With the security systems disabled, the street youths and gang members rushed into the plaza, overwhelming the remaining guards.
Rohan led the charge, his rifle bayonet clashing with an enforcer's steel baton. The plaza became a chaotic mass of fighting bodies under the darkening sky.
Vikram ran toward the stone steps of the Gateway.
The moon had covered half of the sun now. The light was a cold, silver crescent, casting long, distorted shadows across the stone plaza. The temperature had plummeted to near freezing, and thin sheets of ice were forming over the crashing waves of the Arabian Sea.
In the center of the arch, a massive dark-matter portal had materialized. A beam of solid, black energy shot from the stone structure straight into the dark clouds above, connecting the earth with the Rahu-Ketu alignment.
Devendra Malhotra stood under the arch, his hands raised, his eyes glowing with an absolute, pitch-black light.
"Vikram!" Rohan yelled, blocking a strike from a guard. "Go! Devendra is opening the rift!"
Vikram stepped onto the stone steps, his eyes fixed on Malhotra. But before he could reach the arch, a figure dropped from the stone ceiling, landing with a heavy thud.
Javed Khan stood in the path, his massive shadow blade hummed with a cold, killing energy.