A few floors above the World Core chamber, a lone figure slipped through the flickering holographic walls with ease, avoiding the palace's alarm-triggered guards.

  The girl hummed a low tune as she moved with cat-like grace along marble corridors and through the wings of the royal estate, the palace seemingly empty for now.

  Perfect.

  The lone girl stopped at a tall, polished black granite wall, her fingers skimming along the smooth surface with almost reverent care.

  She glanced down another corridor to make sure no guards were watching, then reached into the shadow of a nearby pillar.

  Her hand emerged with a shimmering black orb, its surface oozing void-energy like dark smoke.

  The girl placed the orb carefully on the granite, stepping back as it glowed—then dissolved into the stone with a sound like the dying gasp of a thousand souls.

  A hidden door opened like a yawning mouth, beckoning the lone girl down into the bowels of the royal estate.

  The girl didn't hesitate, slipping through the doorway without a sound.

  Darkness closed around her like a thick black velvet curtain, her footsteps silent on a spiral staircase leading down, down, down...

  The air here was heavy with a strange power, old magic that tingled on her tongue like ozone.

  The moment Juno’s voice slithered through the chamber, Alice froze.

  That tone—mocking, lilting, familiar—sent ice down her spine. "No…" she whispered. “That’s not possible."

  Rachel conjured her railgun, holding it tight. "Who the hell is—?"

  Zalgo didn’t need words. Her eyes narrowed at the silhouette stepping from the shadows: a lithe figure clad in sleek black and crimson techwear, void-energy crackling around her like a corrupted halo. Kinsey?! No, Juno. But beneath that mask of confidence…she knew that smirk. That tilt of the head.

  Juno twirled her dagger with practiced ease, optics flickering red behind half-lidded amusement. "Miss me~?"

  Rachel snarled first—always quicker to anger than shock could leash her instincts. “Kinsey?! You TRAITOROUS LITTLE—”

  Alice caught her wrist before she could lunge forward."...Why?" Her voice was hollow as dead server static. “We trusted you.”

  A beat passed before Juno shrugged, her grin sharp enough to draw blood. “Because it turns out? Chaos pays better.”

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  Elara barely had time to process this betrayal before Liana suddenly hissed beside them: “She just triggered every dormant defense in a 500-meter radius AND locked Cassie's team inside a protective firewall!”

  Antiquus bared his fangs. “So we crush both birds with one stone.”

  But then Juno laughed, bright and unhinged.

  And through glitching holo-projections, Cassie's voice purred: ”Oh but Kinsey dear...you didn't tell them about our little insurance policy did you~?”

  The moment Juno’s fingers danced over her corrupted holoscreen, the World Core jolted violently, its obsidian surface spiderwebbing with dark veins. The air itself screamed as void-energy spiraled upward, a storm of flickering shadows as her voice cut through the chaos like a razor:

  "You three always got the glory while I scraped code in the background! Well guess what? NOW I CALL THE SHOTS."

  Zalgo lunged first—her spears snapping forward to pierce Juno’s wrist—but she teleported in a burst of static, reappearing behind Rachel with a dagger raised. "Missed me~?"

  Alice barely yanked Rachel back in time as steel grazed her throat instead of piercing it.

  Liana worked furiously at the terminal, trying to purge Juno’s malware from hijacking reality itself… but every line of defense crumbled faster than they could rebuild it. Cassie's laughter echoed through the chamber. They were running out of time.

  Juno flipped midair as Antiquus dive-bombed her, landing atop a shattered pillar with feline grace. "Still fighting dirty without me? Some things NEVER change."

  Her optics burned crimson—then erupted into tendrils of black code that lashed toward Alice like living chains.

  Rachel barely intercepted them with a point-blank energy blast, teeth gritted against recoil: "We NEVER left you behind! YOU walked away!"

  A flicker, real pain under Juno's sneer, before she snarled and yanked on Rachel's gun barrel with corrupted magnetism...straight toward Zalgo's ribs. Alice tackled Zalgo aside just in time for Venera to finally ACT; slamming Kinsey into rubble hard enough that her mask cracked off halfway across the room revealing tears streaking ash-covered cheeks beneath all that fury.

  With a flick of her wrist, Juno activated a crackling dome of corrupted code, sealing Alice, Rachel, and Zalgo inside with her—Antiquus’ claws screeched against the barrier as Venera and Elara pounded uselessly from the other side. The World Core's pulse thundered in their ears, its dark veins creeping ever outward.

  Juno paced like a caged animal, void-energy licking at her boots. "No distractions. No bullshit heroes. Just us." Her grin was all teeth—a ghost of Kinsey buried under years of bitterness. "Let’s settle this like we used to…before you decided I wasn’t worth your time."

  Rachel spat blood from a split lip, fingers tightening around her railgun. “You walked away FIRST.” She fired—but Juno froze the bullet midair, letting the plasma dissipate in ones and zeroes. "And you didn’t stop me."

  Zalgo lunged her spears at Juno's legs—only for shadowy tendrils to snare HER instead, slamming her into stone hard enough to crack ribs. Alice barely dodged retaliatory code-blades slicing toward them both...but she was slowing down fast while Juno seemed fueled by raw spite alone until–

  A whisper cut through tension like a knife:

  ...We looked everywhere for you.

  Alice stood straight despite trembling hands holding no weapons, just honesty laid bare in those three words...and something in Kinsey (Juno?) stuttered beneath static-filled rage just long enough for Rachel to take advantage & tackle knife-first toward her.

  Alice lunged at Rachel, wrenching her arm away before she could deal the coup de grace. But her friend was blind with grief and fury enough to shove Alice aside as she slammed into the corrupted dome and screamed as the barrier ate a chunk out of her shoulder.

  And then.

  It stopped, the black code-chains retracted from Zalgo, releasing her in a heap in the corner. Silence. Just the pulse of the World Core and the whine of static where Juno's voice should’ve been…