The storm returned before dawn.
Lightning crawled across the clouds, striking the skeletal ruins of the city. The rain fell in sheets, thick and cold, washing the blood and ash into the streets.
Leon stood in the middle of it, shirt torn, body wrapped in fresh scars. His reflection stared back at him from a puddle — half-human, half something else. The faint red flicker in his eyes hadn’t gone away since the fight with the Heir.
[System Alert: Apex Instability—89%.]
[Countdown Active: 71 Hours 52 Minutes.]
“Three days,” he muttered. “You couldn’t make it a week?”
Nova’s voice came through the comm, dry as ever. “Would you prefer the world ended slower?”
He smirked. “At least I’d get to sleep first.”
“Don’t flatter yourself. You don’t sleep.”
She was right. He hadn’t slept since th
