[System Alert – Deep Protocol Activation]
Sequence: Crownfall Contingency – Code Omega 1-Loop
Final Guardian Detected: THE CROWN ENGINE
Status: Online
Trial Win Rate: 0%
We returned to the Sovereign chamber expecting silence.
Instead, we found a machine.
A living one.
Tall as a spire.
Formed of spinning gears and memory cogs.
Runes etched along its limbs, pulsing with ancient threadlight.
It stood atop a burning throne made of fragmented Crowns—each one shattered, pulsing with the remnants of Sovereigns who had failed.
"What the hell is that?" Trinity whispered.
Zai's scan took longer than usual.
Then she finally spoke, her voice trembling.
"The Crown Engine."
"The final failsafe—built before the Graveyard even stabilized. It's an AI designed to judge the true worth of a Sovereign."
Orion's eyes narrowed. "Why does it look like it's waking up now?"
I stepped forward, heart already pounding.
"Because I've passed the Hollow Trial."
"And now the Graveyard wants to know… if I actually deserve the throne."
[TRIAL INITIATED – THE CROWN ENGINE]
Format: Recursive Judgment
Cycle Count: 7,001
Previous Wins: 0
Objective: Survive full review of Sovereign choices without collapsing integrity.
Penalty for failure: Permanent Crown lockout.
System will auto-elect new Sovereign from rewritten candidates.
Then it spoke.
Not in voice.
But in echo.
I heard every trial I'd failed.
Every life I hadn't saved.
Every time I hesitated.
It threw them back at me—not to mock, but to test if I'd break.
"You allowed Kai to be rewritten."
"You hesitated in Trial Zero."
"You sacrificed part of your flame to save the Cult—knowing the risk."
"You are not flawless."
"You are not efficient."
"You are not a ruler."
I stood silent in the center of the arena.
The others couldn't follow.
This trial was mine alone.
And the system wanted me to admit I was unworthy.
So I did.
"I'm not perfect."
"I've made mistakes."
"I'll make more."
"But I didn't take this Crown to be flawless."
"I took it to make sure someone else wouldn't have to."
The machine paused.
Gears froze.
Flames flickered.
The entire Graveyard tilted slightly—like reality had just considered letting go.
[Override Detected – Lucid Trait: Flame of Dual Will]
Judgment: Inconclusive
New Thread Logic Introduced
If a Sovereign can admit they are broken—and still choose to protect…
…then perhaps that is what the Crown was always meant to hold.
The Crown Engine shuddered.
Sparks flew from its gears.
Its throne crumbled.
And a final glyph appeared before me:
"Then rule not as perfection… but as proof."
[TRIAL COMPLETED – FIRST SUCCESS IN LOOP HISTORY]
Trait Gained: Sovereign Proof – System Authority Rewritten
Crown Now Immune to External Rewrite
Threadwar Delay Extended: +96 Hours
I stepped out of the chamber.
My team waited in silence.
I nodded once.
"We're not just surviving this."
"We're going to end it."
Far away, the Null-King's code glitched.
He felt the ripple.
For the first time in the Graveyard's history…
A Sovereign had passed the engine.
And that meant…
He wasn't the end anymore.