Darkness fell as Liam stepped toward the glowing Nexus Core.
> "Identity confirmed: Liam 034."
The vault trembled.
Ava, still bloodied from her clash with Virex, reached for her blade. "Liam, don't touch it yet. That thing's alive."
Kafi's voice cracked through the chamber. "Warning. Nexus Core: Origin Seed is sentient. Unknown risk level: Omega."
But it was too late.
The seed pulsed and unleashed a wave of data-light. Liam screamed, his mind flooded with visions—Nexus's original blueprint, its founders, its collapse... and his name embedded in its core system. Not as a user.
As a fail-safe.
The floor shattered. The chamber fell into chaos.
Kafi activated full cloaking as drones descended from the ocean surface.
> "Incoming: Nexus Squad Alpha. Elite Hostile Class."
Outside, the ocean lit up with deep-blue energy. Four figures broke through the sea wall—each draped in dark chrome, bearing marks of Nexus Prime. Leading them was Nyxon, a former prodigy of the System who had turned against Syra's ethics.
"You've gone too far, Liam," Nyxon said, stepping through the broken vault wall. "The Core belongs to Nexus. Hand it over, or face obliteration."
Liam activated a newly unlocked skill—Origin Suppression Field. A glowing dome encased the seed, disrupting Nyxon's neural link.
Ava, now in full battle mode, lunged into the fight. Her new abilities shimmered—quantum displacement strikes, phasing through attacks and reappearing behind enemies.
"I'll keep the elites busy. You bond with the Core," Ava shouted.
Liam's system interface warped. Syra appeared beside him.
> "This is what I was made for, Liam. Sync with the Origin Seed, and rewrite Nexus. But it will come at a cost."
"Do it."
Pain surged through his veins as data infused every cell. His body lifted, glowing like a star beneath the ocean.
System Upgrade: Origin Host Initialized
A shockwave pulsed outward, disabling Nexus drones.
Kafi morphed into Aero-Class Fortress Mode, raining down plasma fire to defend them. Ava took down two elite soldiers, her aura blazing.
Nyxon activated his final weapon: a singularity spear. It sliced through Kafi's shield, aiming for Liam.
But Ava intercepted it. The impact exploded in light. When the mist cleared, she stood—wounded but alive. Her powers had evolved again.
Liam rose from the seed's cradle, eyes glowing. He hovered above the vault floor, levitating the Nexus seed and projecting a new system code.
"I'm not just a fail-safe," he said. "I'm the end of Nexus."