DR. KWAME POV
"The left side, Eve. The center, Adam," I repeated their plan under my breath, my eyes narrowing. "But remember: a Sentinel does not fight like a beast. He fights like a surgeon."
Vance didn't wait for a signal. He reached into his white tactical coat and drew a sleek, matte-gray sidearm. It looked like a standard-issue military pistol, but as his fingers gripped the handle, the weapon hummed. Light Impulse (Rare) surged from his palm into the chamber, coating the bullets in a lethal, freezing white glow.
"Move!" I commanded.
The boys vanished. Eve blurred toward the left, his feet kicking up asphalt as he prepared a strike of Black Impulse. Adam took the direct route, his body a streak of golden-shadow as he closed the distance with terrifying speed.
Bang. Bang.
Vance didn't even look at them. He fired two shots.
The bullets didn't hit the boys; they hit the ground three feet in front of them. Upon impact, the "Cold Light" infused in the lead detonated. It didn't explode with fire; it exploded into Glacial Shards. Massive spikes of solidified light erupted from the pavement, forming a jagged wall that forced Eve to veer off-course and sent Adam tumbling backward to avoid being impaled.
"Impulsive. Untrained," Vance remarked. He leveled the gun at Adam. "You have the power of a god and the footwork of a toddler."
"Adam! Pivot right!" I shouted. "Eve, he's tracking your heat signature through the visor. Shadow-step, now!"
Eve snarled, his body flickering as he tried to merge with the shadows of the parked cars. But Vance was faster. He tapped his boots together, and a Light-Bridge formed beneath him. He skated fifteen feet into the air, instantly gaining the high ground.
"I see the flow, Doctor," Vance said, his voice echoing from above. "I see the Black Impulse in the little one. It's like a rot."
He opened fire again. This time, he didn't miss.
Eve screamed as a light-infused bullet grazed his shoulder. The moment the "Cold Light" touched him, the black aura around his arm vanished. The limb went limp, "muted" by the Sentinel's superior tier of energy.
"Eve!" Adam roared. He leaped into the air, his hands glowing with a Dark-born's aggression, aiming a heavy strike at Vance's elevated platform.
Vance didn't move. He simply held up his free hand, forming the Prismatic Aegis.
When Adam's fist connected with the hexagonal shield, there was no sound of impact. Instead, the dark energy of Adam's strike hit the prism and was refracted. The energy split into thousands of harmless, sparkling Blue-tier embers that rained down on the parking lot like confetti.
Adam's eyes widened. He was hanging in mid-air, completely exposed.
"My turn," Vance whispered.
He kicked Adam in the chest—a move reinforced by a burst of white light. The force sent Adam flying backward, smashing through the windshield of a parked SUV. The glass shattered, and the alarm began to wail, a shrill accompaniment to the sudden silence of the boys' failed assault.
I felt the Golden Impulse in my chest flare up. My instinct was to burn Vance out of the sky, to show him why I was the one who had mastered the Pinnacle. But I held back. I gripped the door handle of our sedan so hard the metal groaned.
"Get up," I hissed, my voice low and dangerous. "Adam, stop trying to overpower the shield. It feeds on direct force. Eve, stop hiding. He's a Light-user; he is the light. You can't hide from him, you have to drown him."
Eve crawled out from behind a car, clutching his muted shoulder. His face was pale, his breathing ragged. Adam pushed himself out of the ruined SUV, blood trickling down his forehead, mixing with the dark energy that still flickered around his eyes.
They looked at me, then up at Vance, who was calmly reloading his pistol with a fresh magazine of light-chilled rounds.
"They're strong, Doctor," Vance admitted, his visor scanning the area. "In ten years, they might have been a threat. But today? Today they are just paperwork."
He raised his gun, pointing it directly at the bridge of Adam's nose. The air around the barrel began to crystallize—the tell-tale sign of his Absolute Luminance ultimate. He wasn't going to kill them yet; he was going to flash-freeze their nervous systems and end this.
"Father..." Adam gasped, looking for guidance.
"Listen to me," I said, my voice cutting through their panic. "You are hybrids. He is pure. He is a scalpel, but you two? Together, you are the entire operating room. Use the contradiction."
Vance pulled the trigger. A blinding, heavy wave of white light erupted, turning the afternoon into a void of pure, slowing brilliance.