Seul’s boots pounded up the narrow stairwell, every step echoing with urgency. Above her, the tower pulsed with red warning lights and the faint hum of power surging toward ignition.

The higher she climbed, the hotter it got.

Rae’s voice crackled through her earpiece. “Seul, you’re almost there. Keep going.”

“I’m not stopping,” Seul panted. “Just—tell Rin to be ready.”

Back in the control room, Rin kept Mi Na distracted. Sparks flew as Mi Na fired bursts of kinetic energy, shattering consoles and sending Rae and Rin ducking for cover.

“You used to dream of saving people,” Rin shouted. “What happened to that?”

Mi Na sneered. “I stopped dreaming. I started building.”

She hurled another energy wave, knocking Rae back into a wall. Rin rushed to her side.

“Still with me?”

Rae coughed. “Never left.”

Meanwhile, Seul burst through the final hatch and into the tower’s summit. The rocket stood tall before her, its core glowing.

At the terminal stood a final sentry—an enhanced guard, wired into the platform.

Seul hesitated for half a second. Then charged.

The fight was brutal. The guard struck fast, powered by tech that echoed her own enhancements. But Seul was faster, smarter.

She pivoted under a blow, landed a strike to the neural spine, and brought the guard down hard.

Bloodied but standing, she reached the override terminal and slammed her hand onto the biometric reader.

“Authorization: Yoon Seul. Cancel launch. Full core lockout.”

The rocket whined, hissed, and then—

Silence.

Below, Mi Na’s expression shifted.

“No,” she whispered. “No, no, no—”

Rin grinned. “Guess your launch just got grounded.”

Mi Na roared, unleashing one final, desperate attack—but Rae was ready.

She intercepted the blast midair, absorbed it into her palms, and hurled it right back.

The explosion sent Mi Na sprawling.

She didn’t rise.

Minutes later, Seul returned, bruised and smiling. “Tower’s locked. Satellite can’t fire.”

Rin and Rae embraced her, relieved beyond words.

And across the globe, screens that had once displayed Mi Na’s promise of a new world… flickered off.

The Resistance had won the night.

But the war for tomorrow was just beginning.