The world was a nightmare of towering, pulsating mushrooms and deep, spore-filled chasms. The air was thick and sweetly toxic; their environment suits hissed with filtration.
The squad moved toward the Nexus Spire—a crystalline structure glowing with soft white light, surrounded by a ring of dead, violet-crusted fungus.
"Contact!" a Tech-Adept shouted.
Corrupted Mycelial Walkers erupted from the ground—fungal-humanoid hybrids, Tier 5, moving with shocking speed. The squad engaged.
Echo fought beside Leyla, his energy blade cutting through corded fungal flesh. His blood sense allowed him to predict their movements—he could feel the pulse of energy before they struck. He decapitated one, and black, tar-like blood spurted. Not blood. Not yet. But close.
He focused on the thick fluid. His bloodline stirred. He couldn't command it yet, but he could sense its flow, its weak points. "Aim for the nutrient nodes at the joints!" he yelled, and the squad adjusted, cutting the Walkers down efficiently.
Suddenly, one of the Drakani, named Sylas, shouted, "Flanking from the east!"
But Echo's blood sense felt no new pulses from that direction. It was a lie.
As the squad turned, the second Drakani, Vor'k, pulled a corrupted crystal from his pack and slammed it into the ground at the feet of the Gravorgs.
A wave of disabling energy erupted. The Gravorgs roared, their stone-like forms locking up as violet tendrils crawled over them. The Tech-Adepts' systems sparked and died.
"Betrayal!" Korvax shrieked, launching himself at Vor'k.
Sylas turned his weapon on the squad leader. "The Legion offers ascension beyond this frail Order!"
Echo moved. Not with his blade, but with his blood. He focused on Sylas, on the dual rhythm within him. The surface rhythm was his life. The hidden violet rhythm was the corruption's hold.
Echo couldn't command foreign blood yet. But he could disturb it.
He sent a pulse of his own Sovereign will through his bloodline, targeting the resonance of the corruption. It was like striking a tuning fork against a discordant chord.
Inside Sylas, the two rhythms were forced into violent interference.
The Drakani screamed, clutching his chest, as his own body rebelled. The corruption flared, trying to seize full control, but his natural biology fought back. He collapsed, convulsing.
Vor'k stared in shock. "What did you do?!"
Leyla was on him in a silver blur, her claws at his throat. "Stand down."
But Vor'k smiled, a sickly violet light glowing in his eyes. "Too late. The beacon is activated. They're coming."
Above them, the sky tore open.