Kai stood just behind her, eyes fixed on the last flickering echo of the magical interface that had accompanied them since the Mirror first awakened. The holographic glyphs hovered for a final moment in the frost-bitten air before fading entirely, but the warning they carried still burned behind his eyes like a brand:
HOLLOWFANG STATUS: PURGED.
WARNING: ORIGIN VECTOR STILL ACTIVE.
The words carried more weight than any blade. The battle in the vault had been brutal, but it was not the end. It was barely even the middle. The source of the Hollowfang corruption—the original vector, the spark that had set this entire horror ablaze—was still out there, hidden in shadow.
It wasn't just a curse. It was a pattern, a force, a presence that knew how to infect and spread. And now, more than ever, it knew who they were.
