The glass capsule shot through the darkness of the underground tunnel at a speed that made it feel like their stomachs had been left behind. The shrill whine of the magnetic rails, wuuuush, wuuuush, blended with the violent vibrations that slammed against the capsule walls every time they passed a rail junction.Beyond the glass, there was only absolute darkness.But inside Oliver's mind, he could still hear the screams of the townspeople in the square as they dissolved into ash, and the silent yet deadly footsteps of The Eraser.Oliver leaned back against the capsule's steel seat. His breathing was heavy, his chest rising and falling. His right hand, forged from golden data, flickered dimly, as though even his glitch energy had become afraid."We're safe for now," Oliver said, breaking the silence with a hoarse voice. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. "That black janitor needs time to delete the cathedral's steel doors. He's fast, but he can't teleport."Oliv

The glass elevator capsule shot upward through the shaft of Icarus Tower at a speed that made it feel like their stomachs had been left behind on the ground floor.The magnetic hum of the elevator rails clashed with Oliver's increasingly labored breathing.The air inside the capsule had become absurdly hot.The temperature climbed dramatically with every floor they passed. Sweat had stopped dripping from Oliver's skin because it evaporated the instant it emerged from his pores. His filthy shirt clung tightly to his increasingly gaunt, wounded body.Beside him, Elara stood rigid.The blind girl gripped the elevator railing with both hands. Her face was pale as she struggled against a heat unlike anything she had ever experienced in this manufactured paradise.But the heat wasn't their biggest problem.Their biggest problem was the darkness rising beneath them.Oliver lowered his gaze, looking through the transparent floor of the elevator.Deep within the glowing white shaft, there was

The air inside the Glass Throne Chamber suddenly felt heavier than lead.Oliver Warner, the Glitch Walker who had been ready to tear open the sky with his data-forged sword moments ago, now stood frozen in place.His posture was rigid.The tip of the purple-black glowing Glitch Blade in his left hand slowly lowered until it scraped across the boiling glass floor.Screeech...Across the chamber, The High Luminary floated with a grace that was almost nauseating.The porcelain being of light had no mouth, yet its aura radiated laughter so arrogant that it made Oliver's ears ring."YOU SEEM CONFUSED, ANOMALY," The High Luminary's voice echoed through vibrations of photons in the air. "DID YOUR CALCULATIONS FAIL? WERE YOUR PROBABILITIES UNABLE TO PREDICT MY MASTERPIECE?"Oliver didn't answer.His breathing came in uneven bursts.Cold sweat dripped from his temples, mixing with the silver blood still running from his nose.He slowly turned his head toward the corner of the chamber.Elara wa

If you've ever experienced a power outage while trapped inside an elevator, multiply that feeling of horror by a million.The moment the Compass Shard was pulled from Elara's brain, The Eternal Sun, the artificial star that had bathed Aurelia in holy light for centuries, went into convulsions.It didn't simply go dark.That would have been better.Instead, the sun short-circuited.Its once blinding, milk-white surface became infected with spreading patches of deep violet, crawling across it like a virus. Its texture fractured, spewing giant pixelated artifacts into the sky. The light descending upon the world was no longer the warm glow that flooded the brain with dopamine.It had become Dark Ultraviolet radiation.Neon-purple light that stabbed at the eyes and made skin feel as though it were being scraped raw with coarse sandpaper.A Glitch Eclipse.Oliver stood atop the cracking glass floor of Icarus Tower, his silver eyes narrowed against the painful UV glare.Through the transpar

That white light had no temperature.It wasn't hot like Cherubim plasma. It wasn't cold like Sloth's ice.It possessed only one quality.Absolute.In the final thousandth of a second before The Eraser's white staff pierced his right hand, Dealer Oliver's brain made a decision that violated every instinct of human self-preservation.He knew that if his golden hand was erased, he would never be able to hold the Compass Shard.If he couldn't hold the Shard, he couldn't open a portal.And if he couldn't open a portal, they would all die here.So Oliver twisted his waist in midair.He forced the last reserves of strength through his spine, pulling his right hand back a few precious millimeters. In exchange, he threw the lower half of his body forward, using it as a shield for his hand.SWUUUSH.The white beam from The Eraser's staff sliced through the air.It missed Oliver's golden hand.But it didn't miss his leg.The beam swept cleanly through Oliver's left leg, the only intact leg he st