The world around Hale was tearing itself apart.

The digital sky split open, torrents of molten light pouring through cracks in the air. The platform beneath him shuddered, its geometry glitching between steel and glass, between solid and nothing. Every step he took flickered out of sync with reality — the network collapsing faster than he could comprehend.

Above, Gray and Evelyn were fused in the center of the storm, twin points of gold fire locked against Victor’s vast, shifting form. ...