Round 220

The building's groans grew louder, more insistent—concrete dust falling like snowflakes as the structure strained against its own weight. The air between them began to thicken with an unseen force, pressing against Halie's barrier like a physical weight.

Hera stared at Jeane in disbelief, her heart pounding. "Jeane, stop this right now! You're putting us all at risk!" She turned to Silra, anger flashing in her eyes. "And you, I trusted you to fix this! Instead, you're just making it worse!"

But deep down, Hera knew they were out of options. The building was collapsing around them, and Jeane's transformation was becoming more and more real with each passing second. She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. "We need to work together on this. Halie, can you keep that barrier up?"

Jeane's wings quivered with barely contained need as she glared at Silra. "Your engineering won't save us from this," she snarled, voice dripping venom. "The building demands what it demands—and I am not about to let you walk out of here while everyone else suffers because your ego can't handle a little structural compromise."

Her eyes flashed red for a fraction too long before returning to human blue. "Stay where you are, and maybe we all live through this without permanent damage." Her hand shifted subtly toward the toys arrayed on the floor—tools that could serve both their survival and the building's escalating demands.

The structure groaned again, louder this time—a sound like ancient bones creaking under strain. A support beam cracked visibly along its length, concrete spalling away in chunks. The pressure against Halie's barrier increased, pushing outward with enough force to make her grunt with effort.

"Forty minutes," Hera hissed under her breath, glancing at the timer on her phone. "We're past the goddamn deadline, and nothing's changed except the building getting more aggressive." She looked between Jeane and Silra, desperation warring with anger in her expression.