Chapter 61: You Will Never Find Him
The formation was breaking. Reid could feel it happening in real time, the tight defensive circle around the Emperor fraying at the edges as exhausted Sentinels fought past the point their bodies had any business still standing, blades growing heavier, strikes landing slower, the relentless press of the horde chipping away at their numbers with brutal, mathematical certainty.
"we...we can’t hold this line any much longer," Jayden shouted, gold light flickering low and unstable now, his reserves clearly running thin after everything the day had already demanded of him. "Reid, we’re losing ground..."
"I know," Reid said, driving his blade through another rogue, the motion costing more effort than it should, exhaustion burning deep through muscles that had been fighting without rest since they first crossed into the toxic zone.
Logan staggered as a rogue’s claws caught his shoulder, tearing through his protective gear, and only Jayden’s quick block saved him from a second, deeper strike. "Logan!" Jayden shouted, hauling him back into formation. "stay with us..."
"I’m fine," Logan gritted out, though the blood soaking through his sleeve said otherwise.
The Emperor, breathing hard, blade slick with dark corrupted blood, cast a fast, assessing glance across the dwindling formation, the grim mathematics of the situation settling hard and undeniable behind his exhausted eyes. They’d started this expedition with dozens of Sentinels. Fewer than half remained standing now, and the horde showed no sign of thinning, gray shapes still pressing in from every direction with the same relentless, coordinated hunger.
The two figures remained at the tree line, watching with patient, unbothered interest, occasionally exchanging a glance between themselves that carried the eerie weight of shared, singular thought passing silently between two bodies.
"I guess they’re studying us," the Emperor said, voice tight, parrying a strike aimed at his ribs. "this isn’t even a real fight to them. it’s just an experiment to them."
"does it matter what they call it," Reid snapped, "if we’re the ones dying either way..."
A rogue broke through the weakening formation entirely, claws raking across a Sentinel’s back before anyone could intercept, and the scream that followed cut through the chaos hard enough that even the twin figures’ attention sharpened slightly, watching the wound with clinical, detached interest.
"pull back!" Reid roared finally, the decision crystallizing hard and bitter in his chest. "everyone, fall back to the boundary, NOW..."
"we can’t just leave," Logan said, horror and exhaustion warring plainly across his face. "we haven’t found anything, we haven’t gotten anywhere close to..."
"and we won’t," Reid said, grabbing his arm hard, forcing him back toward the retreating formation, "if we’re all dead. we regroup. we come back with a better plan. that’s the only option that keeps anyone alive long enough to actually save him."
The Emperor’s jaw tightened, fury and grief and reluctant, bitter agreement all warring behind his eyes, but he nodded once, sharp and final, falling back with the rest of the survivors as they fought a desperate, bloody retreat toward the boundary of the toxic zone.
The horde didn’t pursue past a certain point, peeling away with the same eerie, coordinated precision they’d advanced with, as though some invisible line had simply been drawn and they knew exactly where it sat.
The two figures watched them go, unmoving, expressions calm and unreadable even as the exhausted, battered survivors staggered the last stretch toward safety, carrying their wounded, leaving several of their own behind in the blighted dirt.
"you fought very well," they said together, voices carrying easily across the retreating distance, layered and impossible as ever. "better than most who’ve tried."
The Emperor turned back sharply despite Reid’s hand tightening on his arm, fury burning hot beneath his exhaustion. "who ARE you," he demanded again, voice raw. "what were you before this. before whatever twisted magic made you into... into this."
Something shifted behind both figures’ eyes at once, identical and simultaneous, and for the first time since the encounter began, their layered voices carried something almost like genuine amusement.
"we were many things," they said. "many people. Xavier and Ian found us useful enough to preserve, and very clever enough to combine. one voice speaking for dozens saves considerable time, when there are dozens of tasks requiring attention at once."
The horror of that landed hard and cold across every remaining survivor within earshot... not two people at all, but something built from many, fused and layered into a single, terrible instrument of the twins’ will.
"you’re one of their creations I’m I right," Reid said, voice tight with disgust.
"among their finest," the figures agreed, entirely unbothered by the accusation. "and unlike the poor imitation they sent to your academy, we don’t crack under scrutiny. we don’t need careful maintenance or constant attention. we simply are exactly what we were built to be."
The Emperor’s hands curled into fists at his sides, grief and fury and helpless exhaustion all colliding at once. "then tell us where he is," he said, voice raw and desperate despite every effort to hold it steady. "please. whatever this costs, whatever you want in exchange, just tell us..."
The figures studied him for a long, silent moment, something almost like pity flickering behind their identical, layered expressions.
"you misunderstand your position," they said finally, voices dropping low and final, carrying easily across the ruined, blighted landscape between them. "this was never a negotiation. you were never meant to succeed today. you were meant to understand exactly how impossible this search truly is."
"that’s not an answer," Jayden snarled, still bleeding, still shaking with exhaustion and fury both.
"it’s the only answer you’re getting," the figures said together, and turned as one, retreating back into the shadowed tree line without further ceremony, voices trailing back one final time, layered and absolute, carrying across the ruined battlefield like a verdict already decided. "Remember this, you will never find him. And don’t ever think of coming back because the result would always be the same."