They reached the inner islands by dawn.
The central island Lotus Prime was a city of white stone and golden spires, its streets lined with cherry trees that bloomed even in winter. It was beautiful. Painfully beautiful. And it was surrounded by an army of demons and soul drained, their red eyes fixed on the city's walls.
But the city itself was still standing.
The barrier held barely a shimmering dome of energy that flickered with every demon attack. On the walls, soldiers fought and died, their bodies falling to join the piles of corpses below.
"Where's the Eclipse Engine?" Lee asked.
Ren pointed to the center of the city to a tower that hadn't been there before. It was made of black iron and shadow, its surface covered in screaming faces. Souls, Lee realized. Thousands of them. Trapped. Screaming.
"It's already built," Ren said. "We're too late."
"No," Lee said. "It's not too late until it's over."
He jumped from the cliff three hundred feet, straight down and landed on the beach below. The golden light exploded from his chest, pushing back the demons, giving the defenders on the walls a moment to breathe.
"LEE ZAOU!" someone shouted from the battlements. "THE LIGHT BRINGER HAS COME!"
The cry spread through the city like wildfire. Soldiers who had been ready to die found new strength. Civilians who had been hiding in their homes emerged to watch. Hope fragile and desperate bloomed in the heart of the Lotus.
Lee didn't feel like a symbol. He felt like a sixteen year old boy who was about to get himself killed.
But he kept moving.
Through the gates. Through the streets. Past the wounded and the dying and the dead. Toward the tower. Toward the Eclipse Engine. Toward his brother.
Kira fought beside him, fire streaming from her hands, burning demons to ash.
Taro danced through the chaos, his flexible body slipping between blades, striking at weak points.
Ren... Ren became something else. His eyes turned black. His skin turned grey. Shadows poured from his body like water, consuming everything they touched.
"Ren?" Kira gasped.
"I told you," Ren said, his voice deeper now, older. "I'm not entirely human."
He raised his hand. The shadows answered.
And together, the four of them cut a path through the demon army.