The Golden Foundry hummed with a new, frantic energy. As Kenji's fingers moved across the Logic-Lathe's keys, strings of violet "Outlier" code began to wrap around the golden rings of the station.
[RE-WRITING DEFRAG COMMAND... 12%]
[WARNING: SYSTEM COHERENCE DROPPING]
[ALERT: HIGH-LEVEL HARDWARE OVERRIDE DETECTED]
"Kenji, the Lathe is heating up!" Mateo yelled, his mercury-infused hands glowing as he tried to stabilize the ship's connection to the station. "You're trying to re-write a billion years of 'Standard Operation' in ten minutes! The friction is going to melt the logic-gates!"
"Then we let it melt," Kenji said, his eyes bleeding white light. "If I can't re-write it, I'll burn it so badly they can't use it to delete us."
Suddenly, the golden ocean above them didn't just ripple it shattered. Three silhouettes descended through the liquid gold, each encased in a suit of "Singularity-Plate" that consumed the light around them. They didn't have names, only functions.
[TARGETS DETECTED: THE HIGH ARCHITECTS]
1. THE DESIGNER (RANK 200) - Conceptual Lead
2. THE COMPILER (RANK 210) - Physical Manifestation
3. THE EXECUTIONER (RANK 225) - Final Deletion
"The Rank 0 Error has reached the nursery," the Designer spoke. Its voice was a crushing pressure that made the Star-Eater's hull groan. "You have played with our toys long enough, Scrapsmith. You have turned our 'Perfect Revision' into a graveyard of rust and sentiment."
"Your 'Perfect Revision' was a cage," Kenji countered, not looking up from the Lathe. "I'm just opening the doors."
"The Executioner" didn't wait for the debate. It raised a hand, and a blade made of "Anti-Data"—a black void in the shape of a scythe—swung toward the Logic-Lathe.
"Not today!" Bjorn roared.
He intercepted the blow. His World-Root Splitter, now infused with Stellar-Iron, clashed with the Anti-Data scythe. The impact was so massive that the shockwave flattened the golden Prototypes for kilometers.
[BATTLE INITIATED: THE FOUNDRY STAND]
[BJORN vs. THE EXECUTIONER]
[ELARA & PRIYA vs. THE COMPILER]
"Bjorn, your Rank!" Elara cried, seeing the HUD. Bjorn was Rank 85. The Executioner was Rank 225. It shouldn't have been a contest.
But Bjorn wasn't fighting with Rank. He was fighting with Density. Kenji's "Density Soul" had permeated the entire team during their time in the Over-Void. Every time the Executioner struck, Bjorn didn't parry; he "Absorbed" the kinetic energy into his own mass.
"I've carried the weight of the Gutter on my back since I was a pup!" Bjorn snarled, his muscles bulging with violet light. "You think a little 'Null-Energy' is going to move me?"
Meanwhile, the Compiler began to "Re-write" the local environment, turning the air into solid blocks of lead to crush Elara.
"Priya! Synchronize!" Elara commanded.
Priya didn't heal Elara; she Overclocked her. Using her spirit-mana, she pushed Elara's "Frost-Silk" into a state of "Absolute Stillness." The lead blocks didn't crush them they froze at a molecular level and shattered into harmless dust.
[RE-WRITING DEFRAG... 45%]
"Enough," the Designer said, its Rank 200 aura flaring. It looked at Kenji. "You think you are special because you are an 'Outlier.' But every system has a trash-heap. You are simply the pile that grew too high. I will now subtract you."
The Designer reached out to "Subtract" Kenji's existence. But as its hand touched Kenji's shoulder, the Architect's eyes widened.
Kenji wasn't there.
He was at the Lathe, but his physical presence was "Un-assigned." He was a ghost in the machine.
"You can't subtract zero," Kenji whispered.
He turned from the Lathe, his hand gripping the Seventh Star, which he had pulled out of his own chest. He slammed the Star into the Designer's chest-plate.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: RECURSIVE VIRUS (RANK 1)]
"I'm not just re-writing the Defrag," Kenji said, his voice overlapping with the voices of the Forgotten Smith and the Sultan. "I'm uploading the 'Gutter' into your personal hardware."
The Designer shrieked as its "Perfect" Rank 200 form began to rust. Brown spots of oxidation appeared on its Singularity-Plate. Its movements became jerky, "Lacking Efficiency."
"Rust... in the Foundry?!" the Compiler gasped, its focus breaking.
"It's not just rust," Kenji said, standing tall as the Lathe hit 60%. "It's history. It's the weight of every 'Revision' you threw away. And it's hungry."
The Executioner tried to retreat, but the Star-Eater fired its "Paradox Cannons," pinning the High Architects in a localized loop of "Yesterday."
"Kenji, look out!" Mateo screamed.
From the hole in the sky, a fourth silhouette appeared. It was smaller than the others, but the Rank reading on the HUD simply broke, showing a flickering [INFINITE] symbol.
[TARGET DETECTED: THE SYNDICATE OVERSEER]
"The High Architects are merely my hands," the Overseer spoke, its voice a soft, terrifying whisper. "If the hands are infected, the body must amputate them."
A beam of blue light, narrower than a needle but brighter than a star shot down. It didn't hit Kenji. It hit the three High Architects.
In a split second, the Designer, the Compiler, and the Executioner were "Deleted" by their own master for their failure.
The Overseer landed on the platform, its feet not touching the gold. It looked at the Logic-Lathe, then at Kenji.
"Ninety percent of this sector is now corrupted," the Overseer said. "I shall not 'Defrag' it. I shall 'Incinerate' the drive. I hope you are prepared to burn, Scrapsmith."
[RE-WRITING DEFRAG... 99%... ERROR]
[COMMAND INTERRUPTED BY OVERSEER]
Kenji stood his ground, his rusted blade in one hand and the Rank 0 Locket in the other.
"I was born in the fire," Kenji said. "Let's see if you can handle the heat."
[LEVEL UP: ??? (0)]
[PHASE 1 OF THE SYNDICATE WAR: COMPLETE]
[PHASE 2: THE INCINERATION PROTOCOL]