I can’t sleep.

  Not after what I saw.

  Not after Vairus.

  I lie awake in the safehouse, staring at the ceiling, replaying the fight over and over in my head.

  Too fast. Too precise.

  I barely lasted a minute against it.

  And then there was the other figure.

  That flicker in the static.

  A third Harbinger.

  Already watching.

  Already waiting.

  I exhale slowly, glancing at my wristband.

  [COSMIC ENERGY LEVELS: NORMAL]

  No spikes. No transformation.

  Just me.

  And right now?

  That’s not enough.

  Dr. Bao and Dr. Lynn are already in the control room when I walk in.

  They’re watching the Vairus footage again.

  Bao looks like he hasn’t slept.

  Lynn glances at me. “You look like hell.”

  “Gee, thanks,” I mutter, grabbing a protein bar from a supply crate. “I’ll try harder next time.”

  Bao adjusts his glasses. “We need to talk about what happened.”

  I swallow a bite. “Which part? The one where I almost died, or the one where another Harbinger showed up?”

  Bao ignores my sarcasm. “This encounter was different from Noctis. Vairus wasn’t testing you. It was assessing its own efficiency.”

  I pause. “Meaning?”

  Dr. Lynn folds her arms. “Meaning it was training itself. Every movement, every strike—it was perfecting its technique against you in real-time.”

  I frown. “Like an AI learning from a simulation?”

  Bao nods. “Exactly.”

  I feel my stomach tighten.

  “So what happens when they finish learning?”

  Lynn’s expression darkens.

  “They stop holding back.”

  The room shudders.

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  A high-pitched whine rings through the air, like a radio signal caught between frequencies.

  Then—

  The lights cut out.

  The monitors flicker.

  And a voice fills the room.

  "You are weak, Cosmic Monster."

  I freeze.

  That isn’t Vairus.

  It’s something else.

  A low, crawling vibration runs through my skull—the same feeling Noctis and Vairus gave me, but deeper.

  Stronger.

  The third Harbinger.

  “You stumble through the battlefield like a blind thing, grasping at a power you do not understand.”

  The security feeds flicker back online—

  And suddenly, we’re looking at the city.

  At people.

  Going about their day. Unaware.

  The Harbinger is watching them.

  “You are not ready, but your world will bleed regardless.”

  The feed cuts to black.

  Then the lights snap back on.

  Silence.

  I feel my breath shaking.

  Dr. Bao grips the desk. “That… was a direct psychic intrusion.”

  Lynn is already moving. “Track the source. Now.”

  Bao pulls up multiple scans, typing too fast for me to follow.

  A location pops up on the screen.

  I recognize it instantly.

  My old neighborhood.

  The area is just as I remember it.

  Narrow alleyways. Flickering neon. The corner market where I used to work.

  The place I called home.

  Before I was… this.

  We move carefully, Dr. Lynn covering our backs.

  Nothing feels wrong—yet.

  Until I see it.

  A mural.

  It wasn’t here before.

  It stretches across a crumbling concrete wall, painted in strange, flowing symbols.

  And at the center—

  A face.

  Not a real face.

  A warped, shifting mask.

  A shape that can’t decide what it is.

  It’s watching me.

  I step closer, my pulse pounding.

  And the mural speaks.

  “You know me.”

  I feel it seep into my mind.

  And just like before—

  I do.

  A name unlocks in my head.

  I stagger back.

  Dr. Lynn steps forward, gun raised. “What the hell is this?”

  Bao mutters. “It’s… a psychic projection. A message.”

  I swallow hard.

  “No. It’s more than that.”

  I feel it now.

  This mural isn’t just a warning.

  It’s a beacon.

  Xal’Zir isn’t just watching.

  It’s already here.

  A shadow moves in the alley behind us.

  Lynn whirls—too late.

  The air warps—

  And something lashes out.

  Not a weapon. Not a solid form.

  A distortion.

  Like the space between thoughts.

  Lynn’s gun flies from her hand.

  She’s yanked backward, disappearing into the shadows.

  “LYNN!”

  I lunge, but the shadows close like a mouth.

  Then a whisper slides through the air.

  “She will see.”

  The world tilts.

  I stumble—my vision blurring, like reality is being peeled apart.

  And then—

  I’m somewhere else.

  Everything is wrong.

  I’m standing in New Tokyo, but it’s… flickering.

  Like a reflection on water.

  The buildings ripple, phasing in and out of existence.

  I turn—

  And see Dr. Lynn.

  She’s frozen mid-step, her body glitching like a corrupted video file.

  I reach for her—but my hand passes through.

  A voice echoes from all around me.

  “Your mind is too rigid, Cosmic Monster.”

  I turn slowly.

  Xal’Zir stands at the edge of this shifting world.

  Its form is fluid, ever-changing.

  A mask that morphs with every second, its voice coming from nowhere and everywhere.

  “You see reality as a single thing.”

  The world shifts.

  Suddenly, I’m in another city.

  Another planet.

  Then I’m back.

  Xal’Zir tilts its head.

  “Your mind is fragile. I will teach you how easily it can be broken.”

  The world shatters.

  And the fight begins.