The landscape around them warped again.
The crystalline forest, with its data-etched trees, shimmered like a mirage under duress. The Error Core on the horizon had begun its slow, grinding advance—tendrils of corrupt code spiraling out from its center, infecting everything in its path. Trees pixelated and vanished. The code beneath their feet stuttered, glitched, then recalibrated, struggling to hold shape.
Kaia stood calmly, watching it all unfold with unsettling clarity. She radiated no panic—only eerie resolve.
"We have minutes before it reaches us," she said. "Maybe less if it senses we're standing still."
Rina's fists clenched, her fingers flickering between human and spectral blade as she tried to keep her rage in check. "What the hell is that thing? You're saying Eve's in there?"
