The chamber shook with the roar of colliding power. Ethan’s stormblade cracked against Nathan’s System-forged sword, arcs of light spraying like lightning meeting steel. The impact rattled the throne room’s walls, shattering panels, sending shards of molten glass raining from the ceiling. Every strike echoed like thunder, the floor splitting beneath their boots.Ethan snarled, muscles trembling as he forced his weight into the clash. Sparks burned his arms, his chest heaving, his stormlight pulsing erratically.“You think this power makes you king?” His voice tore from his throat. “You’re nothing but a parasite feeding on the System!”Nathan’s lips curved into a smirk, his voice calm even in the storm’s fury. “Parasite? No, Ethan. I’m the evolution. You fight the System. I command it. That’s why you’re weak. That’s why you’ll lose.”With a savage twist, Nathan pushed Ethan back, slamming his shoulder into the wall. The System blade flared, slicing a groove through the stormlight, and

The fortress walls groaned as stormlight and System energy collided, each strike carving craters into the throne chamber. Nathan’s blade, forged by the System itself, crackled with threads of digital lightning, each swing accompanied by the sound of breaking worlds. Ethan met him blow for blow, his own storm surging with new force, fueled by Ada’s release and the Seed’s whispers echoing in his veins.Steel met storm. Shockwaves rattled through stone and steel, tearing banners from the walls and shattering obsidian columns. Sparks flew, dust swirled, and the throne itself pulsed with power, feeding Nathan’s every strike.Nathan’s smirk never wavered. “You feel it now, don’t you? The storm tearing at your flesh, the fire eating your veins. You can’t control it, Ethan — not like me.” His sword clanged against Ethan’s gauntlet, forcing him back step by step. “This is what you were meant for. Not to resist — to submit.”Ethan snarled, his voice raw, storm crackling through his teeth. “I do

The fortress was groaning under the weight of collapse. The core pulsed in the background like a heart about to burst, each beat rattling through the marble and steel foundations of the chamber. Red glyphs spiraled across the walls, marking out the countdown in lines of burning code.“Fifty-three minutes until network collapse.”The voice was hollow, mechanical, but its certainty cut sharper than any blade.Ethan’s stormlight simmered around him, his fists clenching and unclenching as he stared across the throne chamber. Maya was still chained, her head drooping but her eyes fixed on him with desperate fire. He could see the effort it took her just to raise her chin, but she still did it—for him.Nathan stood beside the throne, his blade resting casually against the cracked marble floor. His smile was razor-thin, cruel, drenched in the smugness of a man who thought victory inevitable.“We don’t have time for this,” Ethan snapped, stormlight flaring brighter. “We save her, and we leave

The throne chamber burned with stormlight.Ethan’s scream tore through the air, a sound of rage and grief so deep it fractured the very stones beneath him. Lightning burst outward in violent arcs, scorching the walls, melting the runes that had been carved into Ragnar’s fortress.Nathan staggered back, shielding his eyes as Ethan’s storm rose higher. “Impossible—no Host should be able to channel this much!” His voice cracked as the System’s restraints flickered, glyphs snapping one after another like glass under a hammer. “You’ll destroy us all, you fool!”Ethan rose, Ada limp in his arms, her blood dripping down his wrists. His eyes were voids filled with thunder, his voice nothing but a growl. “You already destroyed us.”The storm surged outward, wrapping him like armor, jagged bolts lashing out with every word. Nathan raised his System-forged blade and roared, charging forward. “Then die with your storm!”The clash was deafening. Steel met lightning, sparks igniting midair as the t

The battle-scorched street was littered with the dead. Smoke curled into the night, and the cries of survivors faded into an eerie hush.Ethan stood in the center of it all, his storm flickering violently around him, lightning coiling across his arms and shoulders like living serpents. His reflection in a cracked pane of glass beside him twisted with each pulse of energy—sometimes his own face, sometimes something darker.Maya’s voice broke the silence. “Ethan.”He turned, and for the briefest instant his reflection in the glass wasn’t his face at all—it was Specter’s mask staring back at him, lips curled in a smile. Ethan flinched, storm shuddering out of control, shattering the glass into shards that rained at his feet.The Ghost Network surged alive. Static burned through his head, forcing his knees to buckle. His storm went silent as a voice filled him, not from outside, but within.“The storm has chosen.”The voice was deeper, vast, resonant—the full weight of Paragon, no longer