The silence didn't last long.
It never did.
After the last fragment was destroyed, the city slipped back into its usual rhythm—cars, lights, distant noise—but for Jovian, it all felt thinner now. Like something invisible had been peeled away, leaving everything exposed.
He stood near the window of their base, staring out without really seeing anything.
Vital Mirage flickered behind him, not fully formed, just present enough to remind him it was there.
"…You're doing it again," Iggy said from across the room.
Jovian didn't turn. "Doing what?"
"Thinking like you're already in the next fight."
Jovian exhaled quietly. "…Because we are."
That shut the room up for a second.
Lucien leaned against the wall, arms crossed, watching him. "You're not wrong," he said. "But you're not right either."
Jovian finally turned. "Then say it clearly."
Lucien pushed himself off the wall.
"We ended something," he said. "But we didn't reach anything."
Alaric nodded once. "No progress toward Voss. Just clearing what he leaves behind."
Iggy clicked his tongue. "So we've been cleaning up his mess while he sits somewhere comfortable watching us work."
"Not comfortable," Jovian said.
They looked at him.
"He's adjusting," Jovian continued. "Everything we've seen—fragments, distortions, that last figure… none of it was random. It's all getting more controlled."
Lucien's eyes narrowed slightly. "…Which means?"
Jovian's grip tightened slightly at his side.
"He's getting closer to stepping in himself."
That landed heavier than anything else.
Because they all felt it.
This wasn't going to stay indirect forever.
They moved out again before sunset.
No signal this time. No map.
Just instinct.
Jovian led without explaining much. The others followed anyway. At this point, they trusted that feeling, even if they didn't fully understand it.
The city shifted as they moved—crowded streets giving way to quieter areas, then to near-empty blocks where the noise faded into something distant and dull.
Finally, Jovian stopped.
"…Here."
It didn't look like anything special. Just an open street, lined with closed buildings and dim lights.
But the air felt wrong.
Heavy.
Not like pressure. Not like distortion.
Like something was watching from every direction at once.
Vital Mirage appeared instantly.
"…You feel that?" Iggy muttered.
"Yeah," Alaric replied. "But it's different."
Lucien's gaze moved slowly across the area. "…It's not attacking."
Jovian stepped forward slightly.
"…No."
He paused.
"It's waiting."
The moment he said it—
The lights flickered.
Not violently. Just once.
Then again.
Then they all went out.
Darkness swallowed the street in an instant.
"Stay close," Jovian said.
Phantom Ember ignited immediately, casting a low, flickering glow around them. Golden Cavalier appeared beside Alaric, solid and unmoving. Midnight Sontana slipped into the shadows like it belonged there.
Vital Mirage stood at the front.
For a few seconds—nothing happened.
Then something moved.
Not in front of them.
Behind.
Jovian turned sharply, Vital Mirage following—
But there was nothing there.
"…You saw that too?" Iggy said.
"Yeah," Jovian replied.
Lucien didn't speak.
Because he didn't need to.
Something was circling them.
Fast.
Too fast to fully track.
A blur at the edge of vision. A shift in the air. A presence that never stayed in one place long enough to strike.
"Don't chase it," Jovian said quickly.
Alaric nodded. "It wants us to separate."
The movement stopped.
Completely.
The silence returned—
Then the ground beneath them shifted.
Not collapsing. Not breaking.
Just… tilting.
Like the entire space had been turned slightly off balance.
Iggy stumbled half a step. "What the—"
"Stay grounded!" Alaric snapped.
Golden Cavalier anchored itself, stabilizing his stance.
Jovian adjusted quickly, lowering his center of gravity. Vital Mirage mirrored him perfectly.
"…It's not the ground," Lucien said.
They looked at him.
"It's our perception," he continued. "It's messing with our sense of direction."
That explained the movement.
The circling.
The hesitation.
It wasn't just fast.
It was disorienting them.
Jovian clenched his jaw.
"…Then we don't rely on sight."
He closed his eyes.
For a second, everything went dark.
Then—
There.
A shift in the air.
To his left.
"Now!"
Vital Mirage moved instantly, striking without hesitation.
The hit connected.
A shape flickered into existence for a split second—thin, sharp, almost blade-like—before vanishing again.
"…Got you," Jovian said under his breath.
"Where?" Iggy demanded.
"It doesn't stay still," Jovian replied. "But it's real."
Lucien stepped forward slightly. "…Then it can be hit."
"Yeah," Jovian said.
He opened his eyes again, focusing harder now—not just looking, but feeling for the movement.
The air shifted again.
Faster this time.
Closer.
"Again!"
Vital Mirage struck—
This time, the figure didn't fully disappear.
It flickered, struggling to stay hidden under the pressure of repeated attacks.
Golden Cavalier moved in next, forcing space around it to stabilize. Phantom Ember surged, heat distorting its ability to vanish cleanly. Midnight Sontana slipped in for a precise strike.
The figure reappeared fully for the first time.
Tall. Narrow.
Its form looked sharper than anything they'd faced so far—less mass, more precision.
And its movements—
Even faster than before.
"…This one's built differently," Iggy muttered.
Jovian didn't respond.
He was already moving.
Vital Mirage surged forward again, matching its speed this time—not perfectly, but close enough.
The clash came fast.
Clean.
For the first time in this fight—
They weren't reacting anymore.
They were forcing it to stay.
And that meant one thing.
This wasn't just another test.
This was the next step.