The world was fire.
The Gate towered over the battlefield, its spires of living metal twisting skyward like the bones of some colossal god. Energy crackled through the air — blue lightning coursing across the wreckage of Haven’s outskirts. The earth itself trembled beneath the pulse of the Ascension Protocol.
Ethan moved through the chaos like a storm. Every time his hand struck the air, arcs of light exploded outward — Core energy tearing through the ranks of the Ascended. Their synthetic skin peeled away under the blasts, revealing glowing circuitry beneath.
But for everyone he brought down, two more emerged from the Gate.
“Left flank!” Hannah shouted through the comms. “They’re breaching the line!”
Ethan turned. The Resistance fighters — the few who’d survived Haven’s fall — were d
