Lunaris was too quiet that night.
The kind of quiet that wrapped around you like static in the ear—present, loud, wrong.
Kael felt it even before the breach alarm buzzed through Mira's scanner.
"Zone 11," she muttered. "Close."
He stood up immediately, instinct sharp despite the aching in his ribs.
"I'll go."
Ryke shook his head. "You're still not synced."
Kael tightened his fist.
"I don't need a Frame to watch someone die."
That was enough. No one stopped him.
Zone 11 – Ruin Strip East
The rooftops here were blown open. Half the towers looked like they'd been bitten into—like something took chunks out of them years ago and left the bones behind.
Kael moved quietly through the debris.
And then he saw it.
Two bodies, slumped against the wall. Burned into the concrete, steam still rising from their skin.
Civilian tech runners. No armor. No weapons.
Murdered.
Kael's stomach turned.
Then he heard footsteps—confident, slow, unhurried.
He turned the corner, expecting a Nullborn.
Instead, he saw a man.
Human. Or close to it.
Wearing cracked red armor, not unlike Kael's, but wrong. It hissed and flickered. Parts of it weren't fully formed. His left leg dragged, armor misaligned. His faceplate was missing—revealing a twisted smirk and one glowing red eye that definitely wasn't born in a lab.
"Didn't think anyone else had one of these," the man said.
Kael's hand brushed his own dormant core.
"What are you?"
The man tilted his head. "Same as you. Just a little ahead of the curve."
He took a step forward.
Kael didn't flinch.
"You kill those people?"
"They were in my way. Civilians don't sync, so they don't matter."
Kael's blood went cold.
"That's not how this works."
The man laughed. Short, mean.
"It's exactly how it works. You feel it, don't you? The suit doesn't care about morals. It responds to intent."
He raised a half-formed blade—jagged and glowing with unstable data.
"You don't get to decide what a Valiant becomes. The system already did."
Kael launched first.
No sync. Just motion.
He closed the gap and ducked under the first wild swing. His shoulder caught the follow-up, but he twisted through the hit and slammed his elbow into the other man's gut.
It landed.
But it wasn't enough.
The corrupted Frame activated in a burst of jagged red light, sending Kael flying back into a busted air vent.
He hit hard.
His ribs screamed.
But he didn't stop.
He coughed, wiped blood from his mouth, and stood again.
"Come on," he growled. "Sync. Now."
His core flickered.
Then failed.
Still nothing.
The corrupted Valiant walked toward him slowly.
"You're not ready," he said. "You'll die in the suit like the others."
Kael clenched his teeth.
"I don't need to be ready."
He rushed forward again—but this time, the corrupted Valiant anticipated it.
The blade swung down—
—but stopped just short of Kael's neck.
Blocked.
By Ryke's molten-black fist.
The blow shattered the blade completely.
"Stay down," Ryke said coldly.
The corrupted Valiant stepped back, startled.
From the far side, Mira appeared—her violet shimmer distorting the alley.
And above, Juno dropped from a ledge, blade drawn.
"You brought friends?" the man hissed.
"No," Kael grunted from the floor. "They brought themselves."
The fight didn't last long.
Not against three synced Valiants.
Juno disabled his legs in two precise slashes. Mira blinded him with a burst of sensory echoes. And Ryke—Ryke broke his Frame core with a single brutal stomp.
The corrupted suit died with a painful screech, melting into ash.
The man didn't.
But he wasn't moving.
Kael stood over him, bleeding, chest heaving.
"Is that what I look like?" he asked quietly.
Mira stood beside him.
"No," she said. "But you could've."
Later, back in the shelter, Kael sat alone at the table.
His core finally flickered in his palm.
Just once.
A small pulse.
Alive.