The first winged Executor hit the city like a falling missile.
The impact flattened three buildings instantly.
Glass exploded across half the district. Shockwaves rippled outward, flipping cars and tearing apart streets.
People screamed.
Cameras were already recording.
This wasn't hidden anymore.
This was war.
Arav stood in the middle of the street, staring upward as the other two winged Executors hovered in the sky.
They weren't attacking randomly.
They were positioning.
Triangular formation.
Encirclement.
System alert flared.
[Correction Tier: Arch-Execution Units]
[Authority Level: Extreme]
[Deviation: 18.9%]
Dante spat blood to the side. "We can't fight three."
"We don't fight three," Arav replied.
Mira's eyes flicked across the skyline. "Then what?"
"We break formation."
The grounded winged Executor rose from the crater.
Twice the height of the masked unit.
Armor layered in white and black plating.
Six wing-like blades extending from its back.
Its eyes glowed silver.
It locked directly onto Arav.
No hesitation.
No scanning.
Confirmed target.
The sky distorted as the other two units raised their hands simultaneously.
Energy beams formed above them.
City-scale weapons.
Arav activated Chrono Mark immediately.
Time slowed.
He analyzed angles.
The beams weren't random.
They were triangulated to compress the battlefield.
Containment kill-zone.
If fired together—
Everything in a five-block radius would be erased.
Time resumed.
"Split!" Arav shouted.
He sprinted forward instead of back.
Toward the grounded Executor.
Dante shot upward in a burst of flame toward the left unit.
Mira forced gravity sideways, pushing civilians toward safety corridors.
The grounded Executor moved first.
It didn't charge.
It vanished.
Reappeared directly in front of Arav.
Faster than the previous models.
Its wing-blades extended.
They swung in a cross pattern.
Arav dropped low, sliding beneath the first swing.
Chrono Mark again.
Three seconds.
He ran up the Executor's own wing-blade as it passed overhead.
He aimed for the shoulder joint.
Struck.
The blade bounced off.
Harder armor.
Upgraded plating.
Time resumed.
The Executor grabbed him mid-air and slammed him into the street.
Concrete shattered.
[HP: 100% → 71%]
No hesitation.
Arav rolled aside as a wing-blade stabbed down where his chest had been.
He activated Anchor Point on one of the wing-blades.
Stabilized its current position.
The blade froze mid-swing for half a second.
Enough.
He sliced at the joint seam.
Sparks.
Minor damage.
But not deep enough.
Above—
One of the airborne Executors fired.
A beam of white authority crashed into a skyscraper.
The building didn't explode.
It dissolved.
Layer by layer.
Like erased footage.
People screamed.
Military jets arrived.
Missiles launched.
They disintegrated before contact.
Useless.
Dante reached the left airborne unit.
He compressed Solar Core into maximum density and slammed into its chest plating.
Explosion lit the sky.
The winged unit staggered slightly—
Then grabbed Dante mid-air.
It threw him downward like debris.
He smashed through three floors of a parking structure.
Mira increased gravity on the airborne unit's wings.
It adjusted instantly.
Its wings rotated and redirected pressure downward—
Crushing nearby streets.
Adaptive again.
Arav's mind moved rapidly.
The triangular formation was the key.
They were channeling power between them.
He needed to break one completely.
He focused on the grounded unit again.
He activated Chrono Mark.
Time slowed.
He observed closely.
Unlike the masked units—
These winged models had visible power conduits running between wing joints.
Energy flowing rhythmically.
Core was probably not in chest—
But at the base of wing cluster.
Time resumed.
He leapt.
Ran along debris.
Activated Chrono Mark again mid-air.
Three seconds.
He reached the back cluster—
Drove his blade deep between two wing roots.
Time resumed.
Black-white energy exploded outward.
The Executor roared mechanically.
It spun violently, slamming him into a building facade.
[HP: 71% → 46%]
Pain sharp.
But worth it.
The energy flow flickered.
The triangular formation destabilized.
Above, the two airborne units flickered slightly.
One beam misfired, carving a trench across empty street instead of central kill-zone.
Good.
He needed more.
He rushed again.
The grounded Executor extended all six wing-blades outward simultaneously.
Spinning attack.
Area coverage massive.
Arav triggered Anchor Point on his own position—
Stabilizing a safe pocket for half a second.
He rolled through the rotating blades and climbed onto its back.
He plunged his blade deeper into the damaged conduit.
Dante burst back into the sky, flames burning brighter.
Mira focused gravity into the damaged wing cluster.
The conduit cracked fully.
The grounded Executor convulsed.
Energy feedback surged through the triangular link.
One airborne unit flickered heavily.
Its beam charge destabilized.
The second airborne unit reacted instantly.
It broke formation and descended.
Smart.
One descended to reinforce.
One remained airborne to maintain suppression.
The descending unit slammed into the street beside them.
Shockwave flattened nearby vehicles.
Now two ground units.
Arav exhaled sharply.
Still better than three.
The newly landed Executor attacked immediately.
It fired twin authority blades toward Mira.
Arav activated Chrono Mark again—
He grabbed Mira mid-cast and yanked her sideways.
The blades erased half the street behind them.
Dante engaged the airborne unit again, forcing it to defend rather than charge.
The grounded damaged Executor struggled to stabilize.
Arav focused on finishing it.
He activated Chrono Mark once more.
Time slowed.
He reached deep into the exposed conduit with his hand—
Ignoring burning pain—
And grabbed the core pulse directly.
Time resumed.
Authority surged violently into him.
His arm screamed.
System alarms exploded.
[Authority Overload Risk: Critical]
He pulled.
Hard.
The winged Executor let out a distorted shriek.
Cracks spread across its armor.
Golden veins flared within Arav's black mark.
Conflict.
Authority against authority.
The Executor exploded outward in fragments of white light.
Destroyed.
The deviation counter jumped.
[Deviation: 22.1%]
Too fast.
The remaining two units froze briefly.
Then—
Their behavior changed.
They didn't retreat.
They synchronized differently.
Instead of triangulation—
They merged beams.
High concentration.
Target: Arav.
The sky above him darkened.
Dante screamed from above, "Move!"
Arav activated Chrono Mark.
Time slowed.
He couldn't outrun this.
Too wide.
Too fast.
He activated Anchor Point at maximum range—
Not to stabilize structure—
But to distort trajectory.
Golden field flared outward.
The beam shifted slightly—
Not fully.
But enough.
It grazed him instead of direct hit.
His right side burned instantly.
[HP: 46% → 12%]
He hit the ground hard.
Vision blurred.
Mira rushed to him.
"Stay down!"
"No."
He forced himself upright.
If he fell now—
They would finish the city.
He looked at the remaining two.
They hovered side by side now.
No more triangle.
Direct elimination mode.
Dante landed beside him.
Flames flickering but stable.
"Last push?"
Arav nodded once.
They charged simultaneously.
Mira compressed gravity into a spear-like force and launched herself forward.
Dante soared upward again.
Arav activated Chrono Mark—
This time—
He didn't attack.
He climbed.
He ran up a collapsing building facade toward the airborne unit.
Time resumed.
He leapt—
Grabbed the underside of the nearest wing.
And jammed his blade upward through the power conduit.
Dante fired maximum output directly into the same breach.
Mira forced gravity inward from below.
The winged unit convulsed violently.
It grabbed Arav mid-air—
But Dante severed one wing-blade with a concentrated flame cut.
The imbalance destabilized it.
Arav used the last of his strength—
Reached into the breach—
And tore the conduit apart.
The second winged Executor exploded in mid-air.
Fragments rained across the city.
The last remaining unit hovered alone.
It paused.
Analyzed.
Then—
Instead of attacking—
It transmitted.
A pulse of white energy shot upward toward the Tower.
Signal.
Reinforcement call.
Bad.
Very bad.
Arav felt it instantly.
System warning blared.
[Major Escalation Triggered]
The last winged Executor looked down at him one final time—
Then retreated upward at extreme speed.
Not fleeing.
Reporting.
The sky above the Tower cracked wider than before.
Not a thin line.
A massive tear.
People across the entire city stared upward.
Live broadcasts caught everything.
The crack expanded slowly.
Something enormous moved behind it.
Silhouette far larger than the winged units.
Arav's breathing steadied despite blood in his mouth.
Deviation counter climbed.
[Deviation: 25.6%]
Too fast.
He wasn't ready for whatever that was.
Dante landed heavily beside him.
Mira stood to his left.
All three stared at the sky.
The crack widened another meter.
Then stopped.
For now.
The Tower pulsed violently.
Then—
The crack sealed partially.
Not fully.
But enough to delay descent.
System message appeared faintly.
[Correction Pause — Evaluation Phase]
Temporary reprieve.
City in ruins.
Two Arch-Execution units destroyed.
One retreated.
Public witnessed everything.
Government could no longer hide the Tower's nature.
Arav clenched his fist.
The black mark now glowed faint gold permanently.
Authority integration increasing.
Good.
But the next tier would be worse.
Much worse.
Because this time—
They wouldn't send three.
They would send something designed specifically to counter him.
And it would not hesitate.
High above—
The crack shimmered faintly.
And behind it—
A single massive eye opened briefly.
Then closed.