The EMP was not a weapon of subtlety. It was a sledgehammer.
A wave of pure electromagnetic energy pulsed out from the sky-bridge, silent but devastating. Every light in the lower market district, every neon sign, every datapad, every comm-link, and, most importantly, every piece of advanced Vanguard technology, instantly died.
The world was plunged into an absolute, disorienting darkness and a profound, ringing silence.
The Vanguard operatives, who had been relying on their helmet-integrated night vision and communication systems, were suddenly rendered deaf and blind.
Their disciplined formation dissolved into a panicked, confused mob. They were soldiers without their technology, stumbling in a darkness far more complete than any they had trained for.
For Kiera, the darkness was an ally.
She had trained in it, fought in it, lived in it. Her senses, honed by years of Azure Dragon discipline, were far more reliable than any technology.
She moved through the chaos on the sky-bridge like a phantom. The Quartermaster, for all his intelligence, was just another man in the dark.
Kiera disarmed him and disabled him with two swift, precise blows before he even knew what was happening.
"Ryu! Talk to me!" she yelled into the dead air, knowing her comm was useless. "Where are they?"
From his rooftop, Ryu was their only set of eyes.
The EMP hadn't affected him, and in the sudden, total absence of electronic noise, his ChainForce sense was clearer than ever before.
He could feel the panicked, angry energy signatures of the Vanguard soldiers scattered below him.
He had become their fire control, their command center.
"Two on your left, Kiera! By the noodle bar entrance!" he yelled, his voice echoing in the now-silent street.
"Joric, one moving up behind you, fast!"
Guided by Ryu's calls, the battle became a brutal, disorienting affair fought in pitch darkness.
Kiera, her own power diminished, fought with a savage efficiency, a ghost with a blade, her every strike guided by Ryu's remote sight.
Joric, no warrior, used his knowledge of the environment, overturning carts and creating obstacles to slow and confuse their attackers, buying Kiera precious seconds.
It was a desperate, chaotic retreat.
They fought their way off the sky-bridge, dragging the unconscious Quartermaster with them, and plunged into the familiar labyrinth of the service tunnels.
The Vanguard, regrouping and relying on instinct, pursued them, their shouts and the clumsy sounds of their pursuit echoing in the narrow corridors.
They were still outnumbered, and Kiera was still wounded.
They couldn't run forever.
They found temporary refuge in a small, circular maintenance hub. The Vanguard were closing in from both ends of the tunnel.
They were trapped again.
"This is it," Joric said, breathing heavily. "We're out of tricks."
"No," Kiera said, her eyes finding Ryu's in the gloom. "We have one left." She looked at him, not as a mentor or a partner, but as a commander.
"Ryu. You're our only weapon. Forget subtle. Forget control. I need a fire. I need a storm. I need you to let go. Can you do it?"
Ryu looked at the tunnel, at the approaching energy signatures of the men who wanted to kill him.
He looked at Kiera, her face grim but filled with a desperate, trusting faith in him. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and reached for the wild, untamed ocean of power he had been so desperately trying to contain.
This time, he didn't just pull on a thread.
He opened the floodgates.