The top of the Spire did not feel like a building. It felt like a different world.Evan sat in a chair made of cold, black glass. His hands were bound again, but not by heavy chains. These were thin, glowing wires of green light that wrapped around his wrists like hungry snakes.Every time he moved, the wires tightened. They did not just squeeze his skin; they squeezed his mind. They kept the purple fire of the Spark locked deep inside his chest. It felt like a hot coal sitting in a bucket of ice.He was in Viper’s penthouse.The room was vast. The walls were made of floor-to-ceiling glass that showed the entire city. From this high up, the South District did not look like a place where people lived and died. It looked like a dark, smoking wound in the earth. The rain was a gray fog far below. Here, the air was perfect. It smelled like lemons and expensive chemicals. There was no sound of the wind. There was only the low, steady hum of the building’s heart.Viper stood by the window.

The world did not end with a bang. It ended with a flicker. Evan felt himself falling through the white void, toward the boy on the blue bicycle. But just as his hand reached out to touch the violet-eyed child, the image shattered. The gold light turned into gray smoke. The silence turned into the high-pitched scream of alarms.Evan opened his eyes. He was back on the floor of the penthouse. The glass walls were still gone, but the city below was not dark. It was glowing with a sickly green light. The fifty thousand years of energy he had tried to throw at the Architect had not deleted the building. It had simply been absorbed.Evan looked at his hands. They were transparent. He could see the wires of the floor through his palms. He was "ghosting" again. His body was a glitch that the world was trying to erase."A brave effort," a voice said.Evan turned his head slowly. Viper was standing over him. His emerald suit was torn, and his face was bleeding, but he was alive. He was holding

Evan looked at the wall next to him. He saw a small opening—a ventilation duct. It was ten feet to his right. If he could jump, he might make it.But ten feet was too far for a human.“System,” Evan thought. “Give me the Flicker. Just one.”[NOTICE: BLOOD-CONTRACT OVERRIDE REQUESTED][COST: 100 YEARS]Evan didn't hesitate. "Take it!"He felt a sudden, sharp pain in his chest. A hundred years of his balance vanished in a blink. But for a split second, the green wires around his heart loosened.The purple fire returned to his legs.The world slowed down.Evan saw the gray liquid. It was inches from his boots. He saw the wire ladder, one strand already snapping. He saw the ventilation duct.Evan jumped.He didn't fall. He flew. He was a purple streak in the gray darkness.He slammed into the metal edge of the duct. His fingers gripped the rusted iron. He pulled himself in just as the wire ladder snapped, sending everyone on it into the gray sea below.Evan lay in the dark duct, gasping f

But Grog did not listen. He was desperate. He saw the Shadow and thought it was just another man."I’ll take his head!" Grog roared. He raised his iron bar and charged.The Shadow did not move. It did not raise its cane. It simply looked at Grog.As Grog got within ten feet, the Shadow snapped its fingers.Snap.The world around Grog didn't slow down. It stopped.Grog was frozen in mid-air. His face was twisted in a yell. His iron bar was raised high. He looked like a statue made of meat.Then, the Shadow walked toward him. It moved slowly, gracefully. It reached out and touched Grog’s chest with the golden snake cane.The snake’s eyes flared red.Suddenly, Grog began to age. It was not like the "Rising Tide." It was faster. It was silent.Grog’s hair turned white and fell out. His skin turned into paper and ripped. His muscles vanished. In three seconds, he was a skeleton. In five seconds, the skeleton turned into gray dust.The iron bar hit the sand with a heavy thud.The Shadow tur

The transition from the cold, wet Pits to the Induction Center was not a walk. It was a drag. Evan felt the rough floor scraping against his knees. The green wires of the Blood-Contract were pulsing around his heart. Every pulse felt like a tiny needle of ice.Evan looked to his left. Marco was being dragged by two Vipers in green scales. Marco’s face was pale. His shoulder wound, frozen by the gray stasis mist, looked like a piece of dead stone against his blue jacket. Marco caught Evan’s eye. He tried to smile. It was a weak, shaking smile."Keep... keep your head up, Sunshine," Marco whispered. His voice was thin, like paper tearing."Shut up, rat," one of the Vipers hissed. He jerked Marco’s arm. Marco let out a sharp cry of pain.Evan tried to lunge forward. He wanted to hit the guard. He wanted to burn the green scales off the man’s skin. But as soon as his muscles tensed, the Blood-Contract reacted. The green lines on his skin turned bright and hot.Evan fell to his knees. He g