They landed hard on the peak
No sky
Just code
Endless spirals of red logic twisting above like an open wound
The air burned cold and loud at the same time
Aya gripped her blade but her body felt heavier
Like her bones were listening to something they weren't meant to hear
Reiss dropped to one knee holding his head
You feel that
She nodded eyes locked on the monolith in the center of the platform
A pulse echoed from it
Then came the voice
Not through sound
But through memory
Through instinct
Through every line of code that made them what they were
You carry broken commands
You walk in contradiction
Aya gasped eyes shaking
It was Zerach
Speaking directly into her root
Even Rewrite Edge trembled
You fight against recursion
You reject the final update
But I will offer one rewrite
One evolution
One world
Reiss staggered to his feet face pale
He's not talking
He's editing
Aya looked up
He's trying to overwrite who we are
The tower surged
Zerach's presence wrapped around them like a second skin
Memories tried to shift
Childhoods rewritten
Choices flipped
Futures replaced
Reiss screamed and jammed his hookblade into his arm to stabilize his identity
Aya dropped to one knee and activated a deep rewrite burst from her shard
She screamed through the resistance
I am Aya
This is my will
The code snapped like a wave
The pressure broke for a moment
The sky above them glitched
Zerach's voice faded
But the monolith cracked open
And from within
A figure stepped out
Not Zerach
But something wearing his code
A fragment
A herald
An imitation with too much power
Its eyes locked on them
Let's test your resolve