The blizzard at the summit of the Frozen Reach wasn’t natural; it was a rhythmic, pulsing scream of reality coming undone. Icy gale-force winds shredded the very fabric of the landscape, turning the snow into diamond-sharp needles that clawed at Vann and Freya. Before them stood Victor, his silhouette bloated and erratic, tethered to the massive energy-siphoning monolith he called his “Throne of Logic.” He had become a mockery of The Outer One, his skin a patchwork of twitching starlight and dark, weeping necrotic flesh."Look at you both," Victor bellowed, his voice vibrating through the entire mountain peak. "Two dying embers trying to light a fire in a graveyard! The System has already discarded you. You’re just organic debris waiting to be swept out by the coming Reset!"Vann wiped a spray of freezing blood from his cheek. His hand felt steady—firm, weighted by the iron-hard pulse of the Root—but his body groaned with the strain of every movement. He shifted, h