The sonic distortion faded. Damon was shaking with fury, his eyes locked on the Epic Scrap now pulsating in Kenji's hand.
"He got it! Don't let him leave with that! That scrap is worth millions of Ember! I don't care if you break the rules kill the Scrapsmith!" Damon screamed, losing his composure.
The two Rank 7 bodyguards, named Rook and Rook, professional mercenaries hired by Blackwood, moved with chilling speed. They were specialized Close-Quarters-Combat (CQC) Rankers, powered by a kinetic acceleration field that bypassed the Bastion Golem's inherent slowness.
"Elara, Mateo! South tunnel! Now!" Kenji yelled, already moving. He knew he couldn't fight Rank 7s.
Mateo deployed a [Sonic Burst: Decoy Run], creating three high-speed sound clones that zipped toward the main exit, drawing the attention of the Obsidian Rankers.
Rook One, the first Rank 7, ignored the decoys. He was tracking Elara. "Frost Weaver is priority! Eliminate the support!"
Rook One covered the distance between them in a frightening blur. Elara, still weak from her core-shocking ice move, barely managed to erect a thin ice wall. The Rook hit it with a specialized kinetic fist that shattered the ice and sent Elara spinning into the dust.
Kenji rushed to Elara, positioning himself between her and the Rank 7. He desperately drew on the raw Epic Scrap of Absolute Defense energy, trying to understand the shield principles he had just absorbed.
The principle isn't rigidity, it's deflection!
Before the Rook could strike again, Kenji unleashed a completely new, un-forged Scrap move. He channeled the kinetic residue he had absorbed from the Bastion Golem's destruction, coating his hands in the iridescent gray haze.
When Rook One's punch came, Kenji met it with his Scrap-infused hand. Instead of breaking, the gray haze instantly redirected the kinetic energy at a 90-degree angle, sending Rook One stumbling into the wall, impacting his own partner, Rook Two.
"What was that?" Rook One spat, shaking off the impact. "A counter-scrap? That's not a Scrapsmith ability!"
"It is now!" Kenji grabbed Elara, lifting her to her feet. "Go, go, go!"
They plunged into the narrow, winding service tunnels Finnian had marked on the map. Damon's regular guards were too slow to follow, but the two Rank 7 Rooks were closing the gap quickly, their kinetic fields allowing them to run through the tunnels without scraping the walls.
The chase was relentless. Kenji knew their only chance was to find the rest of the team.
Just as the Rooks were about to corner them in a dead-end maintenance shaft, a thick, reinforced wall of interlocking stone slammed down behind Kenji and Elara, sealing the shaft.
"You okay, boss?" Zola's strained voice came through the thick stone.
Bjorn and Zola, with Priya supporting them, had finally breached the main tunnel collapse. They had arrived just in time.