The night sky stretched wide above the ruins of an old fortress in northern Velgrande, where Riku and his team hid after their decisive victory over the city's system.
Even though the city was free, their hearts were not.
From a distance, Noire refined the city's new system, restoring normal access to magic. Kaela sat at the edge of the fortress balcony, gazing at the twin moons. Riku, however, stood in the middle of the room, staring at the fragment of the Kernel he had taken from the city's core.
"This… is only two out of seven," he muttered.
◆◇◆
Meanwhile, the bond between Riku and the two heroines, Kaela and Noire, had begun to take a new shape—not just a battle team, but something far more complicated.
For the first time, Kaela was starting to realize she could trust someone without fearing betrayal.
"I used to be nothing more than a hired blade," she said quietly to Riku by the campfire. "But with you… I feel like someone. Not just a weapon."
Riku looked at her briefly, then lowered his gaze.
"I was a nobody too," he said. "But I chose to be someone who creates a place for those who weren't chosen."
Noire, eavesdropping from behind the door, gave a small smirk.
"Tch… so this is what they call a 'silent crush,' huh?"
---
💡 Interlude: The Harem System and Emotional Rewrite
Later that same night, Noire showed Riku something unexpected hidden deep in the world's system.
She pulled a holographic-like display from the air, though its lines of code were laced with Riku's Rewrite Protocol.
[Emotional Link Detected]
Name: Kaela → Affection Lvl 2 (Devotion & Loyalty)
Name: Noire → Affection Lvl 1 (Admiration & Curiosity)
[Potential Harem Path: Activate Parallel Emotion Route?]
Note: This world allows dual bond routes, but will trigger "Fate Conflict" if left unstable.
Riku stared at her. "You knew about this?"
"Yup. This world has a built-in harem system. But only someone with Rewrite access can create a harem without collapse. Otherwise, one of the heroines will break… literally."
"So if I let these relationships grow… but don't set the system—"
"One of them could die in a failed fate event."
---
That night, Riku rewrote something no one had ever dared to touch: the world's emotional system itself.
He altered the bonding algorithm, erasing the limitation of "choose one, lose the other," and unlocked a path where love would no longer demand destruction or fate's sacrifice.
[Rewrite Success: Emotional Core Unlocked]
[Unique Path: Harem of Broken Fate]
"Love isn't about a system's choice," he said quietly. "It's about a shared will."
---
🛡 The Next Day…
Riku and his team received intel from Noire's informants: one of the remaining Kernel fragments was located in the floating nation of Astradel—a kingdom of sky magic inhabited only by nobles and elite mage clans.
And the only way in was through a mage tournament open exclusively to those with noble magical bloodlines.
Kaela scoffed. "What if we just forge the papers?"
Noire grinned. "What if… we recruit a runaway noble princess who just escaped from there?"
---
🌟 Closing: A New Heroine Appears
By the chapter's end, they encountered a ragged girl with an extraordinary magical aura, chased by Astradel's hunters.
Riku saved her, and when she opened her eyes, they shone with silver-blue light.
"My name is Lyria… former Princess of the Azure Clan. I escaped from a fate system that tried to force us into marriages for power."
And the moment she looked at Riku, the system displayed:
[Potential Emotional Link: Lyria]
[Status: Candidate Heroine #3 – Rejected Fate Route]
[Rewrite Access Required to Save Emotional Core]