"They don't break your body. They overwrite your heart—one patch at a time."—Hack Codex, Entry 53: Love as a Vulnerability
The battlefield smoldered in aftershock.
Ash and code fragments fluttered in the air like dead prayers.
The Necroscribe's body had been deleted, but not defeated. Not truly.
Patch-Gods never died.
They uninstalled.
And always left behind corrupted fragments of you.
Seris stood on the edge of the burning crater, hair swaying, face unreadable.
She didn't look at me.
Didn't speak.
Didn't move when the embers brushed her skin.
Because the part of her that had trusted me…
Was already gone.
Not killed.
But surgically removed by my own hand.
I saved her.
At the cost of our truth.
And now I was hollow in all the wrong places.
[System Notice: Emotional Equilibrium Critical][Recommendation: Source New Anchor ASAP][Warning: Extended Unbalanced State May Result in Personality Fragmentation or Script Corruption]
I needed an anchor.
Or I'd lose what was left of myself in the recursive storm.
But every time I turned to look at Seris…
She turned away.
Like her code recognized mine—but her soul no longer accepted it.
Lyria broke the silence first.
She pulled her sword from the molten dirt and walked over, eyes fierce.
Not tender. Not gentle.
But loyal.
"You broke something in her," she said, flat and unflinching. "And maybe you had to. But you need to stop pretending it didn't cost everything."
I couldn't meet her eyes.
"Then I deserve the fallout."
"You deserve the truth," Lyria said.
"And what truth is that?"
"That she was never yours to begin with."
That hit harder than any attack the Necroscribe launched.
Because deep down—I knew it was true.
Some bonds weren't yours just because you felt them.
Some loves are never installed.
Only simulated.
[Fragment Detected: Necroscribe Backup Node Nearby]Location: Catacombs of the Old Patch-GodsThreat Level: HighReward: Soul Rewrite Script | Legendary Hacker Relic – "HeartForge Compiler"
I didn't hesitate.
"I'm going in."
We descended into the Catacombs.
A tomb of updates never meant to be read.
Patches rejected by the divine.
Forgotten versions of love.
Walls pulsed with ghost-code.
Each line etched in sorrow.
Love stories rewritten as tragedies.
Friendships redacted into betrayals.
Every inch of the Catacombs screamed:
"YOUR FEELINGS WERE NEVER YOURS."
The HeartForge Compiler floated at the center—an ancient relic bound in chains of failed relationships and burnt trust contracts.
It pulsed with opportunity.
But nothing came without a price.
[HeartForge Compiler Detected][Would you like to install a Rewrite on Emotional Scripts?][Warning: This will require deleting one personality fragment—permanently.]
Lyria stepped up beside me.
Cindralis flanked the other side, flame still licking her shoulders from the fusion backlash.
And Seris… didn't follow.
She stayed in the shadows.
Her silence louder than screaming.
Lyria's hand found mine.
Not seductively.
But intimately—a moment of quiet truth between soldiers.
"If you do this… you'll change."
I looked at her.
"I'm already changing."
I touched the Compiler.
And it woke.
[Initiating Personality Fragment Trade Sequence]Select Fragment for Deletion:
Hope for Seris's love
Trust in the world
Fear of becoming like the Patch-Gods
Belief that you are still human
I chose #4.
I deleted my belief that I was still human.
Pain.
Fire.
Data hemorrhage in my soul.
The Compiler screamed in ones and zeroes, and rewrote my core:
[NEW ABILITY: Patchbreaker Protocol – Immune to Emotion Scripts, Pity Loops, and Recursive Regret Attacks][Hacker Class Upgraded: Shadow Architect][Trait Gained: Love Immunity v0.1 – Affection cannot be influenced by enemies or friends. All emotional bonds must be consciously re-coded from scratch.]
I collapsed.
Bled silver.
Breathed fire.
And rose with eyes that burned through illusions.
I no longer felt love.
Not in the old way.
Not like before.
But I could rebuild it.
Brick by brick.
From scratch.
Cindralis walked forward and kissed me.
Not to seduce.
To test.
Her fire brushed my cheek.
I didn't flinch.
I didn't react.
But I chose to kiss her back.
Deliberately.
Not from instinct.
But from choice.
"...It's real," she said softly. "Even if you can't feel it yet."
Behind us, the air split.
And a new figure stepped out.
Clad in white code armor.
Eyes glowing with admin rights.
Voice neutral and full of doom.
"You've been flagged, Kairo."
"For unauthorized core hacks and love immunity installations."
"On behalf of the Council of Patch-Gods… you are to be uninstalled."