The air rippled like a dying frequency.
I hit the ground hard, the impact rattling through my bones. My vision swam as I struggled to my feet. The world around me twisted—walls folding in on themselves, staircases spiraling into infinity.
The Citadel was unraveling.
And at the center of it all, the Last Algorithm pulsed in my hand, radiating an energy that felt like raw, living time.
Kane landed beside me in a crouch, already aiming her weapon at the shifting figures emerging from the chaos. The High Overseers.
They stood above us like specters draped in shadows, their hollow eyes locked onto me.
“You do not belong,” one of them intoned, their voice fracturing through the air. “You should have been erased.”
I tightened my grip around the Algorithm. “Yeah, well, you should’ve done a
