Richard didn't fall so much as switch off.
One moment he was upright, chrome energy leaking from every pore like molten light, the next his knees buckled and his body hit the frozen ground with a dull, final sound. No flare. No defiance. Just silence.
Siara felt it before she saw it.
"Richard—"
Zero didn't give her time.
He moved like the idea of motion itself—subsonic, effortless. The air screamed as he crossed the distance, ice blooming under his feet with each step. A blade formed in his hand, pure frozen pressure sharpened beyond steel.
Luna reacted first.
The world bent.
Telekinesis slammed into Zero from the side, a massive invisible force trying to crush him into the ground. Frost shattered outward in a ring as Zero slid back half a meter, boots carving trenches through ice.
"Oh," he said calmly. "You again."
Siara fired.
Gamma Nine roared, plasma ripping across the battlefield in overlapping arcs. Zero raised an arm, ice blooming outward into layered shields. The first blast punched through two layers. The second shattered three more. Steam and frozen debris filled the air.
Zane moved in sync.
He was already firing—high-caliber rounds loaded with Phantom-piercing tech, each shot timed between Siara's blasts. Tanya stood behind him, eyes glowing faintly, radar screaming warnings directly into his head.
Left. Up. Now.
Zane ducked as an ice spike tore through the space his skull had occupied a second earlier.
Luna pushed.
Her powers wrapped around Zero's limbs, locking joints, twisting vectors, trying to tear him apart atom by atom. Blood leaked from her nose, then her eyes, dark streaks freezing on her cheeks.
Siara saw it.
"Luna—don't burn yourself out!"
"Shut up," Luna snapped through clenched teeth. "I've got him."
For ten seconds—ten—they did.
Zero was forced back, boots skidding as plasma, bullets, and raw telekinetic force converged on him. Ice constructs shattered faster than he could form them. His coat burned away at the edges. Frost cracked along his skin.
Zane actually smiled.
"We're cooking him!"
That's when Zero stopped reacting.
The temperature dropped again.
Not like before.
This time it wasn't environmental—it was personal.
Zero straightened.
His posture changed.
The ice around him didn't form defensively anymore. It sharpened. Condensed. Every particle of moisture in the containment zone froze simultaneously, the air turning dense, heavy, lethal.
"Alright," Zero said quietly. "Enough pretending."
He vanished.
Siara barely raised Gamma Nine before a kick slammed into her ribs, sending her flying across the floor. She hit hard, rolled, gasped as something cracked inside her chest.
Luna screamed and threw everything she had.
Zero appeared in front of her and backhanded her telekinetic field apart.
The impact sent Luna skidding across the ice, her head snapping sideways. She barely stayed conscious.
Zane fired point-blank.
Zero caught the bullet.
Let it freeze in his fingers.
Then he flicked it back.
Zane dove as the frozen round punched through the wall behind him, detonating in a bloom of ice. Tanya dragged him behind cover, hands shaking.
"Zane," she whispered. "He's not—this isn't—"
"I know," Zane growled. "But we're not done."
Behind them, Richard groaned.
Siara's head snapped up.
"Richard?"
His eyes fluttered open.
Everything hurt.
He felt… empty.
The chrome energy that had been flooding him earlier was gone—no, not gone. Compressed. Crushed inward, like a star collapsing under its own gravity.
Zero turned slowly.
"Oh," he said, genuinely curious. "You're still alive."
Richard staggered to his feet.
One arm ruined. One leg barely holding. His heart pounding out of rhythm.
But he smiled anyway.
He pulled every last fragment of chrome energy inward.
No technique.
No finesse.
Just everything.
The air warped around his fist.
Space bent—not fully, not yet—but enough to scream.
Siara felt it.
Luna felt it.
Even Zero raised an eyebrow.
Richard stepped forward and threw the punch.
Zero lifted his hand.
The punch froze.
Not blocked.
Frozen mid-motion.
The chrome energy detonated on itself.
The explosion tore Richard's arm apart from the shoulder down—bone, muscle, chrome energy all annihilated in a violent implosion. The shockwave obliterated the ground beneath him, carving a crater into the containment floor.
Richard screamed.
Zero didn't wait.
Ice surged upward, spearing through Richard's leg, freezing it solid in an instant. Another construct formed—long, narrow, precise.
Zero stepped close.
"I'm sorry" he said, sadness in his eyes still lingered.
The ice blade pierced Richard's chest.
Straight through the heart.
There was no dramatic pause.
No last words.
Richard's body went slack.
Luna screamed his name.
She lunged forward—
—and Zero was already moving.
He caught Richard's collapsing body with one arm and struck Luna with the other. A precise blow to the side of her neck. Not lethal.
Efficient.
Luna dropped instantly.
Siara crawled forward, blood streaking her vision.
"No—NO—"
Zero turned toward Zane and Tanya.
Zane stood up slowly.
His hands were shaking.
His eyes weren't.
"I won't let you die now," Zane said, voice breaking but steady. "I won't let you die. Ever."
He pulled a grenade from his vest.
Zero tilted his head.
The grenade exploded—
—and stopped.
The blast froze mid-expansion, fire and shrapnel suspended in perfect, glittering stillness.
Zero stepped through it.
"I admire the sentiment," he said.
Then he vanished.
The explosion resumed.
Zane and Tanya were thrown backward as the shockwave tore through the containment zone. Alarms screamed. The structure began collapsing.
When the smoke cleared, Zero was gone.
So was Richard.
Siara lay on the ice, staring at the empty space where he'd been.
Luna didn't move.
Tanya crawled to her knees, eyes wide, radar screaming static.
Zane slammed his fist into the ground until it bled.
Above them, the frost began to melt.
And somewhere far beyond their reach, Zero carried Richard Solace's body into the dark—alive or dead no longer the point.