The first Hunter moved like a blade thrown by a vengeful god.
One moment it stood ten paces away.The next it was in front of them — a blur of armor and lethal precision slicing through the air.
Lian yanked Amelia behind him and twisted, his arm sweeping up in a defensive arc. Sparks burst where metal met the shimmering crescent of energy that erupted from his forearm.
The impact cracked the earth beneath their feet.
Amelia stumbled back, breath caught behind her teeth. Lian didn't give her a chance to fall — he caught her wrist, held her steady with a grip full of controlled fury.
"Second one incoming," he warned.
The warning arrived a heartbeat before the threat.
Another Hunter darted from the left, its boots barely touching the ground. It raised a gauntlet glowing with a sickly blue sigil and fired a bolt of compressed force.
Amelia flinched.Lian didn't.
He pivoted, half-turn, palm raised. The blast hit an invisible barrier that rippled like disturbed water. The energy scattered into harmless motes around them.
But the effort cost him.
Amelia felt the pull in her chest — a tug deep within the bond, like a thread fraying under strain.
"Lian," she breathed, "you're burning too much power—"
He didn't look back at her. His focus was locked on the trio of advancing shadows.
"I'm fine," he said. But his voice wasn't convincing. "Just stay behind me."
The third Hunter stepped forward with a stride too calm to be human. It lifted its hand. Something clicked.
Lian's spine stiffened.
"Move!" he barked.
Amelia didn't ask questions — she dove to the side as the air around them collapsed inward, like the world had taken a violent breath.
A resonant net.
She recognized it from the facility's old research files. A weapon designed to cage anomalies. To shut down everything unnatural within its radius.
Which meant—
"Lian!" she cried.
He staggered as the shimmering lattice wrapped around him, each strand tightening like a noose made of light. His power flickered, sputtering under the suppression field.
The Hunters advanced in unison.
The one closest spoke, voice flat, almost bored:
"Subject L-03, power dampened. Surrender is mandatory."
Lian dropped to one knee, chest heaving. His hands dug into the dirt as if anchoring himself to the world.
Amelia's pulse roared.She didn't think.Didn't fear.Didn't hesitate.
She ran straight at the Hunters.
One turned toward her, raising its gauntlet—
A mistake.
Because it looked away from him.
Lian surged upward, teeth clenched against the suppression tearing at him. A burst of raw instinct — not clean, not controlled, but primal — erupted from him like fire breaking through ice.
The net shattered.
The force that followed wasn't elegant.It wasn't calculated.It was him. Untethered.
The nearest Hunter flew backwards, armor sparking.
The other two braced themselves, recalibrating, their visors flickering with new threat readings.
Amelia skidded to Lian's side, dropping to her knees. She grabbed his face with trembling hands.
"Lian— look at me. Can you hear me?"
His eyes lifted to hers.
Silver swallowed the iris.Too bright.Too wild.
"Amelia," he rasped, voice torn raw. "Stay back. If I lose control—"
"You won't."Her forehead touched his. Her voice steadied even as her heart tried to escape her ribs."I'm here. I'm grounding you. Look at me."
The silver flickered.
One of the Hunters raised a weapon behind her.
Lian's gaze snapped over her shoulder.
His voice dropped to a sound no human throat should make:
"Don't touch her."
The ground split beneath them.
A pulse of power tore outward, fast and vicious — a shockwave that hurled all three Hunters off their feet, slamming them into fractured concrete.
Amelia gasped as the air vibrated with the echo of his unleashed strength.
Lian collapsed forward, catching himself on shaky fists.
She held him, arms around his shoulders, refusing to let him fall.
He inhaled, breath ragged, and whispered against her ear:
"They'll call reinforcements… stronger ones."
"We'll handle them," she whispered back.
He shook his head.
"No. Not like this. I can't— I can't protect you if I lose myself again."
She cupped his jaw, forcing him to look at her.
"You didn't lose yourself," she said. "You fought for me. For us."
His eyes softened in a way that carved itself into her bones.
Then a distant boom rolled across the ruins — deep, resonant, unmistakably unnatural.
Amelia's blood went cold.
Lian's expression darkened.
"They're opening a breach."
He stood, slower than usual, but with a resolve that cut through the danger surrounding them.
"Amelia," he said, reaching out to her. "Whatever steps through next… we face it together."
She took his hand.
And the night trembled in agreement.