The second attack began before District Nine had finished counting the wounded from the first.
Malachai was still holding the metal insignia.
A fortress enclosed within a circle.
Seraph stood beside him.
Captain Vale was speaking into her communicator.
The First Fallen stared at the symbol as though he could force it to surrender answers through sheer contempt.
Then every light in District Nine went out.
Malachai looked up.
"No."
For three seconds, the district was completely dark.
Then the emergency grid activated.
Red lights flooded the streets.
District Nine's automated defenses came online.
And the sky split open.
A silver beam crashed into the central plaza.
The explosion tore through pavement and sent vehicles tumbling.
Malachai's wings opened instantly.
Twelve enormous void wings surrounded the nearest civilians.
The shockwave struck.
Void swallowed the force.
Windows shattered behind him.
The people did not.
"Everyone down!"
Captain Vale was already moving.
Another beam descended.
Seraph leapt.
Holy energy erupted around her armor.
She met the beam in midair.
Her blade cut through it.
The blast divided around her and struck two empty buildings instead.
She landed hard enough to fracture the street.
The First Fallen looked toward the sky.
Dozens of objects were descending.
Pods.
"No," Vale whispered.
The first struck the ground.
Then another.
Then twenty more.
Metal doors exploded outward.
Soldiers emerged.
The same white armor.
The same fortress insignia.
But these were different from the previous attackers.
Heavier.
Stronger.
Built for war.
One raised an enormous weapon.
The First Fallen vanished.
Black flame appeared behind the soldier.
One strike.
The weapon fell apart.
A second strike sent the soldier through a wall.
The First Fallen turned toward the others.
"You returned."
Black fire crawled across his sword.
"Excellent."
The Bastion soldiers charged.
The street became war.
Seraph met the first formation head-on.
A soldier swung a powered hammer toward her head.
She stepped aside.
The weapon buried itself in the pavement.
Her elbow shattered the soldier's helmet.
He staggered.
Seraph seized his arm, twisted, and drove him face-first into the ground.
Another attacked.
Her sword flashed.
His weapon fell into two pieces.
He raised both hands.
"I surrender."
Seraph's blade stopped against his throat.
"Accepted."
She kicked his legs from beneath him.
"Restrain him."
Two Justicars moved forward.
A third Bastion soldier fired toward them.
Seraph turned.
Her blade became a streak of holy light.
The soldier's weapon exploded.
He reached for another.
She crossed the distance before his hand touched it.
One strike shattered his knee armor.
The second crushed the weapon housing on his wrist.
He collapsed.
"You're done."
The man tried standing.
Seraph looked at him.
He reconsidered.
"Good."
Then another explosion shook the street.
Across the plaza, Solin slammed shield-first into a Bastion heavy.
The impact sent both of them through a bus shelter.
Solin rolled.
The soldier did not.
Nyxara dropped from above.
Her chains wrapped around the heavy's ankles.
"Darling!"
Solin looked up.
"What?"
"Catch!"
She swung.
The armored soldier flew through the air.
Solin stared.
"Oh."
He raised his shield.
The Bastion heavy hit it.
BOOM.
The soldier bounced backward and disappeared through the front window of an abandoned bakery.
Nyxara landed beside Solin.
They looked at the hole.
A voice came from inside.
"I'm alive."
Nyxara looked disappointed.
Solin stared at her.
"What?"
"You were worried!"
"I was checking."
"You care."
"I am literally your boyfriend."
"Adorable."
Gunfire interrupted them.
Nyxara sighed.
"Rude."
They charged together.
Above them, Elara landed on one of the descending pods before it reached the ground.
Her blades sank into the hull.
Void crystallization spread across the metal.
The pod's engines died.
Elara jumped.
The pod crashed into an evacuated parking lot.
She landed beside three Bastion soldiers.
One stared at her.
"Void Princess."
Elara tilted her head.
"You know me."
"We know all of you."
That changed her expression.
"That's creepy."
They attacked.
Elara disappeared.
Void Step.
The first soldier swung at nothing.
Elara reappeared behind him.
The pommel of her sword struck his helmet.
He collapsed.
The second fired.
She twisted aside.
Void crystals formed around her arm.
She swept it outward.
A crystalline wave slammed the soldier through a vehicle.
The third charged.
Elara caught his weapon between crossed blades.
"Question."
The soldier strained against her.
"What?"
"Who's Bastion?"
He froze.
Only slightly.
But Elara noticed.
"Oh."
She smiled.
"You do know."
The soldier triggered something on his armor.
Elara's eyes widened.
"Wait—"
Malachai appeared.
One clawed hand closed around the soldier's wrist.
The detonator crumbled.
Malachai looked at him.
"No."
The soldier tried striking him.
Malachai caught the fist.
"You attempted to detonate yourself beside my daughter."
Silence.
The soldier stopped struggling.
Malachai smiled.
It was a very polite smile.
Elara immediately recognized it.
"Oh, he's mad."
Malachai looked toward her.
"Take him."
"Alive?"
"Very."
Elara grinned.
"Understood."
Malachai launched himself skyward.
Something enormous was descending through the clouds.
Not a pod.
A ship.
The vessel emerged slowly.
White metal.
No visible windows.
The fortress symbol covered its underside.
Weapons rotated toward District Nine.
Malachai stopped in midair.
His twelve wings spread.
The weapons fired.
Space bent.
Every beam curved.
Dozens of attacks twisted around him, spiraling into a growing sphere between his hands.
The Bastion ship continued firing.
Malachai continued collecting.
From the street below, Vale looked upward.
"Is he—"
Nyxara answered while punching someone.
"Yes!"
"Should he be doing that?"
"No idea!"
Malachai compressed the stolen energy.
Smaller.
Smaller.
Smaller.
Until a miniature star of captured destruction floated above his palm.
He looked toward the ship.
"My turn."
He flicked it.
The sky became white.
The Bastion vessel's shields erupted.
The ship lurched sideways.
One entire weapons array vanished.
But the vessel remained airborne.
Malachai frowned.
"Interesting."
A voice spoke behind him.
"Indeed."
Malachai turned.
The white-armored commander from the previous attack floated several meters away.
No helmet this time.
Still no recognizable face.
A featureless silver mask covered everything.
"You again."
"Lord Malachai."
"Do you have a name?"
"Names introduce bias."
Malachai stared.
"That is an exceptionally annoying answer."
The commander attacked.
Malachai met the strike.
The collision rippled across the sky.
Below, the First Fallen stopped fighting.
He looked upward.
The silver light surrounding the commander.
Something about it—
He knew it.
Not the person.
The technique.
A fragment surfaced.
A training room.
A voice correcting his stance.
A hand adjusting his sword.
Then—
Nothing.
The First Fallen staggered.
Seraph saw it.
"What's wrong?"
"I know that technique."
The commander and Malachai collided again overhead.
Seraph looked up.
"From where?"
"I don't know."
Black fire exploded around the First Fallen.
His composure cracked.
"I DON'T KNOW."
Every nearby fighter hesitated.
The First Fallen launched himself into the sky.
Seraph followed immediately.
The commander barely avoided the black-flamed sword.
Malachai backed away.
The First Fallen attacked again.
"You."
The commander blocked.
Black flame collided with silver light.
"Who taught you that?"
No answer.
Another strike.
"WHO TAUGHT YOU THAT?"
The commander countered.
The First Fallen crashed through the roof of a building.
Seraph descended after him.
He emerged immediately.
Angrier.
Black flames covered his armor.
The commander looked down.
"Subject remains functional."
Everything stopped.
The First Fallen stared upward.
"What did you call me?"
The commander raised one hand.
The Bastion soldiers disengaged.
Perfectly.
Simultaneously.
Smoke devices erupted.
Teleportation signatures appeared throughout District Nine.
Vale shouted.
"They're retreating!"
"Stop them!"
Guild heroes rushed forward.
Too late.
One after another, the Bastion soldiers vanished.
The ship began climbing.
The First Fallen shot upward again.
"YOU DON'T GET TO LEAVE!"
The commander met him halfway.
Their blades collided.
Black flame.
Silver light.
The First Fallen pushed forward.
"Tell me what Bastion did!"
The commander remained perfectly calm.
"You volunteered."
The First Fallen froze.
Only for a fraction of a second.
Enough.
The commander's palm struck his chest.
Silver energy exploded.
The First Fallen fell from the sky.
Seraph caught him before he struck the ground.
Above them, the commander turned toward Malachai.
Then Vale.
Then Seraph.
Finally the First Fallen.
"Phase Two complete."
Malachai's eyes narrowed.
"What phase?"
The commander said nothing.
The ship vanished.
Not accelerated.
Not teleported.
Vanished.
The battlefield became silent.
Smoke drifted between damaged buildings.
Emergency crews emerged.
Medics moved toward the wounded.
The First Fallen pushed himself away from Seraph.
"I'm fine."
"You were just thrown out of the sky."
"I have experienced worse."
Seraph stared at him.
"You're bleeding."
He looked down.
"...Minor disagreement with gravity."
For a moment, Seraph almost smiled.
Almost.
Then Malachai landed.
Vale joined them.
Elara arrived dragging the unconscious Bastion soldier Malachai had ordered captured.
Nyxara and Solin followed.
"We have one," Elara said.
Everyone looked toward the prisoner.
Malachai nodded.
"Excellent."
The First Fallen approached.
Seraph immediately stepped beside him.
He noticed.
"You think I'm going to execute him."
"I think you're angry."
"I am."
"Which means you aren't judging him."
The First Fallen stopped.
The two stared at one another.
Finally—
He stepped back.
"Fair."
Seraph blinked.
That had been easier than expected.
Malachai looked almost amused.
Then the captured soldier laughed.
Everyone turned.
The soldier's helmet was cracked.
Blood ran down one side of his face.
But he was smiling.
"You still don't understand."
Vale crouched beside him.
"Then explain."
The soldier looked toward the First Fallen.
"You think Bastion experimented on you."
Then Seraph.
"You think Bastion manipulated the Guild."
Then Malachai.
"You think Bastion attacked District Nine because you're investigating."
His smile widened.
"Wrong."
Solin frowned.
"Then why attack?"
The soldier looked around at the ruined streets.
Guild.
Justicars.
Dark Paladins.
Villains.
District Nine.
All standing together.
"To see if you'd cooperate."
Silence.
Far beyond the battlefield, the Deceiver watched.
The demon had seen everything.
The attack.
The retreat.
The commander's words.
Phase Two complete.
The Deceiver slowly stood.
For once, there was no smile.
No amusement.
No fascination.
Only understanding.
"They weren't attacking the variables."
The Deceiver looked across the records.
"They were measuring them."
The realization was immediate.
Horrible.
Wonderful.
Infuriating.
The Deceiver began laughing.
Not because it was funny.
Because the insult was magnificent.
Another experimenter had used the Deceiver's own experiment as data.
"You tainted my experiment..."
The demon's eyes narrowed.
"...so you could continue yours."
A new board appeared.
Every previous assumption vanished.
One sentence replaced them.
«BASTION IS STILL ACTIVE.»
Back in District Nine, the captured soldier continued smiling.
Seraph raised an eyebrow.
"Something amusing?"
"You think you found us."
The soldier shook his head.
"We allowed you to."
The First Fallen's black flames flickered.
Malachai placed one hand on his shoulder.
The Fallen looked at it.
Malachai looked back.
"Later."
A pause.
The black flames diminished.
"...Fine."
Vale leaned closer to the prisoner.
"What is Phase Three?"
For the first time—
The soldier's smile disappeared.
He looked genuinely afraid.
That frightened everyone else more than the smile had.
"I don't know."
Vale's expression hardened.
"You expect me to believe that?"
The soldier swallowed.
"Phase Three isn't for us."
A pause.
"It's for you."
Every communicator in District Nine activated simultaneously.
Guild frequencies.
Justicar frequencies.
District Nine frequencies.
Even the Dark Paladins' encrypted channels.
One message.
One voice.
Calm.
Old.
Almost gentle.
«"Phase Two has concluded."»
The First Fallen went completely still.
He knew that voice.
Seraph did too.
Neither knew why.
The message continued.
«"Thank you for confirming the hypothesis."»
Malachai slowly looked upward.
The Deceiver leaned toward the observation table.
And somewhere in a quiet room overlooking an endless sea, an elderly figure closed a journal.
One final sentence echoed across every channel.
«"Now we may begin."»