"Fourth Wall" as the command left his mouth, hs felt the effects almost instantly.
The lobby heard him.
The system recognized his voice pattern.
And somewhere in code deeper than normal programming, the integration protocol activated.
The white void shattered like glass, fragments of unreality breaking apart to reveal what lay beneath—not more void but a doorway, a passage, a route back to the body that had been operating without him.
The doorway ahead pulsed with crimson light, and Akhil walked toward it despite the agony of integration tearing through his fragmenting consciousness.
He had friends to save.
A sister to protect.
The white void collapsed behind him as he stepped through the doorway.
Someone was coming home.
Meanwhile back in the arena, the monarch was hit my James attack.
It was sudden and unexpected.
