Regina was too busy scrolling through the data. Her hands trembled slightly. "Output consistency perfect… synchronization stable… this is—" she looked up at Merlin, disbelief cutting through her professionalism. "How are you doing that?"
Merlin met her gaze evenly. "…Guess the blade likes me."
Draven snorted. "Yeah, or it's scared of you."
For the first time all morning, Merlin almost smiled.
Then, the lights flickered.
Just once. Barely noticeable. But he felt it.
That pulse, the one inside his chest, suddenly staggered.
He froze.
[Warning: Source interference detected.]
[Unidentified signal… attempting synchronization override.]
Regina frowned at her monitor. "That's not right. We're getting resonance feedback from—"
"Cut the power," Merlin said sharply.
"What?"
"I said cut the power!"
But it was already too late.
