As Lenny and Kai were facing off against the Messiah above, a very different battle was being fought below.
In the damp, claustrophobic belly of the city's sewage system, Isaac sat slumped against the mossy concrete wall, eyes half-lidded and unfocused. His body trembled with exhaustion. Sven was crouched beside him, checking the pulse on his wrist like a worried nurse. Nadya paced nearby, her boots splashing in shallow runoff as she kept glancing up toward the shaking ceiling.
From here, Isaac could still see fragments of the chaos above - his phased vision flickering like a dying bulb. The Messiah's blinding light, Kai's blood-formed constructs, and Lenny's bursts of raw power and durability. It was like watching monsters clash on a stage far above them.
Kai was alive. That alone had drawn a breath of relief from all three of them.
But they couldn't go back. Not now.
