Morning came with engines.
Not cult trucks.
Military ones.
Black armored carriers rolled through the fog like monsters on wheels.
Drones hovered above them.
Loudspeakers boomed:
"Target confirmed.
Anomalous entities detected.
Submit for containment."
Juvy grabbed Maxruell's sleeve. "Don't listen to them."
Maxruell's eyes stayed on the vehicles.
"They didn't ask."
Soldiers poured out gray armor, faceplates glowing blue.
A man stepped forward with a megaphone.
"We don't want to kill you.
We just want to study you."
Juvy snapped, "That's worse."
A sniper fired.
The bullet hit Juvy's crystal shield and shattered.
All hell broke loose.
Missiles launched.
Maxruell raised both hands.
The sky darkened.
Every shadow in the street stretched toward him like veins.
Two carriers were crushed flat.
Soldiers screamed as the ground swallowed them.
Juvy ran forward, gems spinning around her like planets.
She slammed her hands down.
The road turned to crystal.
Tanks skidded and flipped.
Soldiers were trapped inside glowing prisons.
"STAND DOWN!" a commander shouted.
Juvy looked at Maxruell.
"Stop before you become them!"
Maxruell saw a soldier pinned under rubble.
Young.
Bleeding.
Begging.
End him,
the voice whispered.
Rule him.
His shadow crept forward.
Juvy screamed, "MAX!"
He stopped.
The shadow froze inches from the soldier's throat.
Maxruell turned away.
"Retreat," he said to the army.
"Or next time I don't stop."
The soldiers pulled back.
Helicopters lifted off.
Smoke and sirens faded.
Silence returned.
Juvy collapsed.
Varkos exhaled. "They just declared war."
That night, cult symbols appeared on buildings.
Painted in blood.
Same mark Cain drew.
Juvy stared at one.
"They're spreading."
Varkos muttered, "She's recruiting."
Maxruell touched the symbol.
It burned his skin.
"I can hear her," he said.
Juvy stiffened. "What?"
"She's talking to me."
Far away, Mother Cain whispered into the dark:
"Come, king of graves."
And for the first time Maxruell answered.
Not out loud.
Inside.