Skyfall wasn't a city.
It was a graveyard.
An ancient orbital platform that had once been humanity's pride — gleaming cities in the clouds, trade routes spinning like golden webs across the atmosphere.
Now?
It was a ghost drifting on broken thrusters, stitched together by scavengers and black-market warlords.
And Revenant was here.
Kael watched from the gunship as Skyfall loomed larger, its surface glittering with neon signs, illegal mech-bazaars, and forgotten wars.
"We're flying into the largest pirate city left on the planet," Grimm said, cocking his shotgun. "This'll be fun."
"I count seventeen different mercenary factions holding territory up there," Nyx added grimly. "Most of 'em shoot first, shoot second, never ask questions."
Kael slid a fresh mag into his pistol.
"Good," he said. "We won't have to explain anything.
The team split up on arrival.
Kael and Stitch infiltrated the East Grid — a labyrinth of old tech ruins converted into war markets. Grimm and Nyx handled perimeter disruption, planting signal jammers and fallback points.
Everything here felt wrong.
Not just the chaos.
Something deeper.
Skyfall hummed under their boots. A low, vibrating pulse, like a machine dreaming underneath the concrete.
And above it all, hidden among the neon lights and megastructures — Kael could feel Revenant.
Watching.
Waiting.
They found the lead at a dive-bar stitched into the husk of a crashed cruiser.
A slicer named Rook — part human, part server rack — who sold secrets for adrenaline injections and memory wipes.
He smiled a bloody grin when Kael slammed him against the wall.
"You're looking for the Phantom Ghost," Rook rasped, voice glitching. "He runs the Neon Bastion now. Third grid. Center spine."
Kael pressed harder. "And?"
"And he's waiting for you," Rook grinned wider. "Said you'd come. Said you'd have no choice."
Stitch pulled Kael back before he broke Rook's jaw.
Third Grid.
The center of Skyfall.
An abandoned stadium turned fortress, its skeleton wrapped in holograms and armed sentries.
Kael led the push — silent, ruthless.
Hiveborn mercs patrolled the outer ring — not fully converted, but branded by Architect sigils burned into their skin.
The team moved like shadows — knives in the dark.
Taking guards out one by one.
Breaching side entrances.
Planting EMP grenades across the bastion's supports.
The plan was simple.
Get inside.
Find Revenant.
Put a bullet through his corrupted heart.
Boss Encounter Tease – Revenant's Trap
They reached the throne room.
It was empty.
No guards.
No Revenant.
Just a single chair made of broken mech parts — and a sphere hovering above it, glowing with Architect code.
As Kael stepped closer, the sphere spoke — Revenant's voice dripping like oil.
> "Welcome, brother."
"Skyfall is just the first. When the Architect fully awakens, all your wars will seem like arguments between ants."
"Come find me, Catalyst. If you dare."
And then the sphere detonated — not an explosion of fire, but of data.
Across the entire sector, every hacked device, every cybernetic merc, every autonomous turret — turned at once.
Skyfall became a battlefield.
Lights died. Gravity failed. Streets cracked and fell into the clouds below.
Mercs opened fire on everything.
Warbots broke loose from their handlers.
The dead began to rise — not as zombies, but as data-forged husks puppeteered by Architect code.
Kael barely grabbed Stitch as the ground beneath them disintegrated, diving through collapsing scaffolds.
"WE NEED OUT — NOW!" Stitch screamed over the comms.
"Extraction point's burning!" Grimm shouted back. "Meet me at the ventral spine! MOVE!"
C Fallin
Kael sprinted through freefalling debris, dodging plasma fire and collapsing structures.
Hiveborn mercs chased them, firing smart rounds that bent through the air.
Nyx covered their retreat from a high perch, sniper rounds ripping apart enemy lines.
Grimm roared through the comms, piloting a stolen grav-sled toward them.
Kael leaped — catching the sled's edge — hauling Stitch up behind him just as the last floor gave way.
Skyfall burned behind them, falling into the clouds like a wounded beast.
And far above, on a surviving spire, Kael caught one last glimpse:
Revenant.
Watching.
Waiting.
Smiling.
Back at Sanctum-x
They survived Skyfall.
But Revenant had seeded another virus.
The Neon Bastion wasn't just a trap — it was a broadcast station.
Across the globe, ancient Architect ruins were awakening.
Not Seeds.
Not Hivebound.
Something older.
Something built before humanity even stood upright.
Kael stared at the global feed, fists trembling.
They hadn't stopped the end.
They had only started the clock.