The team collapsed, their bodies aching, their energy depleted. They had pushed themselves to their limits, and they had succeeded.
A new staircase of pure, white light materialized in the center of the city, leading up to the fifth floor.
As they slowly made their way towards it, Vell looked back at the now-silent crystalline city. He knew this was just another step in a much larger journey, but for the first time in a long time, he felt a genuine sense of hope.
They were not just a team of broken survivors anymore. They were a force to be reckoned with, a chaotic, unpredictable storm that was tearing its way through the Tower, and through the plans of those who sought to control them.
He looked at his companions, at their tired but triumphant faces, and he knew, with a certainty that resonated deep within his soul, that they were ready for whatever came next.
The fifth floor awaited, and with it, the next chapter of their story.
