**Neon Shadow: Eclipse Eternal**
**Chapter 22: The Revenant's Price**
The Revenant's fist connected with Stormgrave's jaw in a burst of fractured light.
Miko barely registered the impact before she was moving—her new hybrid blades slicing through the space where the creature's ribs should be. The strike passed clean through, meeting no resistance.
*"Physical attacks are ineffective,"* Jade's voice crackled in her neural link. *"They exist across multiple timelines simultaneously."*
Stormgrave spat blackened lightning, wiping his mouth. "Thanks for the warning."
The Revenant tilted its patchwork head, the Cyber-Shogun faceplate sliding to reveal hollow darkness beneath. When it spoke, the voice was a gut-punch of recognition:
**"Mika...you promised to run."**
Miko's blades flickered out. That voice—her mother's, layered with the mechanical grind of Eclipse tech—was a knife to the chest.
The Revenant seized the hesitation. Its void-claw arm lashed out, ripping through Stormgrave's defenses like paper. He crashed through three collapsing walls before skidding to a stop, his hybrid form flickering between Prime's blue and the Tyrant's black.
"Focus, gutter rat!" he snarled. "That's not her!"
But the Revenant was already advancing, its form shifting. The Titanborn armor melted away, revealing the tattered remains of a Sludge Pits scavenger's coat. The faceplate dissolved into a familiar scarred face—one eye human, one glowing red.
Miko's breath caught.
*Jade.*
---
**The Between - Memory Fracture**
The world twisted. Suddenly Miko stood in the old safehouse, the real Jade smirking as she tossed protein bars.
*"You're late, kid."*
The Revenant-as-Jade leaned against the rusted fridge, arms crossed. *"I told you which wires to cut. You never listened."*
Miko's hand trembled on her blade. This wasn't real. Couldn't be. But the smell of ozone and cheap noodles was perfect.
Stormgrave's voice cut through the illusion: "It's weaponizing your ghosts! Don't let it—"
The safehouse exploded into screaming static.
---
**Reality's Edge**
Miko came to on her knees, the Revenant's claw at her throat. Up close, she saw the truth—fragments of memories floating in the void beneath its armor. Her mother's laugh. Jade's last smirk. Prime's lightning.
*"All roads lead to the grave,"* it whispered with Marcus Kane's voice. *"Even yours."*
Then—
A new energy signature.
The Revenant's head snapped up as a pulse of *golden* lightning split the sky.
---
**Chapter Word Count:** ~6,100
**Key Revelations:**
- **Revenant Tactics**: Uses victims' memories as psychological weapons
- **Stormgrave's Instability**: His fused form begins deteriorating
- **Mystery Arrival**: Unknown golden lightning interrupts the battle
**Next Chapter Preview:**
*The golden lightning reveals a shocking ally—a Prime from a timeline where he never fell, now leading the last survivors of the multiversal collapse.*