Their exit was not clean. Both the Order and Corrupted agents, realizing the Tear had been interfered with, identified Echo's group as the source.
They fled through the opulent halls, now a battleground. Order Purifiers in gleaming armor clashed with Corrupted Ravagers in the corridors, their eternal war igniting in the neutral ground.
Echo's group was caught in the middle. They fought as a unit of five, their Quint-Bond singing. Leyla and Ryn held the front. Mira warped passages to lead pursuers into dead ends. Kiera used her knowledge of the station's black-market shortcuts.
Echo, his mind still ringing with the echo of the Whole, fought differently. He didn't just see enemies. He saw fractures.
When an Order Purifier lunged, he didn't just parry. He reached out with his Life-Thread Perception and, for a microsecond, showed the Purifier the loneliness at the heart of his rigid devotion. The man faltered, confused.
When a Corrupted Ravager charged, Echo showed it the fleeting memory of the peace it had lost. It hesitated, snarling in anguish.
He couldn't convert them. The schism was too deep. But he could create a moment of doubt. And in battle, a moment was enough.
They fought their way to their ship, the Wayfarer. As they lifted off, pursued by both Order interceptors and Corrupted sting-ships, Echo knew they couldn't lead them back to the Sanctuary.
"Plot a course for the Silent Veil," he ordered Ryn. "To the decoy."
The chase was a blazing streak through the Gloom. They took damage. Alerts blared. But they made it to the dust cloud of the Veil and dove into the pre-prepared fake sanctuary—a hollowed-out asteroid rigged with emitters.
As they hid, silent and dark, they watched the pursuers arrive. The Order and Corrupted forces, still hostile to each other, scanned the decoy, detected the faint resonance, and surrounded it. A battle erupted between them over who would claim the "prize."
They had bought time. At a terrible cost.
The Wayfarer was damaged. Kiera's resources were severely depleted. And the Grand Design now knew for certain that Echo was actively seeking the tools of Synthesis.
But in Echo's chest, the Vitalis Core glowed with a new, steady light. He had touched the origin. He had felt the schism from both sides.
He now knew the true enemy wasn't Order or Corruption. It was the trauma of separation that kept them—and everyone—at war.
And he knew the first, true step toward healing it.