[58] The Last Echo

"Among those who walk the burning edge between worlds, one name is whispered with equal parts awe and fear. She is the final voice of a legacy written in blood and crystal. The Last Echo—where her spear strikes, reality itself trembles. They say she fights with the wisdom of a hundred lifetimes, each movement a symphony of inherited power. Some claim she cannot be killed, for how do you silence an echo that carries the voices of those long gone? When gates tremble and monsters flee, you will know—The Last Echo has arrived."

—Hunter Network promotional segment, sponsored by Phoenix Imperium

***

Thalia hated that tagline.

She adjusted her spear harness, tightening the strap across her chest as her team filed into the simulation chamber. The purplish haze typical of Tier-2 gates enveloped them, casting everything in an eerie glow that made the crystalline structures sprouting from the ground shimmer like wet obsidian.