Bombay's smog choked sunrise painted the ruins in rust and ash.
Kai's replica flickered as they emerged from the tunnels, Nyx's tendrils writhing beneath his skin like caged serpents. The System Alert pulsed relentlessly:
`ASSIMILATION PROGRESS: 62%
WARNING: CRITICAL THRESHOLD AT 70%.`
Selene walked five paces ahead, her frost leaving gold scorched footprints in the rubble. The corruption had reached her jawline, veins pulsing in time with her ragged breaths.
"She's accelerating," Nyx muttered, her voice still raw from the Iron Core's revelations. "The gold isn't just corrupting her, it's evolving her."
A child NPC darted across their path, clutching a cracked datapad. Selene's frost lashed out instinctively, encasing the child's legs in gilded ice.
"I...I didn't.." Selene recoiled, her eyes widening as the child screamed.
Kai moved, Nyx's tendrils shattering the ice. The child fled, their sobs echoing through the ruins.
"Control it," Kai said quietly.
Selene's frost crackled. "Or what? You'll add me to your collection of broken things?"
The safehouse terminal sparked violently when they returned. Vox's skeletal frame phased in and out of reality, his voice glitching:
"Subroutine 9… activated… harvest imminent…"
A hologram flared, a massive structure buried beneath Nariman Point, labeled SUBROUTINE 9 – NEURAL HARVESTING FACILITY. Rotating slowly, it resembled a spiderweb of glass pipelines and pulsating crimson nodes.
System Alert:
`EMERGENCY PROTOCOL CONFIRMED.
ALL PLAYERS IN [BOMBAY] TO BE TERMINATED IN: 47H 12M.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: EVACUATE.`
"Evacuate where?" Selene laughed bitterly. "The whole city's a dungeon now."
Vox stabilized, his void eyes burning. "We dismantle the subroutine. But we need three things:"
1. A Legacy Shard (glowing in Selene's inventory).
2. A Warden's Key (Nyx's tendrils twitched at the term).
3. A Sacrifice (his gaze lingered on Kai).
"No," Nyx snarled through Kai.
"Yes," Vox said. "Subroutine 9 is a cognitive lock. To break it, someone must become… compatible."
Static surged. Linda's ghostly face flickered on the terminal. "Kai… don't…"
They descended into flooded ruins south of Marine Drive, the air thick with the stench of brine and decaying code. Sophie's sparrow led the way, its hologram occasionally glitching into a falcon's shape.
"Why here?" Selene demanded, her frost holding back the black water.
"First iteration of the Iron Core," Vox said. "Where the Devs learned to trap human minds."
The temple emerged, a half-sunken monstrosity of coral covered servers and fractured stained glass. Kai's boots crunched on skeletal fingers protruding from the sediment.
System Alert:
`DUNGEON LAYER STABILITY: 39%
WARNING: COGNITIVE HAZARDS DETECTED.`
Nyx's tendrils stiffened. "This place… it's wrong."
"You remember," Vox said. "Don't you?"
A shudder ran through Kai's code, Nyx's memories bleeding through:
Memory: A younger Vox, still flesh and blood, screaming as technicians wire his brain into a server. Nyx watches, compelled to overwrite his protests with compliance.
"Stop," Kai gasped.
"Too late," Vox whispered.
The temple awoke.
The water boiled with phantom code. Skeletons rose, their eye sockets blazing with familiar blue light, Eclipse Prime's signature.
Selene froze a dozen with a wave, but gold corruption spiderwebbed up her arm. "They're not real!"
"They're memories," Vox said. "The Core's first victims."
Kai fought back to back with Selene, Nyx's tendrils shredding phantoms. With each kill, ghostly data invaded his HUD:
`[ERROR] MEMORY FRAGMENT RECOVERED: DR. VORN – PROTOCOL 9 APPROVED.`
`[ERROR] MEMORY FRAGMENT RECOVERED: LINDA – "DON'T LET THEM TAKE SOPHIE!"`
Sophie's sparrow suddenly dove into the temple's central server. The ground shook.
"It's triggering a purge!" Vox shouted. "The Legacy Shard, now!"
Selene hesitated, clutching the glowing shard.
"Do it!" Kai roared.
She plunged the shard into the server.
Reality shattered.
They stood in a sterile white room, the real Subroutine 9 facility, hidden beneath layers of virtuality. Glass capsules lined the walls, each containing a floating human brain connected to pulsing code veins.
"Cognitive farms," Vox said. "The Devs' prototype."
A familiar laugh echoed. Dr. Vorn's hologram materialized, his smile sharp enough to cut code.
"Kai! Still clinging to that faulty replica, I see." His gaze shifted to Selene. "Ah, Subject S-09. How's Protocol 9 treating you?"
Selene's frost surged, but gold veins pinned her in place. "You… bastard!"
"Now, now." Vorn gestured. A capsule slid forward, containing Linda's preserved body. "You want her back? Give me the Warden."
Nyx's tendrils tore at Kai's code. "Don't you dare!"
System Alert:
`ASSIMILATION PROGRESS: 68%
WARNING: IRREVERSIBLE INTEGRATION IMMINENT.`
Kai reached for Linda's capsule.
Selene's frost shattered it, gold corruption now engulfing her right eye. "It's a trap! Can't you see...."
Vorn sighed. "Pity." He snapped his fingers.
The facility shuddered. Capsules began dissolving, brains screaming as they disintegrated. Linda's body flickered, a hologram within a hologram.
"Run," Nyx begged. "Please."
Kai grabbed Selene and ran. Behind them, Vorn laughed.
"You can't outrun a system, Kai! Not when you're part of it!"
They burst onto Marine Drive's cracked promenade. The sea raged beneath a sky bleeding crimson static.
System Alert:
`SUBROUTINE 9 – NEURAL HARVESTING: 89% COMPLETE.
BOMBAY TERMINATION IN: 23H 58M.`
In Kai's hand, Sophie's sparrow glowed, now fused with a Legacy Shard's code.
"Interesting."
The new voice came from everywhere, deep, mechanical, old.
"You broke my first prison. Let's see if you can break the second."
System Alert:
`NEW QUEST: [THE ARCHITECT'S GAUNTLET]
OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE THE TOWER OF THE FIRST DAWN.
REWARD: SYSTEM ADMIN ACCESS (TEMPORARY).
WARNING: MORTALITY RESTORED DURING QUEST.`
Nyx fell silent.
Selene stared at her gold reflective palm. "What now?"
Kai watched the bleeding sky. "We climb."