"Welcome, Kael," Nyx said, her voice soft, devoid of the usual malice, yet chillingly serene. "You took your time."
Kael and Lyra stood at the threshold, the massive obsidian doors slowly parting behind them, revealing the cacophony of the rebel army still surging on the central platform, held back by Kael's re-routed Archangels. But inside the throne room, a profound silence reigned, broken only by the distant, muffled roar of the Core System and the faint hum of power.
The room was vast, circular, its polished obsidian floor reflecting the shimmering data of hundreds of monitor screens that ringed the chamber. Each screen displayed fragmented, glitching images of Aethernia: a forest dissolving into pixels, a city spire fracturing, players clutching their heads in re-injected pain. It w
