The ruins were quiet — too quiet.
Erza crouched behind a half-collapsed wall, shards of scorched stone under his palms, the heat of his core simmering beneath his skin. The moon hung high above, casting long shadows through what was once the outer district of Duskfire — now little more than husks and rubble.
To his right, Selene vanished into the dark like mist, barely making a sound. Her twin daggers caught the faintest glint of moonlight before disappearing into the folds of her cloak. Raze was already in position behind an overturned wagon, axe resting against his shoulder. Caelum and Lyra flanked from the south — the plan was simple: surround the patrol, strike fast, leave no traces.
Erza narrowed his eyes. He could hear them now.
The low, guttural snarls of the corrupted hounds echoed through the broken streets — not natural beasts, but twisted things bred in Consortium labs. Black tendrils pulsed along their bodies, their eyes burning like cinders, not with hunger, but with malice.
Six targets. Two handlers. Four beasts.
He could feel it — the subtle pull of starlight. The Leo constellation above shimmered, almost pulsing in time with his heartbeat.
Then, a whisper through the comm bead. Selene's voice. "Now."
Erza moved.
He surged forward like a falling star, cloak flaring as he leapt over the shattered wall. His hand ignited mid-air — not with flame, but solar energy, a compressed orb of light that hummed with heat. He hurled it toward the nearest beast. It struck the creature's side and detonated with a sharp crack, sending the hound tumbling with a yelp of scorched pain.
Raze followed a breath later, charging with a feral grin and bringing his axe down with bone-snapping force onto the second hound's neck. Lyra's voice sang a brief incantation, and a cascade of light-blades spiraled through the air, pinning one of the handlers to the ground before he could react.
The fourth beast turned and lunged for Erza, faster than expected.
But so was he.
He ducked low, heat rising from his skin, his foot pivoting as he thrust his palm upward — a roar erupting from his throat. Solar Lance.
A spear of golden energy erupted from his palm, piercing straight through the beast's skull. It disintegrated mid-leap, vanishing into smoke and cinders.
Then everything went still.
The last handler tried to run — a mistake.
Selene dropped from a nearby rooftop like a falling shadow and drove a blade through the man's chest, her expression unreadable as he collapsed without a sound.
Just like that, it was over.
Erza stood in the center of the ruined street, the quiet returning. His breath was steady, but the heat inside him still swirled — power crackling beneath his skin, begging to be released again.
He clenched his fists and forced it down.
Raze dragged one of the corpses out of the path, checking it for anything useful. "That's the third patrol this week. They're getting closer."
"Or desperate," Caelum said as he examined the black tendrils left behind by the beasts. "These hounds were newer. Less stable. Look at the corrosion near the ribs. The corruption's eating them from the inside."
Lyra frowned. "Then why send them?"
"To flush us out," Selene murmured, wiping her blade clean. "The Consortium knows we're here."
Erza looked toward the horizon. Beyond the ash-covered hills, he could see the faintest glimmer of lights — not starlight, but something darker. The Consortium's forward camp.
"We can't stay here long," he said. "We'll move north, regroup at the old observatory. There's still a cache of star iron there, if the maps are right."
"And if it's not?" Raze asked.
Erza turned, his eyes glowing faintly with golden fire. "Then we make it right."
The others exchanged looks but nodded. It wasn't trust in the plan that kept them moving — it was trust in him.
As the group disappeared into the crumbling remains of the city, Erza lingered for a moment, staring back at the bodies on the ground.
He didn't feel triumphant.
They were still reacting, surviving. Still a long way from reclaiming Duskfire.
But there was a fire beneath the ash now — burning brighter with every step forward.
And the stars were watching.