Chapter 15
The trial lasted twelve minutes.
It was broadcast everywhere.
Crescent law chambers. Night Pack war halls. Neutral enclaves that had never before been granted access to Alpha judiciary proceedings. The speed alone was an indictment.
Kai was not present.
He was not invited.
He was not allowed defense.
> Verdict: Guilty
Sentence: Exile, revocation of rank, termination authorization upon capture
The final declaration followed immediately:
> Bounty Issued — Omega-born Alpha Kai
Status: High-value traitor
Reward: Tier elevation, territory grants, political immunity
The world learned his name that day.
And learned how much it was worth.
---
The Enigma watched the broadcast in silence.
They did not blink when Kai's image appeared on-screen—old footage, sanitized and framed to emphasize restraint as weakness, empathy as contamination.
"Say something," Kai murmured.
They didn't.
When the feed ended, the sanctuary lights dimmed—automatically responding to the spike in dimensional stress.
"I can hear them," the Enigma said finally. "All the futures where you die."
Kai took their hand. "Ignore them."
"I can't," they whispered. "They're loud now."
Outside the sanctuary, the first independent hunters mobilized.
Not packs.
Individuals.
Betas with nothing to lose. Alphas seeking redemption. Deltas eager to prove relevance. Even humans, armed with tech designed to wound gods they barely understood.
Fear had turned profitable.
---
The bounty changed everything.
Delta patrols doubled. Defensive layers thickened. Internal security became ruthless.
And still—it wasn't enough.
The first breach came at dusk.
A long-range spatial harpoon tore through the outer barrier, anchoring itself directly into the sanctuary's dimensional seam. The impact rippled inward like a scream.
The Enigma collapsed to their knees.
Kai caught them just as blood spilled from their nose, reality stuttering violently around their body.
"They're pulling," the Enigma gasped. "Trying to drag the sanctuary into open space."
Kai roared orders into his comm.
Delta units moved instantly—but the harpoon wasn't Delta tech.
It was hybrid.
Pack-enhanced.
Human-assisted.
Designed by collaboration born of hatred.
"They want you exposed," Kai said tightly.
The Enigma's eyes darkened—not glowing, not fractured.
Focused.
"Then I'll show them why they're afraid."
Kai froze. "No."
They looked up at him, expression frighteningly calm.
"If I don't push back," they said, "they'll keep coming. They'll never stop."
"That's not your responsibility," Kai said fiercely.
"It is," the Enigma replied. "Because they made it so."
The sanctuary trembled again.
Kai felt it—the edge.
The moment where restraint became surrender.
He swallowed hard.
"Then not alone," he said.
The Enigma's breath hitched. "Kai—"
"You don't choose violence by yourself," he said, voice iron. "If you cross that line, I cross it with you."
Something in the Enigma's expression shattered—and reformed.
They stood.
Reality followed.
---
The counterstrike was surgical—and devastating.
The Enigma didn't tear space apart.
They redirected it.
The harpoon folded inward on itself, its anchor point reversed. The force meant to expose the sanctuary collapsed back through the breach corridor, detonating the hunter encampment miles away in a controlled implosion of space-time.
No casualties.
Just erasure.
The message was clear.
Delta sensors went silent.
Then alerts flooded in.
Multiple factions withdrew simultaneously.
Fear had recalculated.
---
Kai stood beside the Enigma afterward, both shaking—not from exhaustion, but from the weight of what had been done.
"They'll call this proof," the Enigma said quietly.
"Yes," Kai agreed.
"They'll say I'm a weapon."
Kai turned to face them fully. "Then let them."
Their eyes met.
"You're not a monster because you defend yourself," he continued. "You're not evil because you refuse to die quietly."
The Enigma swallowed. "And you?"
Kai smiled faintly. "I'm already condemned."
They laughed—soft, broken, real.
---
That night, a new broadcast rippled through the networks.
Unofficial.
Anonymous.
But undeniable.
> If the world insists on enemies, then we will be visible ones.
There will be no more hiding.
The Sixth Pillar had chosen visibility.
And Kai—Public Enemy Number One—stood at its side.