Evan looked back at the glass boxes. He saw the faces. He saw the greed. He saw the hunger for a show.Marco was right. They didn't love him, but they were obsessed with him. He was the biggest "win" they had ever seen."What about my father?" Evan asked."He's being moved to the Peak," Marco said. "Viper moved him. He’s the prize, Evan. The Architect wants to use your bond to stabilize the new clock. He thinks if you love the man in the tube, you’ll do whatever he says."Evan looked at the holographic door. He felt a strange sense of clarity. The "Core Struggle" was no longer about surviving. It was about ending the cycle.He wasn't going to the Peak to win a tournament. He was going there to kill the Bank."I'm ready," Evan said."I'll be right behind you," Marco promised. "I’ve got a back-door entry planned. I’m going to find the Heart-Core. When you’re at the top, look for the blue flicker. That’s me."Evan nodded. He turned away from his friend and walked toward the door of light

The smell of the graveyard vanished. The cool, damp fog of London was sucked away by a giant vacuum. Evan reached out to grab the blue bicycle, but his fingers met only empty air. The metal of the handlebars turned into liquid and dripped through his hands. The man in the brown suit, the Architect, dissolved like a salt pillar in the rain.Evan fell. He didn't fall through the air. He fell through colors. Purple turned to black. Black turned to a bright, stinging gold. His ears popped. The silence of the cemetery was replaced by a sound so loud it felt like his skull was cracking.GRIND. SCREECH. THUMP.It was the sound of giant gears. It was the sound of a world made of clocks, all breaking at once.Evan hit a hard floor. He rolled, his skin scraping against cold, rough metal. He coughed, and the air he breathed was hot and tasted like burnt oil. He opened his eyes.He was not in London. He was not in the 25th Hour. He was back in the belly of the beast.He was in a small, square

Nara pointed to the [EXIT] platform. It was coming toward them. But there was someone already on it.It was a man in black armor. A Scorpion. He had a heavy rifle in his hands."The Bank has guards in the maze?" Nara gasped."They aren't guards," Evan said, looking at the man’s numbers.[SUBJECT: UNIT 731] [STATUS: HOLLOW SOLDIER] [MISSION: ELIMINATE THE GLITCH]The Hollow Soldier raised his rifle. "Get down!" Evan tackled Marco and Nara.A bolt of purple energy flew over their heads. It hit a [+50 YEARS] platform behind them, making it explode."I can't hit him from here!" Nara said. She gripped her bone knife. "The gap is too big!"Evan looked at his wrist.[TIME REMAINING: 45:12]The clock was ticking. If they didn't get to that platform, the circle would reset, and they would be trapped in the negative zone."Marco," Evan said. "I need you to hack the gravity. Just for a second.""I... I can try," Marco said. He closed his eyes. His silver skin began to glow with blue lines of co

The air in the Spire was no longer air. It was a thick, purple soup of data and souls. Evan stood in the center of the breaking floor, his hands still gripping the glowing handlebars of the blue bicycle. But the bicycle was not a bicycle anymore. It had melted into his skin, turning his arms into columns of silver light. He felt the millions of souls, the memories of the baker, the mother, the old man, swirling inside his own chest.He was the Chronos Rider. He was the vessel for every second the Bank had ever stolen. But his heart was cold. It felt like a stone.Evan looked up at the giant hologram of his father, Arthur Kennedy. Arthur’s face was no longer tired. His skin was smooth. His hair was a sharp, brilliant silver. And his eyes... they were the color of a dying star. Violet. Dark, hungry violet."Why, Dad?" Evan asked. His voice didn't just come from his mouth. It echoed from the walls, carried by the power of the souls inside him. "I spent my whole life trying to save you

The world did not just start moving again. It exploded into motion. The "Pause" shattered like a thin sheet of ice under a heavy boot. The screaming wind returned, colder and sharper than before. The Spire groaned, a sound of metal teeth grinding against metal teeth. The Ark of the Bank, that golden ship made of stolen lives, tilted in the sky. Violet fire poured from its broken engines, lighting up the dark clouds like a bruise.Evan stood in the center of the glass arena. He still held the rusted iron shard—the piece of the "Heavy-Hand" anchor. It was the only thing keeping him from being sucked up into the Ark.He looked at the bottom of the arena. He saw it. The door his mother had pointed to. It was small. It was wooden. It looked like a normal door you would find in a house in the South District. It did not belong in this palace of glass and gold.[00:04][00:03]The countdown was moving. Evan’s heart hammered against his ribs. Thump-thump. Thump-thump."You aren't going anyw