Page 84 of Alien Warlord's Fury

For one crucial moment, the shield flickered and died.

I lunged forward with every ounce of strength I had left, roaring a challenge that echoed through the chamber. My blade sliced through the air, aimed directly at Hammond's now-exposed torso.

Claire, now!I shouted through our bond.

Hammond's eyes widened in shock as he scrambled to reactivate his shield. The remaining guards rushed to intercept me, but they were too slow, too far away.

My blade connected, drawing a line of red across Hammond's arm as he twisted away. Not a killing blow, but enough to force him completely on the defensive, away from the Nexus controls, away from Claire.

Pain ripped through me as one of the guards landed a blow to my injured side, but I kept my focus on Hammond. Blood dripped from my numerous wounds, but I refused to yield. Through our bond, I felt Claire's renewed determination surgeas she seized the opening I'd created, diving deep into the interface.

Hammond clutched his bleeding arm, rage distorting his features. "Kill him!" he ordered the guards. "Kill him now!"

I set my feet, blade ready. Hammond had made a critical mistake. He'd assumed I was fighting to win.

I wasn't. I was fighting to create an opening for Claire.

And I had succeeded.

CLAIRE

Ifelt the shift through our bond—a sudden lightening, like the moment a boulder rolled away. Hammond's psychic pressure faltered as Nirako forced his physical attention elsewhere.Now!Nirako's thought echoed in my mind.

I didn't hesitate.

I plunged deeper into the Nexus interface, past Hammond's weakened mental defenses. The corrupted code parted before me like a curtain, revealing the original stabilization protocols beneath his twisted overrides. Ancient, elegant patterns of energy that Hammond had buried beneath layers of corruption.

"There you are," I whispered.

The children's lifelines reached toward me—not with desperation now, but with purpose. Their energy signatures brushed against my markings, three distinct patterns of pure, untainted light. Not offering themselves as fuel for Hammond's machine, but as harmony to counter the chaos he'd created.

I opened myself to them, a conduit rather than a controller.

"You think you understand this technology?" Hammond's voice echoed from somewhere behind me, strained with effort as Nirako pressed his attack. "Primitive fools. I've spent years unraveling its secrets!"

I ignored him, focusing on the counter-harmonic sequence I'd glimpsed in the core programming. My fingers danced across the interface, inputting commands while my mind held the connection open. The children's energy flowed through me, a shield against the corrupted Nexus trying to tear into my consciousness.

My markings burned silver-hot against my skin, conducting energy I shouldn't have been able to channel. I poured everything into the stabilization pattern—my rage at Hammond, my empathy for the planet's tortured consciousness, my connection to Nirako anchoring me to reality.

The Nexus energy began to shift. The angry red pulsations that had dominated the interface flickered, hints of stable blue-green light appearing in the swirling patterns. The planet's agonized scream in my mind eased fractionally, becoming something closer to a moan.

"Stop her!" Hammond shouted, his voice closer now, his psychic presence lashing out weakly against my defenses. "She's interfering with the integration!"

The strain tore through me like fire. Blood dripped from my nose, metallic on my lips. My muscles trembled with the effort of standing.

Each breath felt like inhaling broken glass.

Through our bond, Nirako's strength flowed into me—steady, unwavering. Not demanding I stop to save myself, but supporting my choice to continue. His presence wrapped around my consciousness, an anchor in the storm.

I felt his pain—a sharp spike as a guard landed another blow—but his focus remained locked, supporting me.

"The children," I gasped, hoping he could hear me through the bond. "Their energy—it's stabilizing the core."

The youngest child's lifelines pulsed with trust and hope, a pure golden light that sang against the corrupted red. Thesecond child's pattern created a counterpoint, steadying the fluctuations. The third, oldest child wove their energy into a protective lattice, shielding all of us from the worst of the Nexus backlash.

Together we formed a harmonic link—Claire-Nirako-Children-Nexus—each part resonating with the others, creating something Hammond could never have forced into existence.

"It's working," I whispered, vision blurring. "The stabilization sequence is taking hold."

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