The Nexus Ascendant.

The air at the edge of the Nexus Abyss tasted of ozone and decay. Eldrin stood on the precipice, his left arm encased in jagged**Origin Circuitry**, the blue veins of the **grain** now clawing up his neck like frost on glass.

Below him, the rift pulsedaliving wound in the earth, its edges writhing with tendrils of black mist. The ground trembled beneath his boots, as though the world itself recoiled from the abyss.

Lioras **Essence Seeker** shattered in her hands, its needle spinning wildly before snapping against the glass. She cursed, her emerald cloak fluttering like a wounded bird.

**"The sixth shard is down there,"** she said, her voice stripped of its usual mockery. **"And so is Ophira."**

Tira clutched her chest, the **third shard** flickering beneath her skin.

Her dual voicesone trembling, one feralwhispered in unison: *"Shes waiting for you."*

Nim adjusted her spider-mech's fractured lens, its hydraulic legs sputtering.**"That's not just a rift. It's a damn mouth."**

Jace, his face gaunt from resurrection's toll, gripped a throwing knife.

*"And were the meal."**

The abyss exhaled.

A gust of sulfurous wind ripped through the group, carrying whispers*voices*that slithered into Eldrin's skull.

*"Join me, brother."*

Ophira's voice.

Erin's **grain** flared in response, its light seeping through his sleeve. The

shards called to each other, a dissonant harmony that made his bones ache. He clenched his fist, willing the chaos-fire to rise, but the flames sputtereddrained by the rift's pull.

Liora's dagger flashed, carving a ward into the air. **"We go now, or never."**

---

The descent was a freefall into madness.

The walls of the abyss were not stone, but *flesh*pulsing, veined, threaded with**blackened vines** that recoiled at their touch. Eldrin's boots sank into the spongy surface, each step eliciting a wet *squelch*. The air thickened, pressing against his lungs like a vise.

**"This isnt a rift,"** Nim muttered, her mech's legs slicing through a curtain of hanging tendrils. **"It's a *body*."**

Liora's lips thinned. **"The Titans' graveyard. Ophira's playing with corpses."**

Ahead, the tunnel dilated into a cavernous chamber. At its center floated the **sixth shard**a-jagged spear of crystal, its light eclipsed by a swirling vortex of shadow. And beneath it, wreathed in tendrils of corruption, stood Ophira.

Her raven hair floated as though submerged, her armor fused with shards that pulsed like a second heartbeat. The **fifth shard** gleamed in her chest, its light threaded with black veins. She turned, her smile a blade.

*"Youre late."*

Eldrin's **grain** *screamed*.

The battle began with a whisper.

Ophira raised a hand, and the vines *moved*lashing toward Tira. The girls shard flared, her dual voices shrieking as corruption snaked up her legs.

**"No!"** Eldrin lunged, chaos-fire roaring to life. The flames carved through the vines, but for every one severed, two more sprouted, their thorns dripping **ichor**.

Liora's dagger found its mark, severing the tendrils binding Tira. **"The shard it's resonating with Ophiras!"**

Ophira laughed, the sound cracking the air like thunder.*"She's mine, brother. Just like you will be."

The **sixth shard** pulsed, its light warping. The ground *heaved*, and from the walls emerged **shadow-eaters**twisted parodies of Titans, their hollow eyes fixed on Eldrin.

Jace's knives found their throats. Nim's mech unleashed a volley of plasma, but the creatures *reformed*, their bodies absorbing the attacks.

**"Theyre feeding on the shard's energy!"** Nim yelled.

Eldrin's vision swam. The **grain** was spreading, its veins creeping toward his eye. Power flooded himraw, ravenous, *Ophira's* power. He saw flashes:

---A Titan altar. A split shard.

---Liora, falling into the abyss.

---Ophira's whisper: *"You were never human."*

---

**"Eldrin!"** Liora's voice sliced through the haze.

He blinked. Ophira stood before the **sixth shard**, her hand outstretched.*"Join me. Together, well remake this world."*

The shard's light pulsedabeacon, a snare.

Eldrin's fire turned **cobalt**, the stolen energy of the rift surging through him. He roared, charging-

---And the abyss *exploded*.

The **sixth shard** shattered.

Ophira's scream was cut short as the vortex collapsed, swallowing her into the dark.

Silence.

Then-

A whisper, from the depths:

*"This isnt over."*

Eldrin fell to his knees, the **grain** burning like ice. The shard was gone.

But the abyss still breathed.

And somewhere in the dark, Ophira laughed.

---