He was panting heavily, his arms smoking and covered in minor rendering burns, but a dark, triumphant smile was plastered across his face.
He looked around the dead, silent room. The grand corporate dystopia of the Vanguard Syndicate was officially unplugged.
"Consider your subscription canceled," Sebastian whispered into the dark.
He had the core. He had the power. It was time to go home and wake up the Princess.
—-
The zero-gravity environment of the inner sanctum was a terrifying, silent mess.
Sebastian floated gently backward, his heavy boots no longer anchored to the polished obsidian floor. He clutched the massive, glowing azure sphere of the Regional Core tightly to his chest. It was freezing cold and pulsed with the condensed, desperate heartbeat of an entire planetary server.
Around him, the colossal Server Pillar was dying.
