The world was falling apart around us.
Buildings weren’t just crumbling—they were unraveling, dissolving into glowing fragments that drifted upward before vanishing into the cracks in the sky. The ground beneath my feet pulsed with instability, flickering between reality and nothingness. The system was wiping this sector clean.
And if we didn’t get out, we’d be erased with it.
But I wasn’t running.
Neither was Zero.
His body flickered, glitches crawling across his limbs like invisible chains trying to restrain him. His breathing was uneven, his movements twitchy and erratic—a war was raging inside him.
I clenched my fists. I had to break through.
A low, synthetic hum rippled through the air—a warning. The system was accelerating the purge. Minutes. We had minutes.
Zero’s eyes locke
