Gunfire fractured the night.
Not random.
Controlled bursts.
Then screaming.
The barricades shuddered as Hollows slammed into reinforced metal.
Not dozens.
Hundreds.
The resonance web had coordinated perfectly.
The soldier gripping Aden's arm tightened his hold.
"You're coming inside. Now!"
Aden didn't resist immediately.
He watched.
He calculated.
The scientist barked orders behind them.
"Secure anomalous subjects! Transfer to inner perimeter!"
Anomalous subjects.
That meant him.
And Ibrahim.
Not survivors.
Assets.
Outside—
A floodlight exploded.
Darkness swallowed one side of the checkpoint.
A synchronized surge of Hollows crashed into the weakened flank.
Military lines bent.
Aden felt it.
The web tightening.
Converging.
But layered beneath it—
Another presence.
Cold.
Precise.
Descending.
Phase Two.
The thin figure dropped from a rooftop and landed silently beyond the barricades.
It did not charge.
It did not roar.
It walked.
Each step deliberate.
Hollows parted slightly around it.
Not obeying.
Not controlled.
But adjusting.
The web was reacting to its presence.
Even the network was not in full command here.
The soldier pulled Aden toward a reinforced tent.
Ibrahim stumbled beside him.
"Move!"
Aden stopped walking.
Just slightly.
The soldier turned.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Aden's voice stayed level.
"If you take us inside, we're trapped."
"We're protecting you!"
"No," Aden replied quietly. "You're containing us."
Another surge hit the barricade.
Metal tore.
Gunfire intensified.
The tablet scanners around the perimeter began emitting rapid warning tones.
A technician shouted:
"Core resonance spike! Inside perimeter!"
The scientist's head snapped toward the command tent.
"Who activated it?!"
Aden felt it instantly.
Another Core had been absorbed.
Close.
Very close.
The web responded violently.
Not just converging.
Synchronizing.
The Hollows moved as if receiving a unified signal.
The thin Phase Two figure stopped walking.
Its head tilted sharply toward the tent.
Toward the Core activation.
It wasn't watching Aden anymore.
It was assessing the new anomaly.
The soldier yanked Aden forward again.
"We're losing the outer line!"
Aden moved suddenly.
Not away from the soldier—
But sideways.
Into shadow.
The shadow thickened for half a second.
Compression.
Limited duration.
He twisted free cleanly.
The soldier stumbled.
"What—"
Aden grabbed Ibrahim's wrist.
"Now."
They ran.
Not toward the inner perimeter.
Toward the chaos.
Smoke.
Flickering light.
Broken barricade section.
Hollows pouring through.
Military distracted.
Perfect.
Ibrahim's eyes widened.
"You're running toward them?!"
"Yes."
Because the soldiers were focused inward.
The Hollows were focused on the Core spike.
And the Phase Two entity—
Was focused on the strongest signal.
Aden was temporarily invisible.
The fractured crown flickered faintly in his mind.
Shadow deepened around his steps.
He moved through broken light.
Past two soldiers firing wildly.
A Hollow lunged—
Aden sidestepped, drove a knife into its throat without breaking stride.
Core dropped.
He didn't stop.
Didn't absorb.
Too risky.
They reached the torn barricade.
Bodies.
Metal twisted.
Gunfire deafening.
The Phase Two figure moved again.
Faster now.
It reached the command tent.
One soldier fired directly at it.
The bullets—
Bent.
Not deflected.
Not blocked.
Bent subtly around it as if space itself misaligned.
Aden saw it clearly this time.
Thin.
Stretched.
Wrong.
The scientist screamed something about containment failure.
The tent exploded inward.
Not from impact.
From collapse.
Reality folded briefly.
Then snapped back.
The Core spike vanished.
Silenced.
The Phase Two entity stepped backward from the tent.
Head turning slowly.
Scanning.
Aden felt the shift.
Its attention recalibrating.
The web began reorganizing.
Retreat patterns forming.
The military line fractured completely.
This checkpoint was finished.
Aden pulled Ibrahim through the gap in the barricade.
They sprinted into the dark side streets beyond.
Behind them—
Gunfire faded.
Screams shortened.
Then silence.
After several blocks, Aden slowed.
Listened.
The resonance hum weakened.
No convergence pattern.
No immediate pursuit.
Ibrahim bent forward, shaking.
"They were going to keep us," he said.
"Yes."
"And that thing—"
"Yes."
Aden looked back toward the smoke rising from Sector Three.
The military had technology.
Scanners.
Data.
Knowledge of Cores.
But they didn't understand Phase Two.
They didn't understand the web.
And they definitely didn't understand him.
The presence inside him spoke calmly:
Independence optimal.
Aden exhaled slowly.
The fractured crown in his mind pulsed faintly.
The city was no longer random chaos.
It was layers.
Web.
Phase Two.
Military containment.
Core spikes.
He wasn't just surviving anymore.
He was navigating a system.
And now—
He was free of faction control.
For now.
From a distant rooftop—
The thin figure watched them leave.
Not pursuing.
Just recording.
Assessment ongoing.