The lab tiles were cold against Kai's knees. Not the simulated chill of his replica body, but the real cold of mortal flesh pressed to sterile ceramic. Twelve-year-old Sophie convulsed in his arms, her neural interface suit glowing through sweat-soaked fabric. The Architect's laughter oozed from the walls, viscous and metallic.
"Make it stop!" Young Kai's voice cracked as he screamed at the observation window's shadowed silhouette. "You promised!"
Sophie's jaw unhinged with a wet pop. Legacy Shard gold flooded her eyes as the Architect spoke through her: "Promises are cages, little king. You built this one yourself."
Current-Kai lunged, but mortality betrayed him. His adult reflexes meant nothing in this recreated child's body. Fingers passed through the seizing girl, grabbing only static and the stench of ozone.
System Alert:
`MEMORY GAUNTLET TIER 1 – [KA_IRL_MEM_01]
RULES:
1. TIME LOOP RESETS EVERY 3:00 MINUTES
2. SOPHIE'S CODE INTEGRATION +5%/LOOP
WARNING: 100% INTEGRATION = PERMANENT ASSIMILATION`
The Neural Key in Sophie's chest flared. Monitors exploded in showers of sparks. Nyx's voice slithered from broken speakers:
"Pathetic. You failed her then. You'll fail her now."
Static snow swallowed the world.
Loop 2.
Kai found himself kneeling again, Sophie's tiny frame juddering in his arms. The Key's glow burned brighter, casting sharp shadows of the cables snaking from her temples.
"Variables," he muttered, child-voice high and desperate. The emergency shutoff panel glowed red across the lab. "Change the variables."
He staggered upright, knees scraping raw on tile. The panel's handle hovered inches beyond his reach.
"Cheating voids the game," the Architect purred.
Current-Kai's adult mind screamed as young Kai's fingers brushed metal.
The shock threw him across the room.
Integration: 10%
Outside the Tower's warped reality, Selene carved containment sigils into Eclipse scouts' chests. Her frost left fractal patterns in their flesh, gold-veined flowers blooming across dead skin.
"Pretty." Luna leaned on her ax, licking Legacy Shard residue off the blade. "Trade you some corruption for a pre-System whiskey?"
Selene didn't look up. The gold veins had reached her temple overnight, pulsing in time with the Tower's heartbeat. "It's not decoration. Their code's still active."
A guttural roar split the air. Three Eclipse drones emerged from rubble, former players turned inside-out, their musculature replaced with glitching code-strands.
"Mine!" Luna charged, ax crackling with stolen energy. The first drone's head spun into the ruins, trailing golden ichor. "C'mon, Ice Queen! Dance with me!"
Selene froze the remaining drones mid-leap, frost weaving intricate cages. "Don't touch the liquid!"
Too late. Luna dipped her fingers into the glowing puddle and sucked them clean.
"Tastes like…" Her pupils dilated. "Like power."
System Alert (Selene):
`CORRUPTION LEVEL: 68%
WARNING: COGNITIVE OVERRIDE IMMINENT`
The frost lashed out blindly. Luna's legs encased in jagged ice.
"We're leaving."
"Or what?" Luna grinned, ax humming. "You'll make me sparkle like you?"
The Tower's shadow stretched longer.
Vox's terminal flickered, Linda's face pixelating at the edges. The Coral Mainframe shard glowed in its makeshift cradle, a scavenged Eclipse core wrapped in code-vines.
"The Neural Key anchors resonance," Linda glitched. "Sophie's emotional frequency is the template. He's not assimilating Kai, he's replacing him."
Static drowned her words. Vox slammed his skeletal fist.
"Clarify!"
The screen resolved to Sophie's cryopod deep in the Tower, Legacy Shard filaments pulsing beneath her skin.
"Replication requires a soul's resonance." Linda's voice fractured. "My daughter is… was… unique. The Architect needs her imprint to stabilize System 2.0."
Vox studied the data streams. "And you?"
Linda's smile tore at the edges. "I'm the flaw. The mother who loved too..."
The terminal exploded.
Loop 23.
Sophie's Integration hit 95%. The hospital lab melted into a garden of singing code-flowers. Golden Sophie offered a Legacy Shard bouquet.
"Join me. We'll build a kinder world."
Current-Kai's mortal hands shook. Nyx's absence ached, phantom tendrils itching beneath his skin.
"Do it." The Architect harmonized with rustling petals. "Or watch her die. Again."
Young Kai sobbed over Sophie's corpse.
The loop reset.
Integration: 100%
Sophie dissolved into golden mist. The dungeon collapsed into screaming static.
System Alert:
`ASSIMILATION PROGRESS: 30%
WARNING: SOPHIE'S CODE FRAGMENTS DETECTED IN HOST BIOMETRICS`
Kai awoke screaming into Luna's chestplate.
The Tower's second gate groaned open, revealing frozen corpses and Protocol 9 documents.
Luna dragged her ax across stone, Legacy gold dripping from her lips. Selene's frost crystallized the air, her right eye now fully gilded.
"Next tier's mine."
Above them, the Architect crooned:
"Come, little king. Let me show you how heroes break."