The desert wind howled through the canyon.
Juvy stood on a ridge, watching the new Black Rail convoy snake across the sand.
Bigger than the last one.
Three armored trains.
Two escort carriers.
Dozens of soul-cages glowing faint blue.
Eli crouched beside her.
"That's… a lot more than last time."
Juvy nodded.
"They learned."
Behind them, the Flame Resistance waited.
Not just refugees anymore.
Fighters.
Former rail workers.
Runaway soldiers.
People who had nothing left to lose.
A woman named Mara stepped forward.
"What's the plan, Bright Sister?"
Juvy hated that name.
But she answered anyway.
"We break the middle train."
"Why the middle?"
"Because that's where the souls are."
The convoy slowed entering the canyon.
Exactly where Juvy wanted it.
She raised her hand.
Crystal trembled beneath the sand.
"Now."
The ground exploded upward.
Stone pillars erupted under the first escort carrier.
Metal screamed.
The convoy derailed.
Flame Resistance fighters rushed down the cliffs.
Gunfire lit the canyon.
Guards jumped out.
White armor.
Soul rifles glowing.
"PROTECT THE CARGO!"
Too late.
Juvy slammed both hands into the ground.
Lightning split the sky.
Wind ripped doors open.
Stone crushed turrets.
The middle train cracked apart.
Inside Hundreds of glass coffins.
People inside them.
Alive.
Drained.
Juvy felt rage surge through her chest.
"Break them out!"
Resistance fighters smashed the locks.
People fell out coughing.
Weak but alive.
Then the canyon went quiet.
Too quiet.
A voice echoed from the escort carrier.
"Target confirmed."
A massive figure stepped out.
Not a soldier.
A Significant Hunter.
Armor covered in glowing veins.
A cannon attached to his arm.
He pointed it at Juvy.
"Priority target: Bright Sister."
The cannon fired.
Blue energy tore across the canyon.
Juvy barely raised a crystal shield.
It shattered instantly.
She flew backward into the rock.
Pain exploded through her ribs.
The hunter walked forward slowly.
"You are classified as an existential threat."
Eli screamed, "JU-VY!"
Back in Dustfall…
Maxruell felt it.
Like a knife inside his chest.
He grabbed the edge of the tower.
"She's fighting…"
The red stone pulsed violently.
Then go to her.
"I can't leave the city."
Then she dies.
Maxruell's eyes darkened.
Back in the canyon…
The hunter lifted Juvy by the throat.
"You destroyed two rail lines and one Glass City sector."
Juvy struggled to breathe.
"Then… send more."
The hunter's cannon charged again.
Blue light building.
Eli ran forward with a metal pipe.
"LET HER GO!"
The hunter kicked him aside.
Juvy's eyes widened.
"NO!"
Something inside her snapped.
Soul light erupted from her chest.
Not gentle this time.
Violent.
Every gem in the canyon answered.
Stone rose like waves.
Lightning split the sky again.
The hunter fired but Juvy caught the blast midair.
Crystal wrapped around it.
Then she crushed it.
The explosion blew half the canyon apart.
When the dust cleared the hunter was buried under crystal and stone.
The convoy burned.
Freed prisoners scattered into the desert.
Eli crawled toward Juvy.
"You… you beat him…"
Juvy stared at her hands.
They were glowing brighter than ever.
And shaking.
"I didn't beat him…"
She whispered.
"I lost control."
High above the battlefield…
A satellite recorded everything.
Mother Cain watched the feed.
Her smile widened.
"There it is."
Serah tilted her head.
"The second break."
Cain nodded.
"Maxruell broke into darkness."
She pointed at the screen showing Juvy's explosion.
"And now she's breaking into light."
Serah asked quietly:
"Will the twins survive this?"
Cain folded her hands.
"One will."