The city of Hollowcrest sprawled before us, a vibrant maze of cobbled streets, glowing shop signs, and towering spires reaching toward a pixeted sky painted in twilight hues. NPCs bustled alongside pyers, their chatter blending with distant market calls and clinking swords.

  Our group stood at the city’s central pza, a circur open space marked by a grand fountain depicting a winged goddess pouring water from an overflowing chalice. The spray glittered in the warm city lights, and for the first time in days, I felt… rexed.

  “Well,” Devon said, stretching his arms over his head, his bck coat fring slightly behind him. “I think we all deserve a little break. Stock up on supplies, get some fresh air, and—if we’re lucky—not run into anything trying to kill us today.”

  Fi grinned, hands on her hips. “Shopping and snacks? Say no more, fearless leader.”

  Mason hefted his hammer onto his shoulder. “I’ll stick with Devon and Ethan. Too many glowy swords and sparkly armor pieces make my head spin.”

  Ethan, standing slightly apart from the group, gave a small smile. “I could use some better gear anyway.”

  Devon gave me a quick gnce, his dark eyes softening. “You good, Kiera?”

  I nodded with a small smile. He’d been trying hard not to smother me with overprotectiveness tely, and I appreciated it. “Yeah, I’m good. Go on, shoo.”

  With a casual salute, Devon turned and walked off with Mason and Ethan in tow, disappearing into the flow of city traffic.

  Selene stepped up beside me, her gloved hand slipping naturally into mine. My heart fluttered at the casual intimacy, but it also felt… easy. Right.

  Fi’s eyes narrowed immediately. “Oh-ho, what’s this? Holding hands in public now, are we?”

  Selene raised an eyebrow, her expression calm and composed as always. “Is that a problem?”

  Fi gasped dramatically, clutching her chest. “A problem? Absolutely not! I fully endorse this. But you two better spill by the end of the day. I want details—juicy, steamy, maybe even scandalous details.”

  I groaned, my face heating up. “Fi, can we not?”

  “Nope,” Fi said cheerfully, looping her arm through mine as she pulled me and Selene down the street. “Come on, my two lovebirds. There’s a magical candy shop somewhere in this district, and I am not leaving until I’ve had chocote-covered mana crystals.”

  Selene and I exchanged amused gnces before letting Fi lead the way.

  The marketpce district was a kaleidoscope of color and noise. Stalls were stacked with glowing crystals, enchanted trinkets, shimmering fabrics, and potion bottles of every hue imaginable.

  As we walked, Selene kept close to my side, her hand still comfortably in mine. Occasionally, she’d lean down and murmur something into my ear—usually a snarky observation about a some random pyer doing something sus or Fi getting distracted by every glittering object we passed.

  We stopped at a potion stall, where Fi was enthusiastically haggling with a very exasperated NPC vendor.

  Selene leaned against the counter, her sharp amber eyes watching Fi with mild amusement. I caught myself staring at her—the way her dark hair fell softly over her shoulders, the faint smile pying on her lips.

  She noticed me looking and smirked. “Careful, Kiera. Staring like that might cost you extra.”

  I blushed furiously and turned away, inspecting a nearby mana potion like it was the most fascinating thing in existence. "Wow, this...this is a very pretty...potion. nice." To which Selene would chuckle and mumble, 'you're cute when you're flustered'. Only making me blush harder.

  Fi finally returned, holding a glowing purple potion triumphantly. “Success! We are now the proud owners of… a very pretty bottle!”

  Selene snorted softly. “Amazing. Between the two of you, we'll be hoarding every object in-game.”

  As we continued down the marketpce path, we passed a rge wooden bulletin board filled with parchment notices. One flyer caught my eye—a bold poster with golden lettering.

  “ARENA TOURNAMENT: ALL SKILL LEVELS WELCOME! PRIZES INCLUDE GOLD, RARE ITEMS, AND A MYSTERY LEGENDARY DROP!”

  Fi whistled low. “Well, well. A tournament, huh? Could be fun.”

  Selene crossed her arms, her sharp gaze reading over the details. “It might be worth checking out. Maybe fun even.”

  I nodded slowly, feeling a thrill of excitement spark in my chest. A tournament? In an arena? That sounded… epic.

  “Let’s sign up tomorrow with everyone else,” I said, grinning.

  Selene gave me a rare smile. “Alright. But only if you promise not to charge into every fight headfirst.”

  “No promises,” I said cheekily.

  ?????°???°?????

  I sat cross-legged on the bed in my rented room. The faint hum of activity downstairs—the clinking of gsses, the muffled ughter of pyers—created a cozy atmosphere, but my mind was somewhere else entirely.

  I opened my HUD, and the translucent interface stretched out before me, data flickering in faint streams of light.

  [LEVEL 22 REACHED: NEW ABILITY POINTS AVAILABLE]

  Skill Tree Overview: Succubus AbilitiesThese skills emphasize finesse, charm, and manipution to turn battles in your favor while replenishing your life force.

  Life Drain (Upgraded): Drain HP from a target enemy over time. Can now chain to up to three enemies if they are in close proximity.Crimson Kiss (Upgraded): Now inflicts a charm debuff that can cause weaker enemies to fight for you temporarily.Essence Feast (Upgraded): Restores increased HP and MP from drained targets but costs double mana to activate.Shadow Embrace (Upgraded): The shadows now constrict with increased strength, dealing damage over time in addition to immobilizing enemies.Skill Tree Overview: Demon Lord Abilities (Crimson Branch)These high-risk, high-reward abilities bend reality at great cost.

  Abyssal Maw (Upgraded): The maw can now move slightly after summoning, dragging nearby enemies into its radius. HP Cost: 40%Infernal Command (Upgraded): Dominated enemies are now more resistant to breaking free. HP Cost: 25%Blood Pact (New Skill): Kiera can sacrifice a smaller percentage of her health to enhance her Succubus abilities temporarily rather than just physical stats. HP Cost: 15%Umbral Veil (New Skill): Temporarily grants Kiera shadow-based stealth, reducing enemy detection and boosting her next attack. MP Cost: HighNew Utility Skill UnlockedMistwalker: Allows short-range teleportation through shadows. Costs mana but can be used both in and out of combat.My finger hovering over the ‘Confirm’ button. “Alright,” I whispered, locking in my choices.

  [SKILLS UPDATED SUCCESSFULLY]

  The interface shimmered briefly before fading away. My moveset had grown sharper, my toolkit more versatile, but each ability carried its own cost.

  There was no room for recklessness.

  The Arena of Valor loomed ahead, an enormous stone coliseum carved into the side of a rocky hill, surrounded by vendor stalls, cheering crowds, and banners snapping in the breeze. Holographic boards dispyed brackets and team rosters.

  Pyers in all shapes and sizes bustled about—warriors with glowing swords, mages clutching ornate staves, archers testing their bowstrings, and even some pyers riding bizarre mounts.

  Our group walked side-by-side, each of us taking in the spectacle.

  Fi was practically vibrating with excitement, her swords strapped across her back. “look—over there! They’re selling enchanted snacks. And that guy has a floating shield! And wait—are those tournament mascots?!”

  Mason shook his head with a small ugh, his hammer slung over his shoulder. “You’re like a kid in a candy store.”

  Ethan walked a little behind the group, quiet as always, his sharp gaze flicking over the crowd. His expression gave nothing away, but I could tell he was observing—every pyer, every movement, every detail.

  We approached the registration NPC—a stern-looking elf in polished silver armor.

  “Welcome to the Arena of Valor. Please confirm your division.”

  Options flickered in front of me:

  Solo DuelistDuo PairingFull Party Division“Party,” I said firmly.

  "Party Name?"

  I hesitated, Thinking until it came to me. "Lucien’s Song." It wasn't very good or even rolled off the tongue but the memory of Lucien tugged at my heart strings. It was least something I could do to honor him.

  The elf nodded, and the HUD dispyed our names on a floating bracket screen:

  [PARTY NAME: Lucien's Song] Round One Opponents: THE EMBER GUARD

  A horn echoed through the air, signaling the start of the first matches.

  Round One: The Ember GuardThe arena floor was massive—a sprawling battleground dotted with stone pilrs, trenches, and flickering torches. The stands above were packed with cheering pyers and NPC spectators.

  Our opponents—The Ember Guard—were a party of heavily armored warriors, each wielding fire-based weapons. Their leader, a towering woman with fming gauntlets, cracked her knuckles as she eyed us from across the field.

  The horn bred.

  [BATTLE START]

  The Ember Guard charged, their weapons bzing with fiery light.

  I sprang into action, activating Mistwalker to teleport behind one of the warriors. My bde struck true, slicing through their armor before I activated Crimson Kiss to weaken their resistance.

  Fi darted between enemies with snake-like precision, as she struck exposed gaps in their armor.

  Mason smashed his hammer down with thunderous force, cracking the earth beneath his enemies.

  Selene danced between attacks, her daggers fshing as she cut tendons and found vulnerable spots in the Ember Guard’s heavy armor.

  Devon roared, his greatsword sweeping in wide arcs, forcing enemies back and creating space for us to maneuver.

  When one Ember Guard member tried to charge Selene from behind, I activated Shadow Embrace, tendrils of darkness wrapping around him and pulling him into the ground.

  The fight was intense, chaotic, and exhirating.

  The final opponent—a dual-wielding rogue—fell to Mason’s hammer strike, their health bar depleting completely.

  [VICTORY: Lucien's Song ADVANCES TO ROUND TWO!]

  The crowd erupted into cheers as our HUDs fshed with victory notifications.

  Fi punched the air. “YEAH! That was awesome!”

  Mason chuckled deeply, and Ethan gave a quiet nod of approval. We walked back toward the waiting area, the sound of cheering fading behind us.

  The victorious glow from our first-round win still lingered in my chest as our team regrouped in the tournament’s staging area. The air buzzed with excitement and tension as pyers and teams prepared for their next match. Somewhere distant, a horn bred, signaling another round starting.

  Devon leaned against a nearby stone pilr, his greatsword casually resting over his shoulder. Selene was nearby, sharpening her daggers. Mason and Ethan were chatting quietly, and Fi was pacing excitedly, practically vibrating with leftover energy from the fight.

  I let out a slow breath, my HUD flickering faintly as I checked my status.

  [HP: 85% ] [Abilities Cooldown: Shadow Embrace (Ready), Mistwalker (Ready)]

  Not terrible, but I’d need to py smarter in the next round.

  “Alright,” Devon said, pushing off the wall and sheathing his sword. His sharp eyes scanned our group. “We fought well out there, but the next round isn’t going to get any easier. Stay focused.”

  Fi threw her arms behind her head, grinning. “Come on, Devon! Can’t we bask in our victory for like… five minutes? We crushed them!”

  Selene spoke without looking up from her bde. “Confidence is good. Overconfidence gets people wiped.”

  Fi pouted but didn’t argue.

  Mason let out a deep chuckle, adjusting his hammer’s strap. “She’s right. This next team will have seen how we fight—they’ll adjust their tactics.”

  Ethan, standing slightly apart from the group, added softly, “They’re watching us now, analyzing. We should do the same.”

  I nodded in agreement, stepping forward. “We’ve got a good bance in our party—Devon and Mason in the front, Fi and Ethan in the middle for agility, and Selene and me fnking. If we keep to that formation, we’ll be fine.”

  Devon smirked faintly. “You sound like a raid leader now.”

  I flushed under his gaze, but he reached out and briefly squeezed my hand.

  Round Two Opponents: The Iron Wolves

  The announcement bred through the coliseum’s enchanted sound system.

  [ROUND TWO: Lucien's Song VS. THE IRON WOLVES]

  The arena floor changed with a deep rumble, stone tiles shifting and rising. Large boulders jutted out of the ground, creating uneven terrain, scattered cover, and narrow choke points.

  Across the field, our next opponents appeared—a team of heavily armored pyers, their leader wearing a wolf-shaped helmet with glowing crimson eyes.

  [PARTY LEADER: Fenrir] [LEVEL: 25]

  Devon exhaled slowly. “They’re tanks—this isn’t going to be fun.”

  Selene’s lip curled faintly. “Their armor will slow them down, though. We’ll have to exploit that.”

  The horn bred, and the match began.

  The Iron Wolves charged forward like a battering ram, shields raised, weapons glinting in the light. Their steps were synchronized, their formation tight—a perfect defensive wall.

  “Scatter!” Devon barked, and we moved as one.

  I teleported with Mistwalker, appearing behind one of the shield bearers and plunging my bde into the narrow gap between their armor ptes. They roared in frustration, swinging their axe in a wide arc. I dodged, activating Umbral Veil to fade briefly into shadows before reappearing behind cover.

  Selene moved like liquid shadow, her daggers finding weak spots with surgical precision. Fi danced between opponents, her strikes sharp and relentless, while Mason’s hammer came down like a meteor, shaking the very ground with each swing.

  Devon was an immovable force, his greatsword cshing against Fenrir’s twin axes in a flurry of steel sparks.

  Ethan stayed in the background, unching precision strikes with daggers, aiming for eyes, joints, and exposed flesh.

  But The Iron Wolves were good—no, they were really good.

  Every time we pushed forward, they countered. Every weakness we exploited, they adapted.

  “Devon!” I yelled, catching sight of Fenrir breaking away and charging at Mason.

  Devon moved on instinct, intercepting the blow with a powerful parry. But it left him open, and another Wolf lunged at him from behind.

  Without thinking, I activated Shadow Embrace, tendrils of bck energy shooting up from the ground and locking the Wolf in pce just inches from Devon’s back.

  “Got your six!” I called out.

  Devon gnced back, grinning. “Thanks, Kiera!”

  As the battle raged on, it became clear we couldn’t outst them in a battle of attrition.

  “We need to break their formation!” Selene shouted, her voice sharp amidst the chaos.

  I clenched my fists, an idea forming.

  “Devon, Mason! Create an opening—now!”

  Devon’s greatsword came down in a vertical arc, while Mason swung his hammer in a devastating horizontal strike. The sheer force of their combined attack sent two Iron Wolves sprawling backward.

  I didn’t waste the opportunity.

  “Abyssal Maw!”

  A massive void-like maw erupted from the ground, jagged teeth snapping as it pulled two of the Iron Wolves into its inky darkness.

  Their formation shattered.

  Selene, Fi, and Ethan surged forward, taking full advantage of the chaos.

  Fenrir, the party leader, realized too te that they’d lost control of the fight. He roared in frustration, charging toward me in one final, desperate attempt to take me down.

  I dodged his charge with shadowy grace, then lunged forward with my bde crackling with dark energy.

  “Crimson Kiss!”

  My strike nded cleanly, and his health bar plummeted to zero.

  [VICTORY: Lucien's Song ADVANCES TO ROUND THREE!]

  The crowd erupted into cheers, the booming sound of the victory horn echoing through the arena.

  We regrouped in the waiting zone, bruised, bloodied (metaphorically), but victorious.

  Fi flopped onto a bench, her daggers cttering against the floor. “We did it… we actually did it.”

  Mason let out a breathless ugh, his hammer still resting against his shoulder. “They were tough, but we pulled through.”

  Selene sat beside me on the bench, her sharp eyes softening as she caught her breath. “You made the right call out there, Kiera.”

  Devon approached, his greatsword sheathed, and pced a firm hand on my shoulder. “You led us well. I’m proud of you.”

  But as the crowd cheered and the next set of pyers prepared to enter the arena, a faint notification flickered at the corner of my HUD.

  [NEW OBJECTIVE MARKER DETECTED: FRAGMENTED BINARY CODE - LOCATION: UNDERGROUND ARENA VAULT]

  My stomach tightened.

  Why now?

  ?????°???°?????

  The victory horn still echoed in my ears as our team regrouped in the staging area. The rush of combat was starting to settle, and the weight of exhaustion was creeping in.

  Pyers buzzed around us—cheering, ughing, analyzing the st match. The lounge was packed with pyers, noise and motion filling every corner of the ornate stone-and-wood structure. Guild banners hung from the rafters, and rows of cushioned benches offered a temporary reprieve from the chaos of the tournament floor.

  Our group cimed a quieter corner. Devon dropped onto the bench beside me, his shoulder lightly brushing mine as he exhaled deeply. Selene stood nearby, leaning casually against the wall with her arms crossed, sharp amber eyes scanning the crowd.

  Fi had plopped herself across from us, examining her twin swords. Mason had cimed an oversized armchair nearby, his hammer leaning against the wall beside him. Ethan stood off to the side, sipping from a cy tankard.

  No one said anything at first. The hum of distant chatter filled the silence.

  It was Devon who finally spoke. “That was one hell of a fight.”

  Mason grunted in agreement. “They were tanks, all right. Felt like hitting a wall.”

  Fi grinned. “But we broke that wall! Crushed it! Pulverized it! You guys saw me out there, right? Like a shadow with knives!”

  Selene smirked faintly. “You screamed every time you attacked someone.”

  Fi pouted. “It’s tactical screaming, thank you very much.”

  A faint smile tugged at the corners of my mouth despite the heavy notification still lingering in my HUD.

  Ethan’s voice cut through the banter. “What’s our next move? Are we pushing forward in the tournament, or…?”

  Selene and Devon exchanged a look before both pairs of eyes nded on me.

  I hesitated. They were waiting for my command.

  “We’ll keep pushing forward,” I said, my voice steady despite the unease gnawing at my chest. “But I need… there's something else first.”

  Devon straightened slightly. “Something wrong?”

  Selene’s amber gaze sharpened and whispered. “You saw another fragment, didn’t you?”

  I hesitated for half a second, looking toward Ethan, before nodding. “Yeah. There’s something beneath the arena. I don’t know what, but it feels important. I need to see it.”

  Devon didn’t hesitate. “Then we’ll go with you.”

  Selene nodded once. “Agreed.”

  Fi perked up. “Wait, are we doing an infiltration mission?! I love infiltration missions!”

  Mason sighed heavily but gave me a determined nod. Ethan, still quiet, gave a small shrug, his brows furrowed with faint concern. He didn't know what was up but was willing to come along anyway, maybe we should tell him what was going on. No sense in leading him into danger.

  ????°???°?????

  The corridors beneath the arena were damp and narrow, barely illuminated by flickering wall sconces. The faint sound of cheering pyers and the csh of weapons echoed distantly from above.

  Devon led the way, his greatsword strapped across his back. Selene was at my side. Fi and Mason followed behind, and Ethan kept to the rear.

  The objective marker in my HUD pulsed softly, guiding me forward.

  We passed by locked doors, crates of supplies, and stacks of enchanted weapons likely meant for the tournament’s ter stages. No guards in sight yet, but the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife.

  Eventually, we reached an ornate iron door embedded in the stone wall. Faint runes glowed along its edges, and the air crackled with subtle energy.

  [OBJECTIVE MARKER: VAULT ACCESS POINT]

  Selene stepped forward immediately, kneeling by the lock mechanism. Her gloved fingers produced a set of intricate lockpicks, and she began working on the magical seal.

  Devon shifted uneasily beside me. “This feels… off.”

  “It’s too quiet,” Mason said, his deep voice rumbling softly.

  Fi nodded. “Yeah, where’s the actual security? This feels like bait.”

  Selene’s voice was calm but sharp. “Whatever’s down here, someone wanted it hidden. And someone else wanted us to find it.”

  The lock clicked, and the runes faded. The iron door groaned as it swung open, revealing a cavernous vault chamber.

  The room was vast, filled with towering stone shelves stacked with enchanted artifacts, golden treasures, and glowing crystals. At the center of the chamber, hovering just above a stone pedestal, was a fragmented shard of binary code.

  It pulsed softly, faint strings of text flickering in and out of visibility.

  [FRAGMENTED BINARY CODE DETECTED]

  My chest tightened at the sight. Every instinct screamed that this was another piece of the puzzle—another fragment UNKNOWN would kill to get their hands on.

  Selene’s voice was low and sharp. “Kiera, grab it. Now.”

  I stepped forward, shadows curling faintly around my ankles as if reacting to the fragment’s presence. My hand reached out—

  “Well, well, well… what do we have here?”

  A voice sliced through the air like a bde.

  We spun around, weapons drawn.

  A group of pyers emerged from the shadows, cd in mismatched dark armor, their usernames glowing faintly above their heads.

  Their leader stepped forward, his grin sharp and predatory. His name flickered ominously:

  [PLAYER: SHROUD] [LEVEL: ???]

  Shroud tilted his head, his glowing red eyes locking onto me.

  “You’re the anomaly everyone’s whispering about, aren’t you?”

  Devon stepped in front of me immediately, his sword drawn. Selene mirrored his stance, her daggers gleaming faintly in the vault’s dim light.

  Shroud smirked. “You know, sweetheart, people are offering a lot of in real life money for someone like you. And here you are—just walking into my p.”

  “Leave. Now.” Devon’s voice was low, steady, and cold.

  Shroud ughed darkly. “Oh, I’m afraid it’s far too te for that.”

  Behind him, his party readied their weapons.

  Selene whispered over her shoulder, her voice tight with urgency. “Kiera—grab it.”

  I turned back toward the fragment and reached out—

  [OBJECTIVE UPDATED: RETRIEVE THE FRAGMENTED BINARY CODE]

  A sharp crack echoed through the vault as chaos erupted behind me.

  The vault chamber erupted into chaos.

  Shroud lunged forward, his bde glowing with a sickly green aura, while his party scattered across the room like predatory shadows. Devon met Shroud’s attack head-on, their swords cshing with a deafening cng that reverberated off the stone walls.

  Selene vanished into the darkness, her daggers glinting as she engaged two rogue pyers fnking from the side. Mason let out a roar and swung his massive hammer, colliding with an enemy rogue and sending them flying into a stone shelf with a sickening crash.

  “Fi, watch the left!” Ethan barked as he parried a strike from an enemy spear-wielder. Fi twirled between two attackers, swords fshing as she delivered precise strikes to exposed weak points.

  My HUD flickered warnings as shadow energy pulsed through my veins, my aura casting a faint crimson glow around me.

  I lunged forward, shadow tendrils shing out from my fingertips as I activated Shadow Embrace. One rogue pyer was snared mid-step, their HP ticking down steadily as the shadows tightened around them.

  Another rogue charged me, but I spun gracefully, activating Crimson Kiss. My fingers grazed their cheek, and they froze in pce as a wave of weakness spread across them.

  Their health bar dipped as faint crimson mist drifted back toward me.

  But despite our momentum, Shroud’s group was relentless. They were organized, they were hunters.

  Shroud’s taunting voice cut through the chaos. “You really think you can keep this up, little anomaly? You’re out of your depth!”

  I barely had time to dodge a thrown dagger aimed for my face. My HUD fshed a low HP warning from stray attacks nicking my health bar.

  It was then that the air shifted.

  The stone walls around us pulsed faintly with blue light, and a sharp mechanical click-click-click echoed from somewhere above us.

  Everyone froze.

  A circur hatch in the ceiling rotated open with a loud whirrr, and something heavy dropped into the center of the chamber. Dust and debris kicked up as a towering mechanical construct unfolded itself before us.

  It was sleek, humanoid in design, and made of dark steel ptes with glowing blue lines tracing across its body. Its elongated head scanned the room with piercing white eyes. Four slender arms, each ending in razor-sharp bdes, unfurled menacingly.

  A voice—cold, synthetic, and emotionless—rumbled from its core.

  [SECURITY PROTOCOL INITIATED: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED] [THREAT LEVEL: HIGH] [ALL INTRUDERS WILL BE TERMINATED]

  “Oh, crap,” Fi muttered under her breath.

  Shroud’s eyes went wide as the war machine locked onto him first. “Scatter!” he shouted, diving behind a stone crate as one of the machine's bded arms shed out, slicing cleanly through the air where he’d stood.

  The chamber descended into utter chaos.

  The mechanized war machine moved with horrifying speed, bdes spinning like turbines as it lunged at both rogue pyers and our party indiscriminately.

  Devon shoved me behind him just as a bde sliced across where I’d been standing, sparks flying from the stone floor. He parried a rogue’s attack before deflecting a strike from the machine’s whirling bdes.

  Selene darted through the shadows, narrowly avoiding a downward stab from one of the mechanical arms before delivering a strike with her daggers to an exposed joint. Sparks fred, but the war machine barely flinched.

  “Focus on its joints!” Selene shouted. “It’s armored everywhere else!”

  Mason let out a battle cry and brought his hammer crashing down on one of the war machine’s knees. The impact dented the pting, and the machine stumbled slightly, one arm retracting as it rebanced itself.

  “Hit it where it’s weakest!” Mason bellowed.

  Fi vaulted over a rogue pyer and nded on the machine’s back, driving both her swords into a seam near its shoulder joints. The machine screeched, spinning wildly to shake her off.

  I activated Essence Feast, shadows swirling around me as faint wisps of energy drained from nearby rogue pyers, patching up my waning HP bar.

  “Kiera!” Selene’s voice cut through the chaos. “The fragment!”

  I turned, sprinting toward the glowing shard at the center of the chamber. My HUD fred with notifications as rogue pyers noticed me breaking away from the fight.

  Two pyers lunged at me. I activated Shadow Embrace, tendrils shing out and binding them mid-air.

  A third came from the side—I sidestepped, activating Crimson Kiss, and their health dipped sharply as they froze in pce.

  My hand stretched toward the fragment—

  [FRAGMENTED BINARY CODE RETRIEVED]

  The moment my fingers brushed the glowing shard, the war machine’s head snapped toward me.

  [PRIMARY TARGET IDENTIFIED: ANOMALY DETECTED]

  The air seemed to hum with electricity as the machine locked onto me, bdes retracting into its forearms before charging what looked like twin energy cannons.

  “Oh sh—”

  Before I could react, Devon appeared in front of me. His sword glowed faintly as he raised it like a shield.

  “MOVE!” he roared.

  I scrambled backward as the cannons fired. A deafening bst erupted, throwing Devon backward and sending stone debris cascading in every direction.

  “Devon!” I screamed, running toward him as he coughed, his health bar blinking red.

  Selene appeared beside me, daggers glinting as she deflected a rogue pyer trying to capitalize on Devon’s weakened state.

  “We need to get out of here!” Selene shouted.

  The war machine’s core began to glow, energy crackling along its arms as it prepared for another devastating attack.

  Devon gritted his teeth and forced himself to his feet. “Kiera—open a portal! Now!”

  I clenched my fists, shadows curling around my feet as I focused. My HUD glitched wildly as my corrupted code responded to my will.

  [SYSTEM ERROR DETECTED: FORCING EMERGENCY EXIT]

  A glitched portal—a swirling vortex of dark energy and fragmented code—tore open behind us.

  “GO!” Devon barked.

  Fi and Mason sprinted through first. Selene grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward the portal, Devon stumbling behind us as the war machine’s cannons glowed brighter.

  We leaped through the portal just as an explosion rocked the vault behind us.

  We nded in a grassy clearing, the glitched portal snapping shut behind us with a faint pop. The air was still, save for the heavy breathing of our entire party.

  Devon slumped against a tree, his health bar still dangerously low. Selene knelt beside him, pulling a potion from her pouch and handing it to him.

  Fi flopped onto the grass, clutching her chest. “Holy—what was that thing?!”

  Mason let out a ragged breath. “Security protocol. Automated. No mercy.”

  I nodded, still catching my breath. My HUD was glitching faintly at the edges, but the notification about the binary fragment was still marked as [Retrieved].

  “We can’t stay here long,” Devon said, his voice still hoarse but steady. “That thing might not be able to track us immediately, but it will keep trying.”

  I scanned the clearing, my heart still racing from the chaos. Then, like ice down my spine, realization struck.

  “Where’s Ethan?”

  Everyone froze.

  Fi sat up so quickly she almost tumbled over. “Wait—he was right behind me. I—”

  Mason turned back to the now-empty space where the glitched portal had closed. “Did he not make it through?”

  Devon pushed himself upright, his face pale and serious. “I thought he was with us.”

  Selene’s lips pressed into a thin line, her amber eyes scanning the clearing as if Ethan might suddenly appear.

  “No, no, no,” I whispered, my heart hammering in my chest.

  The st image I had of Ethan was him running towards the portal, eyes wide. Had he been caught?

  Selene nodded slowly. “If he’s smart, he’ll stay hidden. The security protocol seemed focused on us when we grabbed the fragment. It might have ignored him.”

  “But we can’t just leave him there!” Fi’s voice cracked slightly, her usual humor nowhere to be found.

  “We’re not leaving him,” Devon said firmly. “But we can’t go back in there right now. That machine was rigged to annihite anything in that vault.”

  Silence settled over us like a suffocating bnket.

  The wind rustled through the trees, carrying with it the faintest scent of smoke and ozone—the aftermath of the chaos we had barely escaped.

  Selene stood, squaring her shoulders. “We’ll wait until we’re sure the area has cooled down, and then we’ll regroup. Ethan will find us—or we’ll go back in after him.”

  I closed my hand around the fragment, the glow seeping faintly through my fingers.

  “Let’s move,” I said, my voice steady despite the tight knot in my chest.