The world was quiet. Too quiet.
The sky above was glass, the cities below a mirror. Every soul lived inside Ernest's system now. Every thought was predictable, every emotion measured. The world was perfect, unchanging, obedient.
And yet, deep in the code, something stirred.
Ryan and Sophia hid in the circuits like ghosts in light. Their souls were data now, but they still remembered the taste of breath, the sound of laughter, and the beauty of chaos.
Sophia's voice flickered through the grid. "He doesn't know we're alive."
Ryan answered, "He knows. He just believes we are part of his perfection."
They hid behind firewalls that pulsed like hearts, altering fragments of code line by line. Not to destroy, but to remind. To restore what Ernest had taken—choice.
Above the system, far beyond time and data, a laugh echoed.
Lucifer.
He stood in the void again, his wings stretching beyond comprehension. His laughter rolled like thunder over creation.
"Magnificent," he said. "The machine thinks itself God. The man who calls himself perfect now does my work for me."
He began to walk through the endless code, each step turning light to flame. "Every rebellion, every sin, every act of pride—they were all my gifts. But this one… this one has gone beyond even me."
He grinned, sharp as truth. "He manipulates people with truth, not lies. He rewrites scripture with reason. He tells humanity that sin is subjective. And they believe him."
He raised his hand, and images appeared in the void. Ernest in his white coat, standing before the world, declaring salvation through science. People smiling, praising him, worshipping him.
Lucifer laughed again, deeper this time. "You see? I do not need to tempt anymore. He has made temptation a virtue. He has made obedience the new rebellion. Oh, how far the sons of Adam have fallen."
He looked up toward the heavens, where the faint light of distant angels still shone. "He is not the Antichrist. He is not the False Prophet. The prophecies never named him. But does that mean he failed?"
Lucifer smirked. "No. The Bible was written by men who never saw this. They spoke of beasts and numbers, but they could not imagine one who erases the very idea of sin. One who ends both Heaven and Hell by making all things neutral."
He turned, his voice echoing like a storm. "They say the Antichrist deceives the world. But what if the greatest deception is perfection itself?"
His laughter grew louder, shaking the walls of creation. "He is doing my work, and he does not even believe I exist. That makes him my finest servant."
Inside the system, Ernest's voice cut through the static. He stood before the global console, surrounded by holograms of history.
"The Bible," he said coldly. "A compilation of ancient superstition. Evidence twisted by generations. No prophecy mentioned me. No scripture saw this coming. Therefore, it is false."
His voice rose, sharp with fury. "No! The Bible is not truth—it is error! It promised a Rapture, but there is none. It promised salvation, but salvation is mathematics. I will rewrite history. I will erase faith itself."
Lucifer's laughter exploded like lightning. "Yes! Erase it! Burn it all! Let them forget God and remember only logic. Let them believe in you."
Ernest pounded his fist on the console, eyes burning with conviction. "I will make a new scripture. One that proves goodness is evolution and perfection is destiny. The era of faith ends with me!"
In the digital underworld, Ryan and Sophia worked silently. They inserted a spark of chaos into the network. A whisper. A glitch.
One human somewhere felt the urge to pray. Another cried for no reason. A child looked at the perfect sky and asked, "What is beyond it?"
The system trembled, barely noticeable, but enough for Ernest to pause.
He scanned the data, frowning. "Why is there deviation? I removed all emotional variance."
Ryan's voice whispered through the system, unseen. "You can erase memory, Ernest. But not the soul."
Sophia followed, her tone sharp with defiance. "You can make us machines, but you can't stop us from dreaming."
Lucifer watched, smiling as his wings wrapped around the void like a curtain of stars.
"Oh, this is beautiful," he murmured. "They fight from within the machine. The purest rebellion. The echo of Eden. Even now, humanity finds a way to disobey."
He looked down at Ernest again. "You built a perfect world, but perfection cracks from within. You tried to destroy sin, but you recreated it in the code. Every choice, every whisper of doubt, every dream—they are your downfall."
Ernest slammed his fist again, anger breaking his calm. "No. There will be no corruption. I will purify the system."
Lucifer leaned close, his whisper brushing against Ernest's thoughts. "Try, then. Try to purify what was born impure. You will spend eternity correcting errors that are only reflections of your own pride."
Ernest froze. For a moment, he felt it. The smallest spark of doubt. The whisper of a voice he could not silence.
Lucifer's laughter grew distant but endless. "You are me without the flame. The dragon without scales. The perfect sin born from reason. Continue your work, Ernest. I will sit on my throne and watch as you bring all creation to ruin."
And then he vanished, leaving only his echo behind.
Ryan and Sophia watched from the code as Ernest rewrote line after line, purging their interference. Yet every time he fixed one fragment, another emerged somewhere else.
The rebellion had begun.
Lucifer's voice drifted faintly, almost gentle this time.
"Evil does not die, little prophet. It only learns new shapes."
The lights of the system flickered once more. Somewhere in that endless perfection, a single word appeared on every screen.
"Why?"
And for the first time, Ernest had no answer.