The city burned behind them.
Graveport didn't fall quietly.
It screamed.
Missiles tore through towers.
Gangs scattered.
Refugees ran like insects under godlight.
Juvy ran in front.
Crystal walls formed with every step, shielding people from shrapnel.
"THIS WAY!" she shouted.
"DON'T STOP!"
Children clung to her coat.
Maxruell walked behind them.
Not running.
Not hiding.
Shadows rolled off him like smoke.
Tanks appeared at the end of the street.
Government insignia burned into their sides.
A voice boomed from a loudspeaker:
"World-level anomaly detected.
Terminate on sight."
Juvy turned. "We don't fight them here!"
Maxruell didn't answer.
The crimson stone pulsed.
They hunt you like animals,
the voice whispered.
Be the hunter.
He lifted his hand.
The street went dark.
Tank cannons froze mid-fire as their own shadows crawled up the barrels and bent them inward.
Metal shrieked.
Soldiers screamed.
The tanks folded like toys.
Juvy stared.
"Max… that was a whole unit."
"They were aiming at kids."
"That doesn't mean you erase them!"
He looked at her.
"They would erase us."
They reached the highway.
Smoke covered the sky.
Hundreds of refugees gathered around them.
A man whispered, "It's him…"
Another said, "The Grave King…"
Juvy clenched her fists.
"Stop calling him that."
No one listened.
Maxruell stood on a wrecked bus and looked at the crowd.
"No gangs.
No stealing.
No cults."
Fear spread.
"You follow these rules," he continued,
"or you don't stay near me."
Juvy jumped down beside him.
"We protect people," she said.
"Not rule them."
The crowd didn't know which one to believe.
That night, they camped in a ruined rest stop.
Firelight flickered on broken signs.
Juvy sat alone, sharpening a crystal blade.
Maxruell stood watch.
She finally spoke.
"You enjoy it."
He didn't turn.
"Enjoy what?"
"Being feared."
Silence.
Then:
"It works."
She looked up.
"So did Cain's way."
That hit.
He turned slowly.
"I'm not her."
"You're walking her road."
He looked away again.
Far away, inside a black command bunker, a general stared at satellite images.
"Casualties?"
"Two thousand, sir."
"And the anomaly?"
"Moving south with civilians."
The general exhaled.
"Mobilize everything."
Even farther away, inside a cathedral made of ribs and glass, Mother Cain smiled.
"They're running," she said softly.
"Good. Running shows shape."
She dipped her finger in blood and traced two lines.
One line toward light.
One line toward darkness.
"Now we see which twin breaks first."