing enough to send even the surviving Enforcers reeling.
Cain's instincts screamed.
Not human.
The smoke cleared—revealing a towering armored figure standing at the center of the destruction.
Not an Enforcer. Something worse.
The Warbringers.
Cain knew what they were.
Elite. Unstoppable. The Council's final response to anything that threatened Elysium's power.
And the moment its helmeted gaze locked onto them, Cain knew they had just been marked for death.
The Warbringer raised its weapon—a massive spear lined with searing energy, its edge humming with barely contained destruction.
Then it spoke.
"Cain Voss."
Cain's breath stalled.
"The High Council has declared you an anomaly."
The Warbringer took a step forward, the ground beneath it cracking from the sheer weight of its presence.
"Surrender now."
Cain's Titan Core roared in response.
His eyes burned gold.
And then—chaos.