The sky over the Dead Zone buzzed.
Juvy noticed it first.
"Do you hear that?"
Maxruell sat on the roof, knees up, staring at nothing.
"Yeah," he said. "Metal wings."
A shadow crossed the ground.
Not clouds.
A drone.
Black, insect-shaped, red lens blinking.
Varkos cursed. "Government scout. Took them long enough."
The refugees panicked.
"They found us!"
"We're dead!"
"They'll bomb us!"
Juvy raised her hands. "Everyone inside the station! Now!"
The drone dipped lower.
A voice crackled from it.
"Unidentified anomalous entities.
Surrender and submit to containment."
Maxruell stood.
His shadow stretched up like a spear.
"No."
The drone fired.
Blue light cut through the air and slammed into the roof.
Concrete exploded.
Juvy screamed, throwing a crystal wall up.
The beam carved into it but didn't break through.
Maxruell pointed.
Darkness leapt upward.
The drone tried to pull away, Shadow wrapped around it and crushed it midair.
Metal rained down.
Silence.
Then, BOOM.
The horizon flashed orange.
Artillery.
Shells screamed in from miles away.
They hit the Dead Zone's edge.
Refugee tents vanished in fire.
People burned.
Juvy screamed. "They're killing civilians!"
Maxruell's chest burned.
The crimson stone inside him pulsed.
They are weak,
a voice whispered.
Rule them.
He shook his head.
Varkos grabbed his arm. "Listen to me. This is a test strike. Full assault comes next."
Juvy looked at Maxruell. "We can't stay."
Maxruell stared at the smoke.
"They came for us."
Another shell hit.
He stepped forward.
"No more running."
Juvy grabbed him. "Max, stop—"
The ground darkened.
Shadows from miles away bent toward him.
The sky dimmed.
The artillery crew, far off beyond the Dead Zone, screamed as their own shadows rose behind them.
Guns twisted.
Men vanished into black.
The shelling stopped.
Juvy felt cold.
"You… killed them?"
Maxruell's voice was empty.
"They would've killed us."
Varkos whispered, "Jesus…"
The refugees stared at him in fear.
That night, no one slept.
Maxruell stood alone at the Dead Zone border.
Juvy joined him.
"They weren't cultists," she said. "They were soldiers."
"They chose."
She clenched her fists. "So did you."
He didn't answer.
Far away, in a bunker filled with screens, a general stared at footage.
"Target confirmed," he said.
"Class: World-Level Threat."
And deep inside a cathedral, Mother Cain smiled.
"The war begins."