Levels to this game

Then she spoke.

"You're quiet."

Gigarose's voice cut through his thoughts.

She tilted her helmeted head, hands resting on her hips, twin blades still sheathed at her back.

"You're smart. I'll give you that."

Noah said nothing.

"But you won't figure it out in time."

A pause.

Then she took a step forward.

"Over the last week," she said, "my tech team has been working nonstop to find a way to stop this... phenomenon."

Her tone was sharper now, no longer playful.

"Shadow Oracle."

His eyes flickered.

"The hacker. The anomaly. The one who had the audacity to tamper with the very system I built."

Noah's expression didn't change, but inside—

'Oh. Oh.'

"It's an insult." Her voice was level, but there was venom beneath it. "One I came to see for myself."

She took another step, cracking her knuckles.

"Now that I've let you show me the folly of your ways..."

She exhaled.