226 SAVED BY DAWN
[Planet Anu- dawn]
Black Halo was down to his last breath.
"It's ti to die, half-breed!" Anubis roared, as his twin shadows split apart and unleashed their final strike.
The Scythe's energy tore through Black Halo's scaled armor. The black plates disintegrated, peeling from his flesh as his body was flayed by alien fire.
Dan closed his eyes. "So, this is it. He had lost the bet. It's the end for him."
Then there ca….light.
His eyes snapped open. Sothing within him stirred.
His torn flesh began to knit, scales reford in shimring layers of obsidian.
"What…what is this?" one of the shadows gasped. "Why is he healing?"
They turned their gaze upward.
And there it was—the twin suns of Anu had risen, their dawn spilling across the battlefield. The first rays touched Black Halo's broken form, and divine warmth surged through him.
He rose, laughing breathlessly. "Looks like I bet right this ti. The suns saved ."
Previously, when he had nearly fallen, he'd seen it—the faint glimr of light on the horizon.
The coming dawn.
The twin suns of Anu would soon rise, and with them ca the light of Ra that flowed within his blood. Under that light, no wound could remain.
"All I need to do is survive until dawn", Dan told himself.
He had endured the long night locked in battle against the Shadows of Anubis. But Black Halo had never fought to win.
He fought to survive.
Every strike, every breath, every desperate move was a stall against death itself—dodging, retreating, slipping past the blows of the shadows until his strength was all but gone.
He fought not against power, but against ti.
And when the first rays broke across the horizon, he still stood. Barely. But alive.
His gamble had paid off.
He survived.
"What are we going to do now? The suns of Ra heal him… we can't harm him until nightfall," one Shadow hissed.
"This half-breed is a threat. If we don't kill him now, he'll escape, and we may never find him again!" another growled.
As the Shadows argued among themselves, Black Halo made the choice for them.
"There's no need to argue," he said, his voice resonating with power. "Shadows do not belong in the day. Now…be vanquished!"
A blinding surge erupted from his body…as plasma beams fired in rapid succession, each one trailing light and thunder. They struck a single Shadow of Anubis, hamring the sa point over and over.
"Halo's Judgnt—Echo In!"
His plasma attacks split,echoingtoward the sa target.
"AAARGH!" the Shadow shrieked as its form began to dissolve in waves of white fla.
Having divided itself into dozens of fragnts, the once-mighty Shadow of Anubis was now scattered into weaker avatars…each barely a fraction of the original's power, though still formidable at Rank AAA and above.
But against the plasma of Black Halo, amplified by his cores, even that strength wasn't enough.
"No….!" the remaining Shadows cried as their kin disintegrated, its essence consud by the light.
Dan or Black Halo… drained the fallen Shadow's power, his aura flaring brighter with every breath.
"Drain."
Then he turned to the next victim.
The suns of Ra blazed overhead, sealing his victory.
The Shadows' attacks evaporated against Black Halo's constantly regenerating body, wounds closing almost as soon as they were inflicted.
"Retreat—we must!" the Shadows cried.
But neither escape nor injury was possible.
"There is no escape from in daylight!" Dan roared, fervor burning in his voice.
Under the twin suns of Anu, the Shadows of Anubis could no longer press their assault. It was futile. No matter how much damage they dealt, Black Halo regenerated endlessly.
They, however, were not so fortunate.
Their bodies did not heal beneath the suns. Every wound lingered. Every strike accumulated. And even the Shadows of Anubis had a breaking point.
One by one, the fragnts of Anubis's shadow were unmade.
Day had co—
and with it, their end.
By the ti Dan had drained six fragnts of the Shadow of Anubis, distant horns echoed across the dunes.
A new army was approaching…its march shaking the desert floor.
Dan turned toward the rising haze and saw the truth.
This horde was not led by Anubis.
It was led by another…a dangerous but more radiant silhouette that burned even beneath the daylight.
It was a Shadow of Ra.
"Die, half-breed!" the remaining Shadows of Anubis scread. "Let's see how you fare against the power of Ra!"
And they were right to taunt him.
Against Ra's light, Dan's gift beca useless.
The sa suns that healed Black Halo would render him powerless against the god of Ra's shadow.
If he faced Ra now, the battle would stagnate….neither side would be able to end it until nightfall, when his healing would fade.
There was no guarantee Black Halo would not face an even greater threat than the Shadow of Ra during this ti.
"Well," Dan muttered, watching the dark tide advance, "there's still so distance between us."
He lunged forward again, targeting another fragnt of Anubis' shadow that dared to linger. Plasma bolts rained from his chest, burning through the air.
The weakened shadow tried to flee, but Dan caught it in his grasp.
"Drain."
Dan's mining function flared to life, and the Shadow's powers was siphoned into him.
One after another, he hunted them—dodging, striking, absorbing. Six more fell before him.
Then the ground trembled.
The main horde was close now. The Shadow of Ra's glow burned at the horizon like a second sunrise.
"Try chasing …. until you reach Ra!" the last of Anubis's fragnts jeered as the last fragnt fled toward Ra's shadow.
Black Halo halted, smirking beneath his helm. "Do you think I'm a fool? I won't face Ra…."
With a sweep of his hand, his body dissolved into streaks of black plasma, vanishing into the desert winds.
The Shadows of Anubis…what remained of them…escaped back to their lines….but barely. Only a speck of its soul remained.
They had survived, but much of their strength was gone… drained and devoured by Dan, the Black Halo.
-----
Dan returned to Fortress Myrone.
What had once been a proud bastion now lay in ruin—its towers shattered, its halls collapsed, its walls buried beneath dunes of ash and twisted alloy.
Alien creatures still prowled the wreckage.
Dan swept his hand once.
Blades of compressed wind howled through the ruins, erasing the creatures in an instant.
"Sirocco's Vengeance."
He pressed deeper into the fortress.
But a problem quickly beca clear.
Fortress Myrone was utterly destroyed. There were no corridors remaining intact and no routes that were recognizable. Every few steps required blasting through rock and fused debris just to advance a ter.
Dan clenched his jaw."How am I supposed to maneuver through this damn ruin?"
Then—
an idea struck him.
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