Chapter 316 - A Ray Before Dawn

Arjun stood, EM barrel rifle held tight as he crouched on the narrow crevice, hidden from view beneath his camo cloak.

He watched Alonso finish off the Warden he just shot, and the other was practically done for by the Ajnal General. They had completed the mission, successfu—

But then, it all changed.

Before he knew it, the air vibrated—

A shot struck General K’in in the head, killing him instantly.

What…?

His eyes widened as he scanned the horizon, estimating the rough direction the shot had come from.

And then, just barely, he saw it—

Far in the distance, behind the Xok’al horde, something shifted, pulsed.

At first, he wasn’t sure what he was looking at. But slowly, the image sharpened in his mind.

Several tails had been fused in a grotesque, twisted way, forming a single elongated cannon extending forward from a hulking body.

It looked like a Warden, with four upper limbs. But that long, biological weapon—it was a fusion of five tails into one massive, coiled, cannon-like appendage.

A Warden variant? Long-range type?

That’s when he received Alonso’s pulse.

“Mei, Arjun… quickly find cover and prepare to retreat!”

Without hesitation, he burst from cover, wrapping the cloak tighter around him as he flooded the EM shroud with his own waves, zigzagging across the mountain range in erratic bursts, searching for a new spot to hide behind the ridgeline.

His eyes scanned fast—then found it. A narrow cave he had mapped earlier as a potential fallback.

He veered toward it—

Then froze.

Something was wrong.

The ground trembled beneath his boots. Not a shot.

It was—

His jaw clenched as cold sweat broke across his brow.

A Warden.

Tearing through the rock face like it was solid ground. Its sharp limbs stabbed into the cliffside, launching it forward like a spider sprinting down a web.

Arjun tensed.

He sent a quick pulse towards Alonso and Mei.

“They found me. It’s coming.”

Arjun looked at it. Those fierce, cold eyes. It had clearly locked on to him, and camo cloak or not… he had no way of hiding or retreating.

Was this it?

Had they underestimated the Xok’al again?

Arjun gripped the sniper tight. The Warden would reach him in less than two seconds.

Yet if there was something he had more than anyone else… it was time.

Time to think. Time to consider.

And that wasn’t always a good thing.

Rather… it was more of a curse he had to learn to live with. Adapt to it.

And… over time, he had tried many things. He had thought about many things too. He was nowhere near as talented as Chiara or Ayu, nowhere near as good a fighter as Alonso, nor as brilliant and creative as Lukas.

Despite having trained for more than twice as long under his temporal perception in Sun Pulse, he was still the one furthest behind—and that was with Chiara’s help.

Yet, he had found his own path in loneliness. A sniper. A role that, for some reason, fit him so well. A position he had poured everything into improving.

However… things like being the best, pride, even the desire to be recognized—those were things he no longer cared about. None of that mattered.

Only one thing did.

His daughter. His wife. His family back on Earth.

As long as they lived, as long as they could smile, as long as his little girl could one day pursue her dreams, marry, have children of her own, and live a happy life—that was all he needed.

He knew, even if he made it back… his condition would make a normal life impossible. And worse… it could endanger those he cared about. It wouldn’t be good for her to have someone like him—something so alien—as a father.

So… did he really need to go back? Or was it just… a selfish desire?

A selfish desire to one day just… see her again?

He had thought about that many, many, many times.

In the end, he wasn’t sure if there was a right answer.

But there was one thing that was clear.

They had to finish the Tower.

The value of his life paled in comparison to that singular goal. The possibility of them failing—and it all being the end of everything he cared about back on Earth—was something he could not allow.

And if he had to give his life for that… he would do it a million times over.

So… they needed to finish.

They needed to reach the peak.

They needed to complete it.

And for that singular goal… Arjun now lived.

Emotions, respect, glory—he cared about none of it anymore.

All that mattered was victory.

And he would do absolutely anything for that.

Slowly, he raised his sniper as he kept moving through the terrain.

And he aimed.

Despite it all, his arms held steady. The weapon felt heavier than it ever had—yet strangely grounding.

After one more step back, he held his breath. His eyes scanned the Warden charging at him, then the battlefield below—the five-tail sniper variant locking onto Alonso, the other half-dead Warden regaining balance and tearing into the Ajnal, their morale shattered after the fall of their General.

He saw it all. Calmly.

And as he aimed, waiting for that one right moment, his thoughts wandered—flashing through the life he’d lived.

His passion for cricket on humid evenings. His disinterest in school. That first awkward date that turned into a lifetime. The wedding. The moment he first held his daughter, small and pink and perfect, in trembling arms.

It all rushed through him in silence.

A single tear welled at the corner of his eye.

And still, he did not waver.

For he understood… this was the right call, the one that gave them the best chance to succeed. For that goal.

This… was his last gift for her.

Would she know it? Would she hear about him? Would she remember him?

He smiled softly as the tear touched his lips.

It didn’t matter.

As long as she lived well… that was enough.

And then, he focused.

Focused like he never had before.

His waves converged around the bullet, spiralling into a tight vortex.

Mind nodes flared. Pulses burst from him in rhythms almost… beautiful.

The waves embraced the projectile. The conductive coils along the barrel lit one after another as he fed them.

The energy pouring from his mind was stronger—and more stable—than it had ever been.

The bullet began to move forward through the barrel, just as the Warden lunged.

Its bladed limbs shot toward his chest—yet, noticing the sniper, it twisted, adjusting its angle mid-strike.

Yet Arjun did not stop.

The bullet surged forward, accelerated through fractions of microseconds—faster, sharper—as he poured everything into it.

His strongest… and last… Sun Pulse.

The bullet was released.

Its speed—beyond anything Arjun had ever seen.

The Warden jerked aside.

The bullet missed.

And Arjun closed his eyes.

The projectile sliced the air, crossing the snowy field like a ray of sunlight piercing the first breath of dawn.

It cut a perfect line through the battlefield—past floating limbs, frozen drops of blood, screams still trapped in broken throats, and a single tear along a hardened jaw.

The bullet flew through corpses, through life and death, through the dense horde of Xok’al—until it reached its end.

Just before it could react, just as the sniper variant prepared to fire toward Alonso—

The bullet shattered its skull.

And in that same instant, on a remote crevice in the snowy mountains—

A blade flashed.

A head was severed.

A head with closed eyes.

And a tear that drifted silently into the white below.

After Alonso felt Arjun’s last transmission, a cold shiver ran down his spine.

He locked eyes on Arjun’s position and spotted a Warden—close—closing in fast across the jagged slope.

This…

Sending a pulse now would distract him. But… what to do?

“Mei, assist Arjun. Do whatever it takes!”

“That… we… we won’t make it in time.”

Alonso clenched his teeth.

Was that it?

Dammit!

He had to move too. Whatever had taken out General K’in… was surely tracking him now.

The Xok’al… had played them again. Once more—they had been one step ahead.

He gave Arjun one last heavy look.

And then he ran.

He moved toward the fortress with a weight in his chest, the kind that didn’t let you breathe right. The kind that screamed—you failed.

He didn’t leap to the wall. Staying airborne now would get him picked off in an instant.

Instead, he raced toward a torn gate—a breach the Xok’al had made—and just as he pivoted towards the inside, he felt it.

Something shifted in the air.

A shot?

But… not at him.

The vibration came from far—very far—past the Xok’al ranks.

He didn’t know what it meant. Didn’t know what happened.

But why…

Why did it feel so…

Something surfaced in his mind.

His eyes widened.

He turned.

Despite the danger of another shot, he stared down the line of fire—rough direction, rough calculation. But enough.

His gaze drifted again, then locked onto the mountain.

He froze.

A head.

Suspended in the air, eyes closed.

Just as the body vanished into nothing.

Arjun… was dead.

But then—

It clicked.

Alonso’s eyes darted back to the far end of the Xok’al formation. No shots came.

He took it out?

He aimed at it instead of the Warden aiming to kill him?

He… he saved me?

The realization struck something deep inside.

Heavy.

Suffocating.

Images rushed back—brief exchanges, unspoken weight. From initial distrust… to acceptance… to trust.

A quiet, steady, and reliable presence.

And now… gone?

And his last shot… was not to save himself, but… for them? For him?

Alonso’s chest tightened.

Something raw. Sharp. Wordless—tore at it.

And it hurt. Stabbed deeper than any blade ever could.

Because he understood why he did it. Yet—

Did he deserve it?

Alonso stared at the battlefield.

And as he did, the weight settled—grounded his steps, grounded his blades.

“Mei, liaise with the remaining Ajnal Sun Bearers and organize the scattered troops. Join them in exterminating all the Xok’al present, focusing on the Commanders,” he paused as he stepped forward, blurring across the snowy terrain. “I will take care of the Wardens.”

There was a second of silence before Mei confirmed back.

Alonso tracked the field and locked eyes with the severely injured Warden.

As he approached it, he caught sight of the other—the one that had killed Arjun. It was descending the mountain, aiming for him.

“Houston… with our current SP, can we do it?”

“Chance of destabilization and neural system collapse has been lowered from 7.9% to 2.1%. But still… not worth it.”

Alonso nodded. “Alright. Then we just need more.”

He held his blades, gaze ice-cold yet burning. That balance traveled down his nerves, his muscles, through his waves, through the microcapacitors. All synced.

He stepped into range.

The Warden ahead widened its stance, ready to hold the line with sweeping strikes—likely stalling for the other to join.

But Alonso couldn’t care less.

He didn’t dodge the strikes.

He went straight at them.

His form blurred as he pushed the skill again. No preparation. No prior exchanges. No more data.

Now, he wanted only one thing.

The Xok’al’s blades arced—piercing nothing but his afterimage—as Alonso’s sword drove through its throat.

He didn’t stop. He turned, slashed the head clean off, then cleaved the skull mid-air as he pressed his forehead to the falling orb.

Stage 1 – 19.933%

No-Strike – 13.293%

“And now?”

“…Go for it.”

Alonso stood still, calm, just meters from the fallen Warden.

His blades still carried its blood. The wind carried its scent.

And then, the other arrived—a heavy thud on the barren field.

The smell of blood and iron swirled through the cold winds as they wrapped around human and Warden alike.

Alonso held its gaze.

Those reptilian eyes met his, unblinking and cold.

Yet Alonso felt no fury, no anger… the Xok’al was not human. It was not driven by thought, but by function. An optimized entity—part of a larger whole.

Arjun died not because of it… but because he—they—had failed him. They had made a mistake.

So Alonso raised his blades, not for revenge.

That last shot from Arjun… it had carried more than just the desire to kill the Xok’al ahead of him.

And yet, despite that, despite knowing that what he was about to do might register within the swarm—might be noted, processed, integrated—he decided to do it anyway.

Not for Arjun, but for himself.

Alonso closed his eyes as the Warden activated its charged state without hesitation—a corona of lightning cracking the air, its twin fans detaching from it back and spinning in formation behind it.

It was going all out from the start.

Because now, the swarm recognized him as a threat worth that effort.

A target to be eliminated.

But Alonso remained still.

Calm.

Even as the waves inside his body surged and connected every microcapacitor, sparks burning through his cells as they overcharged. Magnetic currents hummed—a deep resonance using his body as its conduit.

His heart pounded. His nerves lit up as Dual Overdrive reached its peak, fusing into his internal system. Magnetic arcs surged through his nervous pathways, syncing with the body’s natural flow and amplifying it—like turning roads into highways.

The pressure built fast.

Threatening to cascade, to shatter it all apart.

The Warden struck—fans, projectiles, limbs—all coming for him in one unstoppable wave.

And then…

In an instant. A fraction of a millisecond.

It settled.

Silence bloomed.

Alonso exhaled, soft and controlled.

His form vanished.

Blurred—

—and reappeared half a dozen meters past the Warden.

Behind him, only remnants.

A shattered trail.

A broken echo of space.

And several dismembered pieces of what had once been a Warden.

Alonso raised his head to the sky as the creature’s skull sailed through the air above him. He pierced it mid-flight.

His body trembled, threatening to collapse as he shut the state off—but he stood firm.

He raised his sword high for all to see.

The Warden’s skull skewered on the blade, blood dripping down its length.