The Ember Core camp was gone.
What had been a fortified outpost carved into the high-rise ruins of Emberfall was now ash and splintered code. Elian stood in silence as a burned banner fluttered past—one marked with Raeven's sigil: a phoenix eating its own tail.
"No bodies," Kalith said grimly. "Just signs of a breach."
[System Notice: This Zone Has Recently Undergone a Forced Reset][Cause: Anomaly Detected – System Stability Compromised]
Elian knelt by the collapsed perimeter grid.
"Look at this," he muttered, running a finger through the fractured barrier rune. "This isn't from a player. This was admin-level overwrite."
Kalith's expression darkened. "They purged it."
"Why?"
"Because someone in Raeven's group learned too much."
A faint flicker buzzed through the air. A message left behind in a private echo channel—encrypted, but just unstable enough to bleed through the cracks.
Elian caught part of it:
"We tried to hold it. Too many lines rewritten—NPCs went hostile. Raeven... he didn't make it. Kalith, if you see this... don't trust the Eastern Nexus. It's already been compromised."
[Sender: Lio | Ember Core Technician – FINAL TRANSMISSION]
They weren't alone for long.
A whistle echoed between the towers, followed by a flash of silver.
Then came the voice.
"Well, well. The ghost and the glitch-walker, just where the bounty said you'd be."
Elian turned to see a player stepping through a collapsing fire door—tall, confident, his armor styled in that smug PvP fashion. But it was his eyes that gave him away.
[Name: Vesk][Class: Trickshot Reaper – Faction: Chrome Vein Syndicate][Reputation: Player Killer | System-Endorsed Hunter (Tier 1)]
"Bounty's up to twenty thousand now," Vesk said casually. "Didn't expect to find both of you together. Makes it... convenient."
Kalith pulled her staff free.
Vesk held up a detonator and grinned.
[Warning: Zone Destabilization Trigger Detected]
"You're not here to fight," Elian said slowly. "You're here to collapse the whole area."
"Exactly. A duel's fun, but removing the board entirely? Now that's style."
He pressed the trigger.
The building shuddered.
And suddenly, the tower began to fall sideways—its integrity code ripped apart like string.
"MOVE!"
Kalith grabbed Elian and surged toward a collapsing walkway. Code shredded beneath their boots as they leapt onto a falling debris chunk and rode it down like a surfboard.
Behind them, Emberfall folded into itself—collapsing in a controlled demolition that wasn't just about terrain.
It was about erasing evidence.
They landed hard on the outskirts, rolling behind the last standing husk of a drone depot. Kalith gasped, clutching her side.
"She's bleeding," Elian said.
"Just data shock," she winced. "I'll regen in a bit."
But Vesk didn't follow.
Elian checked his logs.
[Tracking – Lost Signal from Target: Vesk]
"He left," Elian said. "Wasn't even trying to kill us."
"He didn't need to," Kalith muttered. "He was just the distraction. Whatever's at the Eastern Nexus—he just bought them time to finish hiding it."
[Quest Progressed: Eastern Nexus Investigation – Priority Elevated][New Sub-Objective: Locate Surviving Ember Core Data Capsules]
The city was crumbling.
And the System was no longer content with watching.
It was rewriting.
Elian looked up as the sky shimmered once again—lines of unfinished code etching new structures into the horizon.
"I think we're running out of time."
Kalith nodded.
"Then let's make our next move count."