The impact never landed.
Tier Two Amplification caught the Predator's spear-point assault in a lattice of interlocked frost and solar flame just seconds before it could pierce the Fourth Light. The collision did not explode outward—it compressed.
Energy folded inward.
Pressure mounted.
The newborn node trembled but held.
Ethan stood at the center of the Convergence Axis, arms extended, Kaelith to his right, Lysarra to his left. Their combined resonance created a prismatic barrier that bent the Predator's focused strike sideways, deflecting the densest mass into open void.
But the cost was immediate.
Their output reserves dipped sharply.
The Predator recoiled—only slightly—its form reconfiguring with unnerving efficiency.
"It shed forty percent of peripheral mass to produce that spear," Kaelith said coldly. "It will regrow."
Lysarra's golden aura flickered as she stabilized the Fourth Light. "It has confirmed we will protect weaker nodes."
