Smoke still curled through the glass ribs of the Nexus tower.
Elias woke on the cold floor, lungs scraping ash.
Above him, the ceiling hung open to a sky he didn't recognise, half black, half gold, as if the sun had broken in two.
He pushed himself up.
The whole city pulsed faintly.
Every metal surface hummed like a heartbeat.
"Aria?"
Only the wind answered.
He stumbled toward the core room. The walls were scorched, the cables melted into long silver vines.
At the centre, where the power heart used to glow blue, there was only a ring of gold light still spinning in the air. It flickered once when he stepped closer.
REBOOT COMPLETE.
The words shimmered in midair and faded.
Then silence again.
He looked down at his shaking hands. His fingertips still sparkled faintly, static crawling over skin. Whatever she had done, it had burned through everything, even him.
He whispered, "You did it, didn't you? You beat him."
The ring pulsed twice, like a breath.
