I opened my eyes to Ryota's back and the world ending around us.
Metal screamed, explosions rattled my skull, and my brain was trying very hard to catch up with the fact that I'd just been having a cosmic conversation about apocalyptic entities and was now being carried through a collapsing tech dimension like a sack of potatoes.
"Almost there!" Ryota shouted over the noise.
Ahead, Henrik had Azryth over his shoulder in what had to be the most undignified position a demon lord had ever been in, and Mara was sprinting beside them clutching the fragment like her life depended on it.
Which it probably did, given everything was exploding.
The tech world didn't appreciate us taking its power source, apparently.
"Gate!" Henrik's voice cut through the chaos.
We hit it at full speed, reality doing its usual stomach-turning flip, one second chrome and circuits and death, next second London pavement and cold air and—
