The moment Rivena opened her eyes, the chamber trembled.
> [WARNING: Null Synchronization Detected]
[Core Identity Conflict Detected. Executing Silent Reboot...]
Reality shivered. The looping fragments around the sanctum flickered, paused, and collapsed into shards of light. Her presence disrupted everything. Not like mine—erratic and resistant. Hers was absolute.
Ayla moved instinctively, blades half-drawn.
"She's like you. But older."
Rivena exhaled and sat upright, as if waking from a long, bitter dream. Her silver hair was streaked with streaks of black void-tint, and her eyes—deep violet with code threading across the irises—locked onto mine.
"Elias Black. You made it."
I stared. "You were supposed to be dead. You fought in the first fracture war."
She smirked, then coughed. The sound echoed oddly in the null-chamber.
"I died. Then I looped. Then I was hidden. This place is the last cradle of the Nullborn. A failure the system couldn't delete."
Lira inched closer. "You were the first Null?"
"Not the first. The last. Before Elias."
> [Link Established: Nullborn Pair]
Shared Data Access Activated... Parsing Memories...]
Suddenly, I could see them.
Flashes of her past.
Battles fought against system agents, Architects debating over false divinity, cities caught in recursive deletion loops. And at the center of it all—a younger Rivena, defiant and brilliant.
"Why was I brought here?" I asked.
"Because the system's end was always designed to begin with you. I delayed it. You will end it."
---
Outside the sanctum, chaos surged.
The sky was breaking.
Obelisks began flickering. Factions fought over knowledge they couldn't understand. System Agents deployed without cause, corrupting dungeons and overwriting town cores.
The system was eating itself.
> [System Collapse Progression: 19%]
[Core Rebirth Pending: User Input Required]
Rivena stood, though her knees wobbled. "You have the fragment."
I nodded.
She placed her hand over mine. The core pulsed.
> [Merge Protocol: Authorized]
[Initializing Requiem Command...]
A wave of darkness burst outward, not destructive—purifying. All around us, the sanctum restructured. Loops closed. Glitches mended. The system recoiled, recognizing its anomaly had stabilized into order.
A new status window appeared before me:
> [Title Unlocked: Architect of Shadows]
Effect: Can issue commands to broken sectors. Can overwrite corrupted laws.]
Kael staggered back. "You're not just a user anymore."
"I never was," I said.
---
We exited the sanctum and found Arinvale burning.
A system rift hovered above the capital's central spire, leaking raw code into the sky. People ran in fear while monsters twisted by corrupted logic spilled out of the gates.
Viren had returned.
> [System Agent: VIREN - Recompiled Version Online]
Class: Code Eater]
Status: Rogue]
He looked at me differently now.
No longer to delete.
To consume.
"You gave it form," he hissed. "Now I take it back."
He lunged.
Rivena stepped in front of me.
"No. You'll face both of us now."
And for the first time since my death...
I felt whole.
---
> [Chapter Word Count: 1,045 words]