The decision wasn't made in emotion.
It came from a simple conclusion:
> Knowledge gaps create instability.
Instability breeds conflict.
Conflict wastes time.
Zack did not plan war.
He planned efficiency.
Inside Outpost Helios, the upgraded wizards all 216 of them stood in perfect formation.
No prisoners or fractured wild practitioners.
They were:
enhanced
disciplined
neurologically linked
and calibrated for subtle influence
Their bodies were stronger, healthier, restored from damage and age.
Minds were sharper logic reinforced, emotion monitored, memory clean.
But they were still human.
Individual personalities remained intact.
That was the point.
Uniform tools break.
Humans adapt.
Zack stood before them not as ruler nor commander, but as the system they flowed through.
> "Phase Two begins."
A soft hum rippled through their neural implants not control.
Synchronization.
Holographic displays appeared before each of them personalized mission dossiers:
Ministries
Criminal networks
Academic institutions
Black markets
Ancient orders
Forgotten temples
Magical archives
Remote bloodline enclaves
Some missions were political.
Others archaeological.
A few surgical.
Not violent.
Surgical.
Each wizard lifted their file absorbing it via neural relay.
No questions, hesitation.
Notobedience alignment.
Zack continued:
> "You are researchers embedded in a living experiment."
He paused scanning expressions, emotional telemetry, cognitive drift.
All stable.
> "Your task is simple:
Observe.
Learn.
Integrate."
A second pulse activated stealth protocols: aura suppression, magical masking, identity obfuscation, adaptive appearance modulation.
Anyone looking directly at them would notice nothing unusual.
Anyone suspicious would see what they expected.
Anyone searching would find nothing.
Zack raised a hand.
> "Deploy."
There was no flash.
No portal flare.
sound.
One by one the wizards slipped out of existence, dispersing across the globe like meticulously placed seeds.
THE AFTERMATH
Once the last vanished, Zack remained alone in the chamber.
But not truly alone.
Their neural data streams flowed through him like threads:
memories
observations
environmental data
reactions
collected knowledge
social infiltration progress
Already, one report pinged:
> SUBJECT 12 Embedded in Magical Congress of the United States.
Status: Accepted.
Suspicion: None.
A second:
> SUBJECT 44 Gained entry into Egyptian Old Blood Archive.
Accessing ritual vaults.
A third:
> SUBJECT 3 Tracking remnants of Grindelwald cells.
Hidden resources located.
Inside Laboratory Cluster Six, the fragment of the Philosopher's Stone rested in a crystalline suspension field.
No pulsing.
whisper.
Mystery.
Just a silent, unmoving artifact that had quietly kept two people alive for centuries.
Zack analyzed it with the same neutrality he applied to physics or anatomy.
The readings were clear:
Soul tether detected
Biological degradation suppression active
Metabolic decay halted
Cellular aging algorithm disrupted
Spiritual anchoring constant and stable
The Stone wasn't sentimental magic.
It wasn't a philosopher or a consciousness.
If souls were software, the Stone was a permanent power source and firewall in one.
Zack adjusted the model.
Projected timeline for viable clone–soul stabilizing interface:
> Original projection: 114 years, 7 months.
Revised projection with Stone resonance: ~19–26 years.
That was acceptable.
Not fast.
But progress.
He recorded the result:
> "Philosopher's Stone function confirmed:
Soul–body tethering and indefinite biological maintenance."
No emotion.
Just fact.
The stone offered no response.
No hidden intelligence.
It simply existed, performing its function a perfect, silent machine built centuries before science understood what it meant.
Zack placed a containment seal over the field and reactivated the automated analysis grid. Nanites resumed mapping the artifact, layer by layer, atom by atom.
Not because it was magical.
But because it was repeatable.
Replicable.
Eventually… improvable.
LOG ENTRY
> PHILOSOPHER'S STONE CLASSIFICATION:
Artifact Function-based, non-sentient.
Primary purpose: Soul retention and biological continuity.
Research trajectory: Active.
Final Line (clean and grounded):
Zack fell
Closer to understanding life. to understanding death.
And closer to designing something better than both.