The tremor didn't stop.
It rolled through Marsh like a slow, violent heartbeat.
The cracked ground vibrated beneath their feet, loose rocks floating and colliding in the low gravity.
Even the thin air seemed disturbed, rippling around Bandy as faint lightning crawled along his skin.
He stood frozen.
Head lowered.
Fists clenched.
That power again.
Bear felt it instantly.
Not fear—but pressure. The same kind he'd felt back during Kunter.
"Oi," Bear muttered, gripping the edge of a floating slab of stone. "He's leaking again."
Bandy's breathing was uneven. Every inhale sparked faint thunder. His eyes weren't glowing but something inside him was pushing outward, unstable.
And Drayke noticed.
He straightened slowly, brushing dust from his coat as if the tremor had merely inconvenienced him.
"So," Drayke said calmly, eyes locking onto Bandy, "this is the source."
The air twisted.
Not wind.
Not force.
Space itself bent for a moment, folding inward before snapping back.
BAM.
Drayke vanished.
"Scatter!" Chitki yelled.
Too late.
Drayke reappeared above them, knee dropping down like a meteor.
The impact shattered the ground, sending everyone flying in different directions.
Peppy slammed into a broken structure, rolling across the surface with a groan.
Bandri skidded backward, barely managing to anchor herself with her dagger.
Tuka flipped midair, landing awkwardly, cracking the ground with pure strength alone.
Chitki activated thrusters, stabilizing herself just in time.
"He's not using raw power," she shouted.
"He's rewriting distance!"
Drayke tilted his head slightly, amused.
"Smart," he said. "But slow."
He flickered again.
Bear felt it behind him this time.
He turned—
—just in time to block.
The impact sent both of them sliding across the surface, Bear's boots digging deep trenches into Marsh's soil.
His arms screamed in pain, bones rattling.
Bear grinned anyway.
"Yeah, no. Still hittable."
He lunged.
Drayke dodged effortlessly, but Tuka was already there.
No powers.
No tricks.
Just speed, muscle, and pure intent.
Tuka's punch connected.
For the first time—
Drayke moved back.
Not far.
Not hurt.
But surprised.
"…Interesting," Drayke said.
Before Tuka could follow up, the air folded again.
WHAM.
Tuka was thrown sideways, crashing hard.
Bandri rushed in next, blades flashing.
She moved low, precise, aiming for joints, angles Chitki had drilled into her a hundred times.
Drayke twisted mid-step, space bending just enough for her blade to miss by centimeters.
He grabbed her wrist—
—and stopped.
Lightning cracked.
Bandy had moved.
Not fast.
Not clean.
But enough.
A raw bolt exploded from his palm, tearing through the space between them.
Drayke released Bandri and leapt back as the ground behind him evaporated.
Smoke rose.
Bandy stood shaking, eyes wide, horrified at what he'd just done.
"I— I didn't—"
Drayke stared at the destruction.
Then he smiled.
A real one this time.
"There it is," he whispered. "Untrained. Unstable. Perfect."
Chitki fired.
A concentrated energy beam—compressed, spiraling, screaming through the air.
"ION BREAKER!"
Drayke warped sideways, but the beam clipped him, tearing through his shoulder and ripping space apart behind him.
For a split second—
He bled.
Everyone froze.
Bear exhaled sharply.
"So he can be hurt."
Drayke looked down at his shoulder, then back at them.
The wound sealed itself—not instantly, but fast enough to be terrifying.
"Yes," he said calmly. "But you don't have enough time."
The air screamed.
Portals snapped open and shut around them, disorienting, violent.
One moment Peppy was running toward Bandri—
—the next she was thrown meters away, barely saved by Chitki's suit pulling her back.
They attacked together now.
No order.
No formation.
Everything they had.
And still—
They couldn't touch him.
Drayke stood at the center of chaos, untouchable, watching them struggle like an experiment nearing its conclusion.
His eyes flicked once more to Bandy.
The tremor from Bandy's power surged again.
Stronger.
Uncontrolled.