The air snapped alive.
Blue light surged through the platform's conduits, and the Adaptive AI materialized — a shimmering figure of liquid metal, faceless and unnervingly calm. Its armor rippled, reshaping itself like it was breathing. Then its voice came — flat, modulated.
"Simulation parameters loaded. Combat level: Tier-Three. Opponent analysis: Forgeborn Coalition. Objective: Termination."
Oh good, Kai thought dryly, it talks.
The hum of the Apex Suits filled the arena — twelve heartbeats syncing into one metallic rhythm. Kai's Divergent Core pulsed irregularly in his chest cavity, the erratic thrum of power both familiar and thrilling. His HUD flashed red warnings.
System Stability: 42%. Divergent Output: Active.
Perfect.
He felt the rush before anyone moved — that moment when anticipation and fear fused into something raw, electric, and alive. Selena's voice cut through the comm channel.
"Formation Delta-Seven. No one dies in the first thirty seconds."
"Thirty?" Valerie quipped. "That's optimism."
The AI blurred forward — a streak of silver and plasma. The first strike came like lightning; Kai barely ducked before the shockwave cracked through the air. Sparks rained across the floor as Oliver intercepted the next hit, his gauntlets absorbing the blast with a resonant clang.
"Impact resistance holding!" Oliver yelled, teeth clenched. "But it's learning already — the next hit's gonna hurt!"
Kai's vision fractured as his Divergent Core spiked. He felt power surge through him, wild and unstable. His armor thrummed, the edges glowing faintly violet.
Selena's system linked to his instantly, her calm voice cutting through the chaos. "Flow balancing engaged. Don't push past the core's limit!"
"I'm not—"
Another impact. The floor cracked.
"—planning to!"
He dove sideways, rolling under a plasma beam, then launched himself up, using the burst instability to propel forward. For a heartbeat, he was flying — pure momentum, chaos, and brilliance combined. His fist connected with the AI's torso, sending ripples through its liquid-metal form.
It reformed instantly, eyes flaring white.
It adapts on contact, he realized. It's rewriting counter-patterns in real time.
Across the arena, Rynn Toras shouted, "It's tracking energy signatures! Scatter formations, make it split its focus!"
Forgeborn burst apart like shrapnel — Mira and Sera weaving in a twin-arc maneuver, their Cultech blades leaving streaks of light. Eliar vaulted onto a pillar of restructured matter, flipping midair before releasing a blast of kinetic pulse that cracked the AI's defense field. Sparks scattered across the floor like a meteor shower.
From the observation deck above, students from other coalitions pressed against the glass.
"Holy flux," Joren Vek from Crimson Vector muttered. "They're actually keeping up."
Lyra Halden smirked. "For now."
Drake Sol of Iron Pulse stood with his arms crossed, studying every movement. "Their sync ratios are unstable. One overload, and that Divergent Core will fry them all."
Valerie's laughter echoed through the comm line — manic, bright, and unafraid. "Who says we can't cook a little?"
She spun mid-sprint, plasma daggers igniting in her hands, and threw both in a cross pattern. The AI caught them easily — then froze for half a second as hidden shock charges detonated on contact.
"Surprise!" she yelled.
The explosion tore through the simulation's upper level, scattering molten fragments across the ring. Oliver surged forward through the smoke, his gauntlets flaring white as he punched straight through the weakened armor.
Kai saw the opening — and everything in him screamed now.
He surged his Divergent Core to maximum instability.
The world narrowed to sound and motion: the hum of energy, the burn in his veins, the chaos he'd learned to trust. His thoughts fragmented.
Balance breaks. Flow diverges. That's the point.
Don't resist the current — become it.
He hit the AI center mass — a strike that felt like collision with a sun. The shockwave rippled outward, lights flickering, sound fading to a low, thrumming silence.
Then — a burst of light.
When it cleared, the AI was on one knee, armor shattered in fractal patterns. Its voice flickered, glitched. "Reconfiguring… adapting… core instability detected—"
Selena's system linked to Kai's instantly, transferring surge overflow through every team member's channel. Each of them took a fragment of the instability, their suits glowing faintly.
Oliver winced. "She's bleeding his overload into us?"
"Sharing the pain," Selena grunted. "Stay linked!"
Forgeborn's formation stabilized — a perfect circle, twelve points of light converging on one heartbeat. Their suits pulsed in sync, rhythm chaotic but unified, their Divergent Flow humming like a living circuit.
Kai's voice was steady. "Everyone ready?"
Valerie chuckled breathlessly. "Not even remotely."
"Good. Let's finish it."
The final charge came in waves — twelve streams of energy spiraling toward the AI. It responded instantly, arms transforming into plasma blades, voice cold and mathematical.
"Counter-pattern activated."
Too late.
Forgeborn struck as one.
The floor lit up. The air split apart.
Energy screamed like a living storm.
The blast threw shockwaves through the containment field, slamming against the transparent barrier that separated them from the observers. A collective gasp rippled through the audience. For a moment, no one could see anything but the blinding light.
Then silence.
The smoke cleared.
The AI lay in fragments across the arena, its core flickering weakly before dissolving into light. Forgeborn stood in the center, armor cracked, systems flickering — but upright.
Instructor Zhao's voice came through the intercom, even and unreadable. "Simulation complete. Coalition Forgeborn — 84% success rate. Efficiency: volatile. Adaptability: exceptional."
A pause.
Then — "Pass."
Valerie fell backward onto the floor, arms spread. "I can't feel my legs."
Rynn slumped beside her. "You don't need legs when you've made history."
Selena deactivated her helmet, hair sticking to her forehead with sweat. "You nearly blew up half the deck, Kai."
He smiled faintly, leaning on his knees, still catching his breath. "Nearly."
From above, the crowd began to cheer — a sound that rose like a wave. Rival teams clapped, some grudgingly, some with genuine awe. Even Drake Sol nodded once, a rare gesture of respect.
Kai looked up at the observation deck, eyes distant, pulse still racing. Somewhere in that storm of sound, he felt something shift — not just in him, but in all of them.
This is what Divergence feels like, he thought. Not breaking the system. Rewriting it.