Chapter 13
The declaration was broadcast without warning.
No preamble. No negotiation.
Just a single transmission, projected across pack channels, neutral networks, and underground relays—undeniable, uneditable, and devastating.
> The Delta Faction formally recognizes the Enigma as an autonomous tier.
No pack ownership. No suppressive rites. No termination authority.
Henceforth known as the Sixth Pillar.
The world stopped breathing.
Kai watched the feed in the command chamber, arms folded, expression unreadable. Around him, Delta officials moved with grim efficiency, already tracking retaliatory mobilizations.
"They'll call it treason," Kai said quietly.
"They already are," a strategist replied. "Crescent and Night Packs have issued joint denunciations."
"And the neutral factions?"
"Split," the strategist said. "Some see opportunity. Others see extinction."
Kai knew which side would move first.
Fear was always faster than reason.
---
The Enigma heard the announcement alone.
They stood in the sanctuary's inner chamber, hands trembling as the words echoed again in their mind.
Autonomous.
No ownership.
No chains.
The floor beneath them shimmered faintly, reacting to the emotional surge.
"I didn't agree to this," they whispered.
Kai entered behind them. "I know."
"They're using me."
"Yes."
The Enigma turned sharply. "Then why did you let them?"
Kai didn't deflect. Didn't soften it.
"Because if they didn't do this," he said, "someone else would decide your fate for you. This at least gives you a voice."
The Enigma laughed bitterly. "A voice wrapped in a target."
Kai stepped closer. "I'll stand between you and it."
The Enigma met his gaze, searching. "That's not protection. That's sacrifice."
Kai didn't deny it.
---
The first attempt came within the hour.
A precision strike—Night Pack operatives, Alpha-tier assassins enhanced with pheromone dampeners and anti-Enigma weaponry. They phased through the outer perimeter, bypassing standard detection.
They did not expect resistance from inside the sanctuary.
The Enigma felt it before the alarms.
"Kai," they said sharply. "Someone just crossed six spatial layers."
"Stay here," he ordered.
"No."
They moved together.
The assassins struck with brutal coordination—one targeting Kai, two flanking to reach the Enigma. Blades glinted with null-field coating designed to disrupt reality manipulation.
Kai intercepted the first with raw physical force, Alpha instincts flaring. Bone cracked. The assassin went down hard.
The second lunged.
The Enigma raised a hand.
Time slowed—not stopped, but thinned—just enough.
The assassin's momentum faltered. Gravity twisted. The blade shattered mid-air.
The Enigma gasped, power flaring dangerously.
"Kai," they whispered. "I'm slipping."
Kai grabbed their wrist, grounding himself through them instead of the other way around.
"Not alone," he said. "Never alone."
The distortion collapsed.
Delta reinforcements arrived seconds later, securing the area.
Three assassins lay incapacitated.
One stared at the Enigma in naked terror.
"You're not a pillar," he spat. "You're a god."
The Enigma's voice was quiet—and devastating.
"No," they said. "I'm a choice."
The assassin went still.
---
Afterward, the Delta council convened again.
"Assassination attempts will escalate," a commander said. "They will not stop."
"Good," Kai replied.
Every head turned.
"They're afraid," he continued. "That means the balance has already shifted."
The lead Delta studied him. "You speak like a leader."
Kai exhaled slowly. "I was trained as one."
"And you rejected it."
"No," Kai corrected. "I redefined it."
---
That night, Kai and the Enigma stood together at the sanctuary's edge.
The sky fractured above them, constellations rearranging subtly with the Enigma's emotional state.
"They'll never let us be ordinary," the Enigma said.
Kai huffed a quiet laugh. "We were never aiming for ordinary."
The Enigma looked at him, something fragile and fierce in their eyes. "If this ends badly—"
"It will," Kai said calmly.
They smiled despite themselves.
"But if it ends at all," Kai continued, "it ends with us choosing each other."
The Enigma reached for him—not hesitating this time.
The world did not collapse.
It adjusted.
Far away, war drums began to sound.
The Sixth Pillar had risen.
And the old world was already cracking.