Noctis Reach's rain masked my tracks as I returned through the secret drainage path. Touching the lead-lined concrete floor of the basement, my exhausted legs nearly gave out. My right palm felt as if roasting over live coals. I threw off my cloak's hood, ravenously inhaling the cold air of the isolation room. The Arcblade hilt in my hand vibrated so violently the black metal began to crack. Blood-red light radiated from its seams, no longer stable, pulsing like a dying heart. The Veil Shard inside refused to be quieted. Robbed of the chance to drink its opponent's fear and death, it was furious and demanded release. If it detonated here, the dark side radiation would tear through the lead lining and roast The Garage above me. Kael, Grox, Jax, and the others would be wiped out because of my past's ego. I dropped cross-legged onto the steel floor. With trembling hands, I used the Veil to strip my weapon's components. Emitter, magnetic ring, and metal casing floated apart. In the cent

The Eclipse Agent headquarters on Titan 4 stood amid a raging black ocean. A rainstorm battered the hexsteel-lined glass walls of the interrogation room atop the tower. That was where I finally found him. After years of meticulously tracking, slaughtering, and dissecting the Imperium Nexus hierarchy, I stood face-to-face with Xeven—the silver-helmeted monster who ruthlessly killed Ryen. He was no longer arrogant. Seeing my figure wrapped in a black cloak, the mask swallowing the room's remaining light, I felt terror rotting his mind. I was the phantom he created from the ashes of that junk planet. Our fight lacked dialogue or mockery. There was only pure brutality. Our red blades clashed, exploding with kinetic energy that obliterated data terminals and shattered the airtight glass. Gale-force winds and freezing rainwater surged wildly inside. He fought desperately, unleashing every dark art and Veil manipulation the Wraiths had taught him. The sheer brutality of rogue Veil users

That wasn't the sound of a machine under repair. It was Spark. The Pix Unit Synth that usually ran around cheerfully suddenly stopped in the middle of the workshop floor. It stood stiff. Its primary lens—which usually emitted a steady blue light—was now flickering out of sync. Red, blue, faded purple. "Spark? Hey, buddy, do you need some oil?" Kael put down his soldering iron, walking toward the little synth. Instead of responding to Kael's call with its usual cheerful bwoop, Spark emitted a very faint, crackling static noise. The sound was eerie, like a half-choked transmission. Its little metal legs began to move. Very stiffly. It hobbled toward the center of the workshop, then lowered its head, staring straight at the floor. Right above my secret hatch. Kael frowned. "L, there's something wrong with its motivator processor. It's not responding." I set down my coffee cup and walked over. I crouched next to Spark, reaching out to touch the panel behind its neck. Right as my fing

"Spark, hey! Easy there, buddy," Kael instinctively reached out, trying to pick the small synth up, his voice thick with concern."Don't touch it, Kael!" I snapped. I lunged forward, my boots skidding on the grease-stained floor. But before my outstretched hands could reach Spark, the little droid suddenly convulsed. Its internal servos whined in a high-pitched protest, and the hologram projector embedded on its head flickered to life.A three-dimensional image violently projected into the stale air, hovering for less than a second. The picture was heavily distorted by rhythmic static, but my eyes caught it with haunting clarity. It was a sharp-angled, strange geometric symbol. It was the exact, undeniable twin of the mark carved into my basement floor, now surrounded by rapid, scrolling rows of fragmented spatial coordinates.Bwoop?The blinding white light in Spark's lens instantly died, replaced by its standard, docile blue glow. The droid shook its boxy head rhythmically, like a p

Spark stopped upright right in front of a massive pipe embedded directly into the concrete floor. Its white lens blinked incredibly fast, a mechanical flutter. Then, without any warning, the hologram projector on top of its head ignited brightly.BZZT.This time it was not just a random shadow projection. It was a fragment of an incredibly complex architectural map. An endless intertwining of transit tunnels, twin reactor shafts, and colossal rooms that made absolutely no sense for the architecture of this city. The glowing map only lasted for three seconds before the projector suddenly died, returning the darkness to our corner of the room. Spark's lens shifted back to a normal, stable blue, and it turned to look at Kael innocently.But those three precious seconds were more than enough for me. The map clearly displayed a series of absolute coordinates. It was not a map of random ruins. That giant network of dormant machines was located right in a single blind spot. Straight down to