**Chapter 102**Zarek stepped back into the chaos with fresh system energy still burning in his veins. The blue windows kept flashing warnings but he pushed them aside. The city had shrunk to just the central district and the core chamber. Everything else belonged to the avatar or Vexar now.The fighting never stopped. Pale creatures poured through new cracks in the ground while Vexar’s red portals kept spitting out fresh killers. Zarek moved through the streets like death itself. His hammer rose and fell without pause. Each swing crushed skulls and broke bodies. Black blood mixed with red on the broken pavement. He built quick walls to block side attacks and spiked traps that tore through groups of creatures. The system gave him small updates with every kill but the numbers were getting worse.**[Core Stability: 0.07%]****[Total Defense Quest Time Remaining: 16 hours 12 minutes]**Draven fought near him with a broken spear. The man had lost most of his followers. He looked at Zarek

**Chapter 104**The core chamber shook so hard that pieces of the ceiling crashed down like rain. Zarek stood in the middle of the killing field outside with his hammer covered in layers of blood and black fluid. The avatar’s giant eye had lowered so close that its purple glow lit up every broken street. Vexar’s men attacked from the east while endless pale creatures poured from new rifts. The last defenders were dying fast.A runner stumbled toward him bleeding from the neck. “The core… Draven’s people broke in again. They have part of it locked. Mira is fighting them.”Zarek felt something snap inside his chest. He turned and ran back toward the chamber without a word to anyone. Draven watched him go but did not follow. The man knew it was over.Inside the chamber everything had gone to hell. Draven’s last loyalists had taken control of one side of the Planetary Anchor. They fired at anyone who tried to stop them. Mira stood in front of Lira’s crib with a rifle in her hands. She had