The figure walked through the field of code ash each step glitching reality around it
His face was Azel's
But wrong
No warmth no hesitation
Only calculation
Azel stood still watching him come closer
Aya raised her blades
Azel stopped her
He's not just a copy
He's a backup
One made to erase me if I ever broke the system
Backup Azel finally spoke
The rewrite was not authorized
Rollback was terminated
Now deletion will proceed
His voice echoed with ten layers overlapping like stacked corruption
Azel took a breath and stepped forward
I'm not part of the system anymore
I broke it
You don't belong here
Backup Azel's eyes pulsed red
Neither do you
Then he vanished
Appeared behind Azel instantly
A punch slammed into Azel's ribs sending him flying into a broken data pillar
The whole world flickered
Aya moved to intercept but her blades passed through
No use
Backup Azel wasn't bound by physical code
He was raw system memory
Azel stood slowly coughing static
Can't hit what's never installed
Then he smiled
But I can corrupt it
He summoned fragments of rewrite code still bound to him
Lines of new logic wrapped around his arms
Backup Azel launched again fists like hammers of law
Azel ducked rolled and countered
They clashed in midair each strike shaking the foundation of the new world
Aya watched stunned unable to interfere
These two were beyond interference
They moved faster than thought colliding again and again
Finally Azel caught the clone's arm and whispered something only Aya could hear
I'm not trying to win
I'm trying to overwrite you
He pressed his palm to the clone's chest
And injected the rewrite code directly into the backup
The clone screamed twisting as his form began to destabilize
Lines of identity broke apart
The system's failsafe began to fracture
Then the backup spoke again but softer
What am I without my command
Azel answered
Free
The backup exploded into light
A calm fell over the field
But Aya saw Azel drop to one knee again
Something's wrong she said
Azel didn't answer
He looked at his own hands
They were glitching