The world ended in white. The chamber detonated with light and sound so violent it tore the breath from lungs and the scream from throats. For a single instant, existence itself was obliterated in brilliance, then came the shockwave.Steel ripped. Glass shattered. Men were hurled like ragdolls across the chamber. The floor split with a deafening crack, flames vomiting from ruptured conduits.Evelyn was flung across the steel, her body slamming into a railing. Her vision went black, lungs crushed under the force, she clawed for breath tasting blood.Bravo Team collapsed in heaps of broken armor, some groaning, others silent. Vance roared orders through the maelstrom, his voice nearly drowned out by the collapse around him. At the center of it all, Lucas Sebastian was swallowed by fire.The Silence AfterAnd then silence. The roaring hum of the detonator died, the countdown clock was gone, screen shattered, console burning. The relay core, once thrumming with Vincent’s malignant energy,