Jace Varn climbed out of the undercity muck, water streaming off his jacket like the last tears of a dying system. The final shard's implosion still rang in his ears—a digital scream cut short, leaving silence heavier than the bay's fog. Level 10 surged through him, HP maxed at 500 feeling godlike, Fracture Rule perk humming with infinite bends, but victory tasted bittersweet. The cave collapse had buried the remnants, but Kira's crew dragged her out, barely breathing, her arm a mangled wreck of shard metal and flesh. Lena leaned on her crutch, shock rifle slung, face smeared with grime and blood. Milo fiddled with his sparking eye, muttering curses at the water damage.
"Shards gone," Jace said, voice rough over the drip-drip of tunnels. His HUD—fully his now, a clean slate of blue overla
