The three orbitons hovered in silence above Terria's upper atmosphere, the blue curve of the planet stretching beneath them like a silent witness. Far behind them, the immense blade-shaped structure of Central Command drifted across orbit while Terrian patrol ships scrambled into formation. Warning signals and tactical markers flooded the battlefield grid, but for the three pilots facing one another in the void, everything else had fallen away.
Inside the NOIR cockpit, Youri's display glowed with streams of combat data. The ACX-01 cortex pulsed steadily beneath the machine's core, sending controlled bursts of energy through every conduit of the orbiton. The machine felt different now—lighter, faster, sharper. Each movement responded instantly to his thoughts.
Across the comm channel Leonora's voice came through, calm but focused.
"Cortex stability?"
"Seventy-nine percent," Youri answered. "Climbing."
"Good," she replied.
There was no further conversation.
Across from them, the Hound unit drifted silently. Its sensors scanned the two orbitons, calculating energy signatures, trajectories, weapon configurations. Inside the cockpit, Larsen watched the readings without expression. The spike in power coming from NOIR did not surprise him. It simply confirmed what Valis had predicted.
The Empire had improved.
Good.
He closed the communication channel without speaking.
The Hound moved first.
Without warning the machine surged forward, thrusters erupting into bright orange fire as it accelerated violently across the battlefield. The dorsal cannons rotated into position and unleashed a barrage of crimson energy bolts.
The first volley tore through the space where Phantom had been seconds earlier.
Leonora had already moved.
The Phantom unit flashed sideways like a silver shadow, its maneuvering thrusters firing in rapid bursts as it dodged the incoming fire. The machine twisted through the void and drew its weapon in a single fluid motion.
Twin plasma blades ignited from Phantom's forearms.
They burned bright violet against the darkness.
Leonora boosted straight toward the Hound.
Larsen did not slow down.
The Hound's cannons fired again, the blasts cutting wide arcs through the battlefield. One bolt skimmed across Phantom's shoulder armor, sending fragments of glowing plating spinning into space.
Leonora ignored it and closed the distance.
At the same moment—
Youri moved.
The NOIR unit launched forward from below, its thrusters igniting in a burst of dark blue light. The ACX-01 cortex surged as Youri pushed the machine harder than ever before.
Energy climbed past eighty percent.
The Hound detected the movement instantly.
Larsen shifted targets.
The dorsal cannons pivoted downward and fired.
A storm of energy bolts screamed toward NOIR.
Youri twisted the machine mid-flight, dodging the first two blasts before raising NOIR's arm. A plasma blade erupted from the weapon mount along the forearm, its deep crimson edge cutting through the void.
He slashed through an incoming bolt, the blade scattering the energy burst into fragments.
Then the battlefield exploded into motion.
Phantom attacked from the right.
NOIR from the left.
Leonora struck first.
The violet plasma blades carved across the Hound's shoulder plating, leaving glowing scars across the armor. The machine recoiled slightly as sparks burst outward.
But Larsen had already anticipated the attack.
The Hound's forearm cannons fired point-blank.
Leonora reacted instantly, boosting backward as the blast tore through the space in front of her. The explosion lit the battlefield in a brief flash of white.
From the opposite side, NOIR entered the fight.
Youri swung the crimson plasma blade in a wide arc aimed at the Hound's dorsal cannons.
Larsen jerked the machine upward just in time.
The blade sliced through empty space—but it passed close enough to shear off one of the cannon's outer armor plates.
Fragments drifted away from the machine.
Larsen responded immediately.
The Hound's thrusters ignited at full power.
The machine shot backward, creating distance before unleashing another barrage. Energy blasts rained toward both orbitons, forcing them apart as explosions lit the battlefield.
Phantom rolled through the storm of fire, thrusters blazing as Leonora dodged between the blasts. Her sensors tracked the Hound's weapon cycle.
"Youri," she said sharply.
"I see it."
The Hound's energy signature was rising rapidly.
Inside the cockpit Larsen activated the next phase of the machine's systems.
The Valis particle fusion core flared.
Synchronization mode engaged.
The Hound's energy output surged violently, waves of power flooding through its conduits. The glow around the machine intensified as its thrusters roared to life with renewed force.
Then it attacked.
The Hound accelerated like a missile.
A torrent of cannon fire erupted from its dorsal weapons, filling the battlefield with streaks of burning energy. The blasts forced Phantom and NOIR to scatter in opposite directions.
Leonora twisted Phantom sharply, one of the blasts grazing her leg armor and leaving a molten trail across the plating.
Before she could recover, another volley came.
She raised one plasma blade and deflected the blast, the energy dispersing across the blade's field before exploding harmlessly behind her.
Across the battlefield Youri drove NOIR forward again.
The ACX-01 cortex surged to eighty-five percent output.
The machine responded with terrifying speed.
NOIR burst through the storm of energy fire, dodging between the blasts before raising its arm. The crimson plasma blade ignited brighter as Youri swung it downward.
The blade struck the Hound's left cannon assembly.
Metal screamed as the weapon was sliced clean away.
The severed cannon drifted off into the void, still glowing from the cut.
Inside the cockpit Larsen's expression did not change.
He simply adjusted.
The remaining cannons shifted position.
The Hound fired again—this time a concentrated beam of energy that ripped across the battlefield toward NOIR.
Youri boosted sideways, the beam grazing the machine's shoulder armor and burning a deep line across the plating.
Warning lights flickered across his display.
But the machine held.
Leonora re-entered the fight from above.
Phantom dove toward the Hound, plasma blades blazing as she unleashed a rapid series of strikes aimed at the machine's thrusters.
Larsen twisted the Hound sharply, avoiding the first strike before firing another burst of cannon fire.
The blast forced Phantom away again.
For several seconds the battlefield became a storm of weapons fire, plasma blades, and maneuvering thrusters. The three orbitons moved through the void like dueling stars, each attack answered by another.
And slowly—
Youri noticed something.
The Hound was not retreating.
It was circling.
Drawing them farther away from Central Command.
Youri's eyes narrowed.
"This isn't random," he said quietly.
Leonora's sensors flickered as she analyzed the battlefield.
"You're right."
Across the void the Hound suddenly stopped.
Its energy output spiked again.
The Valis particle core burned brighter than before.
Larsen raised the machine's remaining weapons.
Then the Hound fired everything at once.
A massive storm of energy blasts erupted across the battlefield, forcing Phantom and NOIR to scatter as the void filled with explosions.
Through the chaos, the Hound accelerated away from them.
Not retreating.
Leading.
Inside the cockpit Youri stared at the sensor display.
A new contact had appeared far beyond their position.
Something large.
Something hidden behind the outer orbit.
Leonora saw it too.
"Youri…"
The battlefield fell quiet as the Hound slowed in the distance.
And far beyond it—
a massive shadow began to emerge from the darkness of space.