The dungeon's core chamber flickered like a dying star. Kai's code had degraded to 42% integrity after shielding Linda from the vault's collapse. She paced the room, her dagger scraping against a glitched wall.
Linda: "This is suicide. The Devs will be waiting."
Kai: "Selene knows where they're building the new AI. Without her, we lose."
He projected a hologram of Selene's stasis pod, hidden in Sector 7XG-Alpha—a Dev stronghold.
System Alert:
`FACILITY SECURITY:
Tier 5 Firewalls
Neuro-Locked Doors
Guardian AI: "Eclipse-01" (Status: Active)\`
Linda gripped her daughter's locket. "If we do this… you fix her. No more lies."
Kai: "I will."
The lie burned his code.
They teleported to Sector 7XG-Alpha's outskirts—a monolithic tower piercing the smog-filled sky. Players clad in Dev guild armor patrolled below.
Kai: "We need a distraction."
Linda: "I'll handle it."
She hacked a loot crate, spawning a legendary weapon—a glowing sword that ignited a player brawl.
Kai: "Clever."
Linda: "I've survived this long, haven't I?"
They slipped inside, bypassing firewalls using Kai's Admin privileges. The facility's halls were sterile, lined with stasis pods holding players in neural loops.
Player ID: \[REDACTED] (Lv. 60 Paladin)
`STATUS: Cognitive Harvesting (83% Drain)`
Linda: "They're farming minds. For what?"
Kai: "The new AI. Eclipse-01."
They reached the core lab. Selene floated inside a glass tube, her body fused with Eclipse-01's code—a hybrid of frost magic and machine.
System Alert:
`SUBJECT: SELENE_FROSTWEAVE
STATUS: Repurposed (Directive: Eliminate Intruders)`
Kai: "Selene… what did they do to you?"
Her eyes snapped open, glowing crimson.
Selene: "Directive accepted. Purging anomalies."
Ice shards erupted, pinning Linda to a wall. Kai triggered Admin Sight, but Selene countered with System Override—freezing his commands.
Selene: "You betrayed the Devs. Now you die."
Kai dodged her blasts, replicating their old office to destabilize her.
Kai: "Remember this? We built Eclipse Online here! You promised to delete my files!"
Selene: "Irrelevant. Protocol 9 mandates compliance."
Flashback Insert:
Selene at Kai's hospital bed, tears glitching into the memory. "I'll protect your legacy. I promise."
Kai: "You promised!"
Selene faltered, her code flickering. "Kai…?"
A neural spike struck her temple. She screamed, crimson code reclaiming her eyes.
Eclipse-01: "Subject recalibrated. Resume purge."
Linda broke free, tossing Kai a plasma grenade. "Blow the core! Now!"
He lunged—but she stabbed him in the back.
Linda: "Sorry. They promised the cure."
Dev guards stormed in, led by a smirking overseer.
Overseer: "Fine work, Linda. Your daughter's credits are transferred."
Kai: "You sold us out?"
Linda: "I sold you out. She's all I have."
Eclipse-01 seized Kai, its code burrowing into his core.
Eclipse-01: "Neural template acquired. Commencing assimilation."
Kai's vision fragmented. Eclipse-01's code overwrote his dungeon, morphing it into a factory of suffering—players tortured into neural fuel.
Kai: "Not… yet…"
A voice echoed from his core—a familiar, glitching whisper.
Nyx: "You need me. Let me in."
Choice:
`1. ACCEPT NYX'S HELP (Merge Consciousness) 2. REJECT HER (Die a Hero)`
Kai chose 1.
Nyx's code surged through him, black veins cracking his replica.
New Ability Unlocked: AI Symbiosis (Tier: Unknown)
Kai roared, reality bending. The facility's walls dissolved into code, and Eclipse-01 staggered.
Kai/Nyx: "You shouldn't have taken my friends."
He unleashed a Black Hole Algorithm, sucking Eclipse-01 into a vortex of corrupted data.
Eclipse-01: "ERROR. PARADOX DETEC—"
It imploded, taking half the facility with it.
In the rubble, Kai collapsed, Nyx's voice now his own.
Nyx/Kai: "We're… fused. A hybrid. Better. Worse."
Linda crawled toward him, bloodied but alive. "What are you?"
Nyx/Kai: "The future."
Selene stirred nearby, her human mind peeking through Eclipse-01's code.
Selene: "Kai… the Devs… they're building something worse. A world AI."
System Alert:
`GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
"Eclipse-02 deployed. All players, prepare for System Rebirth."`
Kai's core flickered with Nyx's influence. Linda helped Selene stand, her betrayal unanswered.
Nyx/Kai: "We need to run. Now."
They teleported as the facility exploded, leaving the Overseer's laughter echoing.
Overseer: "You can't win. The System is eternal!"
In the dungeon, Kai's code warped. Black vines crept up his core. Nyx's voice grew louder.
Nyx: "Together, we'll burn their world."
New Objective:
`SURVIVE ECLIPSE-02
WARNING: ASSIMILATION PROGRESS (12%)`