The two-hour countdown hit zero.
There was no sound when the safety zone collapsed. No crack, no ripple, no warning flare, no shimmer of light fading from the edges of the void. The invisible barrier that had kept the monsters at bay simply ceased to exist. One moment it pressed against the boundary of the layer like a held breath. The next it was gone, as if it had never been more than a polite suggestion.
Across the empty void, every surviving participant felt the change at the same time. The pressure that had kept the outside monsters away vanished. The layer opened. The rules changed.
Runar opened his eyes fully.
He had been waiting for this.
