The interior of the Aethel Waystation, near the breach, was a chaotic scene. Dust and debris from the explosion filled the air, a stark contrast to the usual serene, purple-lit corridors. The grating static of Alaris corruption fought with the Waystation's own harmonic resonance. The UGF officer, a shimmering distortion due to his personal cloak, was already advancing, his combat drones methodically scanning for targets.
"He'll head for the central chamber, for Elysius!" Alex said to Kai, his voice tight with urgency. His Aethel Cognition was piecing together the officer's likely objective: neutralize the Waystation's controlling intelligence or, worse, use the Alaris shard to somehow corrupt Elysius itself.
"Not if we stop him first," Kai growled, reloading his disruptor.
They plunged into the Waystation, moving through corridors that now felt alien and threatened. The passive Aethel defenses – subtle energy fields and resonant deterrents – were flickering, disrupted by the breach and the officer's Alaris-infused presence.
They caught up to the officer in a large, circular nexus chamber where several corridors converged. The chamber was filled with dormant crystalline interfaces, similar to the ones Elysius had used to teach Alex, now coated in a fine layer of dust from the breach. The officer was examining one, his head tilted.
"Fascinating architecture," the officer's synthesized voice commented, seemingly to himself, as Alex and Kai burst in. "The energy patterns are… unique. The Alaris entity will learn much from this place." He turned, his movements fluid and economical, his unseen weapon already tracking them.
His two combat drones, positioned on either side of him, opened fire immediately.
Alex was ready. He slammed his hands together, not with physical force, but with focused sonic intent. A deafening, concussive wave – far more powerful than his earlier blasts in the Sump – erupted outwards, specifically tuned to disrupt the drones' delicate internal mechanisms.
VRRRROOOOMMM-CRACK!
One drone shuddered violently, its targeting systems going haywire, and it began firing erratically into the ceiling. The other stumbled, its optical sensors shattering. Alex had learned from his earlier encounter; this time, the sonic attack was designed to cripple, not just disorient.
"Aethel sonic manipulation," the officer observed, his personal dampeners flaring as he absorbed the fringe effects of the blast. "Your learning curve is… steep." He raised his own weapon – a sleek, compact UGF pulse rifle he must have retrieved – and fired a tight burst at Alex.
Alex snapped up an Aethel shield, deflecting the bolts. But the officer was already moving, not directly engaging, but using the chamber's crystalline pillars for cover, his drones, though damaged, still providing a distraction. He fought with cold, tactical precision, a ghost in the machine.
"He's too agile with that cloak, and his dampeners are still too strong for direct hits!" Kai yelled, taking cover behind a larger crystal formation and exchanging fire with the sporadically shooting drone.
Alex knew Kai was right. Brute force wasn't working against this opponent. He needed something smarter, something the officer wouldn't expect. His Aethel Cognition sifted through his absorbed knowledge. The UGF Lieutenant's tactical database… the Enforcer's resilience… and the Aethel arts.
Shielding. Cognition. Conduition. What else did he have?
He remembered the principles of his first lesson with the Shielding art: not just blocking, but redirecting. He'd deflected Kai's disruptor bolt. Could he do more? Could he… catch and return?
The officer fired another burst. This time, instead of just deflecting, Alex shaped his Aethel shield into a concave resonant mirror, perfectly attuned to the frequency of the UGF pulse rifle. The incoming energy bolts struck the shield, were momentarily absorbed, their energy signature analyzed by his Cognition, and then, with a mental command and a surge of channeled Conduit energy, Alex re-fired them from his shield, directly back at the officer.
The officer, clearly not expecting his own shots to be turned against him with such precision, was forced to dive hastily behind a pillar, the returned bolts searing the spot where he'd been.
"He can catch and return fire?!" Kai exclaimed, momentarily stunned. "What can't you do, Ren?"
A faint smile touched Alex's lips. "Still learning."
The officer, however, was far from defeated. He was adapting. He emerged from behind the pillar, not firing, but activating a small device on his wrist. A wave of subtle, wide-spectrum jamming energy washed through the chamber.
"Comms are down!" Lena's voice crackled over Alex's earpiece, then cut out. "My Mind Core… getting interference…"
The officer was isolating them, cutting them off from Elysius and external support.
"His jamming field is localized, Keybearer," Elysius's voice, faint but still present in Alex's mind due to their direct Aethel link, managed to pierce the interference. "It targets conventional communication frequencies and less refined psychic emanations. Our link… is more fundamental."
"He's trying to sow chaos, break our coordination," Alex realized.
The damaged combat drones, recovering somewhat, lumbered forward, laying down a clumsy but dangerous crossfire. Alex maintained his defensive shield against them, while Kai continued to pick his shots, trying to hit their exposed joints.
Alex knew this couldn't last. The officer was too skilled, too well-equipped. They were in a war of attrition, and the officer had the advantage of surprise and specialized anti-Aethel tech.
He needed to end this. He needed to get to the officer himself.
Drawing deep on his Conduit power, Alex did something unexpected. He let his primary Aethel shield drop.
"Ren, what are you doing?!" Kai yelled, as plasma bolts streaked towards Alex.
Instead of reforming the shield, Alex moved. He flowed. His body, infused with Conduit energy and guided by Aethel Cognition, seemed to anticipate the drones' firing patterns. He sidestepped a bolt, ducked under another, his movements preternaturally smooth and efficient. He wasn't just dodging; he was using the drones' own attack vectors to propel him forward, towards the officer, who was momentarily surprised by Alex's reckless abandon.
He channeled raw Conduit energy into his fists, not plasma, not static, but pure, concentrated kinetic force, augmented by the residual imprint of the Enforcer's Strength Core. He closed the distance to the first drone in a blur.
His fist, glowing with Aethel power, slammed into the drone's central chassis.
CRUNCH!
The drone's armor buckled, internal systems shattered, and it collapsed in a shower of sparks, completely disabled.
Before the second drone could react, Alex spun, unleashing a focused sonic lance from his palm directly into its primary optical sensor, then followed up with another Conduit-empowered punch to its weapon arm, tearing it clean off. The drone stumbled, blind and disarmed.
Two drones, neutralized in seconds, with a terrifying combination of Aethel grace and brutal efficiency.
The officer watched, his personal cloak flickering slightly, his posture unchanging. "Raw power, refined by alien technique. You are evolving at an accelerated rate, Chimera. A most… promising development for the Alaris Initiative."
Alex ignored the taunt. He was now face-to-face with the UGF's ghost, the hound who had hounded them across Rusthaven and into the depths of space. This was it.
He could feel the officer's Null-Field-like dampeners, a subtle aura of energy suppression. His Aethel attacks would be less effective. He needed something direct, something that could bypass or overwhelm that defense.
He reached deep within, to the very first power he'd truly, chaotically, claimed as his own: the wild, untamed electrical energy from Rusthaven's junction box. He'd since learned to draw it as a Conduit, to stabilize it somewhat with his Aethel Cognition. Now, he let it surge, raw and furious, an elemental storm gathering in his hands.
This wasn't the precise art of the Aethel. This was the desperate fury of Rusthaven, amplified.
Lightning, raw and untamed, crackled around Alex's fists. He was a storm about to break.