Chapter 30 - The Executioner’s Code

The neon-soaked sky of London didn't just darken; it bled. Overhead, the artificial clouds once a programmed shade of twilight violet stuttered into a series of jagged, black-and-white stripes of raw binary. The city's "Atmospheric Engine" was failing, buckling under the weight of a presence that shouldn't exist in this version of reality. A silence so absolute followed that it felt like the world had been muted by a god's hand, leaving only the sound of Lyra's frantic, uneven breathing. The constant hum of the corporate hover-traffic, the rhythmic splashing of the acidic rain against the pavement it all vanished. Reality wasn't just breaking; it was stuttering, struggling to render the sheer, ancient power radiating from the man standing between Lyra and the end of the world.