Sasha's breath came in ragged gasps. Her body was trembling, her Pulse reserves running dangerously low. Infinity was the only thing keeping her alive—the ability that split every attack into endless micro-paths, refracting Eva's punches through thousands of partial impacts that never fully resolved. It was beautiful. It was exhausting.
It used up Pulse extremely fast.
She glanced sideways. Leo had activated his full transformation, his body crackling with red lightning, his fists slamming into Eva's defenses. It wasn't doing anything. Eva was an Alpha—not some fake one, not a partial. A full, complete Alpha.
Jordan was behind them both, pulling them back, saving them from every dangerous attack. He was fast, precise, but he was getting tired.
Eva vanished.
So did Sasha.
The sky lit up with grey and purple lines as they clashed—moving so fast that Leo and Jordan didn't even register the movement until eleven seconds later. Sasha landed behind them, a devastating hit to her stomach, her body crumpling.
She was a lower Absolute-level Alpha. Even with two Omega-level fighters backing her up, she was struggling.
The ground for a thousand miles had been completely destroyed.
Then Sasha felt something in the air.
Zoey.
She had never known Zoey had any ability. But right now, she sensed Zoey on the same level as Eva—raw, untamed, overwhelming.
---
Black liquid emerged around Sasha, Leo, and Jordan, pulling them in. They emerged standing next to Lena, Wolfen—who was trying to go after Zoey, stopped by Derek—and the survivors Derek had pulled from the rubble.
Lena rushed to Jordan, sharing some of her Pulse with him so he could heal.
Shadow emerged from a portal with Angstrom's body, his face pale, his body covered in fresh wounds. "Apologies for being late. I was attacked by some humanoid monsters. They called themselves The Family." He paused. "I barely escaped."
Sasha looked at Angstrom's body. Then at Wolfen.
Wolfen made an Umbralite knife. It was a bad one—too weak, too tired, his hands shaking.
Sasha took it. She ate a bit of the corpse's flesh.
The rest of them—except Wolfen—looked disgusted.
Sasha raised her hands and opened a portal. Green light spilled out, wrong and sickly, but stable. Controlled.
"How?" Derek asked.
Wolfen's voice was flat. "Sasha's ability is copying. And after she copies someone's ability, she has more control over it than the original user."
From the portal, a figure emerged.
Absolute 2 Eva.
Her eyes swept the chaos. The destruction. The bleeding survivors. And then they landed on Sasha.
"Who hurt you?"
Wolfen explained. Eva was out of control. She needed to be stopped.
Absolute 2 Eva vanished.
No one registered her absence until Sasha opened another portal—for Warden.
---
Ab 2 Eva appeared where Eva was being held in place by Zoey.
Eva was roaring, her tentacles lashing, her eyes burning. Zoey was sweating, her body trembling, the bleeding fatigue taking its toll. She was holding on, barely.
Then her power failed. Her eyes went dark. She went unconscious.
Ab 2 Eva caught her. Set her down gently.
She vanished behind Eva and hit her once—once—and the monster went still.
She lifted both of them and vanished again.
---
She reappeared in front of the group, setting Eva and Zoey down gently.
Everyone except Sasha and Wolfen was frozen.
"How—" Derek started.
"She's not that strong," Ab 2 Eva said flatly. "Why were you having trouble with her?"
"Not all of us are that strong," Leo muttered.
Ab 2 Eva's eyes found Wolfen. "And you? Where were you when this happened?"
"I had trouble of my own." Wolfen wasn't looking at her. His eyes were fixed on Zoey.
Her arm had regenerated.
That wasn't possible. Zoey wasn't a hybrid. She couldn't use Pulse. So how—?
Sasha opened another portal. Selene emerged.
Icy wind and chill came first. Her hair was longer. Her expression was serious. She looked different—harder, colder, something in her eyes that hadn't been there before.
"Selene," Derek said.
Selene looked at him. Didn't speak. She walked to a tree and leaned against it, her usual cheerful demeanor completely gone.
Ab 2 Eva heard a scream. She moved toward it, lifted a slab of rubble, and pulled a man out.
Henrey.
His legs were completely crushed. Blood pooled beneath him. His face was pale, his eyes wide with pain and something else.
Shadow opened a portal. Maya stepped through, bleeding lightly, her clothes torn in places, but otherwise intact. She looked at the destruction around her.
"Holy fuck."
Then she saw Eva unconscious on the ground. She rushed to her, checking her pulse, her breathing, her eyes.
Ab 2 Eva set Henrey down. No one moved to heal him.
Then Ab 2 Eva released a tiny bit of her Pulse—just a trickle—and everyone felt it. They all absorbed it. Started healing.
They looked at Henrey with murderous eyes.
"What did you do?"