The Fifth Pulse howled.
Fracture Requiem spread through the chamber like a spiderweb of breaking glass. Every chain it touched warped, twisted, then split apart—not fully destroyed, but fractured, left jagged and unstable. Their weight faltered. Their commands stuttered.
Leon staggered forward, blood pouring from his mouth, each step leaving cracks in the polished floor. The strain was ripping him apart from the inside, but he forced his Shell to keep resonating.
The team saw the opening.
"Now!" Naval roared, hurling his trident. It spun like a spear of the sea itself, piercing through three faltering chains, pinning them to the ground.
Milim streaked upward, wings flashing as she blasted a swarm of broken links apart in an eruption of pink-white light.
Roselia's golden barrier surged outward, catching what fragments still rained down, while Liliana's voice rose in a chant, amplifying Leon's resonance into the fractured storm.
