Chapter 127 - The Recursive Loop

The violet haze that had choked the sky over Valmere dissipated, leaving behind a crisp, biting cold that smelled of sterilized air and ancient granite. The quad was a graveyard of lead-lined exoskeletons and shattered mining drills, the remnants of the Rust-Walker force looking like discarded toys in the shadow of the Relay Tower. I stood by the primary well, my hand resting on the Centurion's knee-joint. The azure glow from its Star-Iron Heart had dimmed to a rhythmic, pulsing indigo—a resting state that felt like the heavy breathing of a titan.