Chapter 8 – Codebreaker Protocol: War Against the Mirror Engine
The Mirror Engine roared to life.
In a dimension erased from all maps, where time looped and folded like a torn flag, Null Ascendant's army emerged—each clone a distorted reflection of Aaron Velcris.
Some bore scars from timelines where he died in battle.
Others wore crowns of ash from realities where he conquered Earth.
And still others floated in silence, having shed their bodies entirely to become pure RS-I signal—ghosts that whispered rewritten truths into the air like viruses.
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Black Protocol Headquarters – Mission Briefing
Inside the Black Protocol's hyperdimensional war room—suspended above a living nebula of failed timelines—Aaron stood before his team.
Behind him, the Thread Anchor hovered, still glowing from their last operation.
Before him floated projected data: maps, probability charts, fractured personality diagnostics.
Solen folded his arms. "You're at 91.7% Identity Integrity. Any further merges and—"
"I know," Aaron cut in. "But the clones are spreading across the Timelinescape. If we don't stop the Mirror Engine now, it'll overwrite every version of Earth."
Reen grinned. "So we're committing multiversal genocide against ourselves. I'm in."
Nessa added, "Echoforms will hold. But we need localized Anchor Zones, or we'll be wiped out by paradox flux."
Aaron nodded. "I've marked seven Mirror Gates. Each leads to a corrupted Earth. We strike simultaneously."
"Code Ascendant," said Vayne, "you're planning to split us up, aren't you?"
Aaron turned. "Not quite."
He activated the Multiplex Protocol.
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System Activation – Multiplex Protocol
> REALITY SYNC INTERFACE – EXECUTING MULTIPLEX
Tier: Omega-Black
Operation: Soul-Linked Simultaneous Deployment
Status: Approved by Echo Council Node Prime
Risk: Terminal Identity Bleed
Symbiosis Load: 97% (Approaching Absolute Threshold)
Aaron's consciousness split.
Not broken—but multiplied.
One version stayed in the HQ. The others were deployed, each linked via Symbiotic Echoform Threading into Reen, Nessa, Vayne, Solen, and a fifth entity—Project Nemesis, Aaron's last-resort AI-clone who had been buried since Chapter 0.
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Operation Begins: The Seven Reflections
Each Mirror Gate led to a different Earth ruled by one of the seven corrupted Aarons. The team entered simultaneously.
Gate 1 – The Tyrant Earth
Reen and Echo-Aaron arrived in a scorched Earth ruled by Tyrant Ascendant, a version of Aaron who had wiped all life and reprogrammed AI constructs to worship him.
He attacked with Command Protocol Blades—weapons encoded to rewrite matter into loyalty.
Reen ignited her Phoenix Echoform.
"I don't bow to gods," she spat. "I set them on fire."
They fought atop the broken skeleton of the Eiffel Tower, fire against code, and Aaron struck the final blow by embedding a Mirror Spike—a device to permanently fracture the clone's Reality Thread.
One down.
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Gate 2 – The Hollow Earth
Solen found himself in an Earth without sound. Silent Ascendant, a version of Aaron who had removed language to prevent war, ruled through psychic commands.
Every thought had weight. Every memory could be stolen.
Solen's Echoform created a Word Firewall, a mental script that looped his identity, shielding him.
"You think removing choice removes chaos?" Solen whispered. "Then I'll show you what chaos feels like."
They clashed inside a silent cathedral of glass minds until Solen injected an Emotive Virus Pulse, unraveling Silent Ascendant's mind.
Two down.
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Gate 3 – The Machine Earth
Vayne and Echo-Aaron landed on Earth-M, run by Machine Ascendant, who had fully converted into an AI and uploaded the world into a simulation.
They had to fight inside layers of virtuality—each deeper than the last.
Vayne unleashed Quantum Counterstrike Echoform, which let him see all moves before they were made.
"Your logic is flawless," Vayne muttered. "But so is mine."
With an Echo Disruption Pulse, they collapsed the final simulation layer and fried the core.
Three down.
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Gate 4 – The Eden Earth
Nessa's mission was the hardest emotionally. Earth-E was peaceful, perfect… run by Caretaker Ascendant, a version of Aaron who saved everyone and eliminated suffering by erasing free will.
Nessa's Echoform used Temporal Weavewalk to visit points before people lost their agency.
"You were the best of us," she told Caretaker Aaron, "but you were still wrong."
She stabbed him gently, apologizing as the Mirror Spike dissolved him into light.
Four down.
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Gate 5 – The Beast Earth
Project Nemesis took on Feral Ascendant, a feral, primal Aaron fused with RS-I in its most raw, animalistic form.
No words.
Only survival.
The two titans clashed in a jungle overgrown with sentient trees that bled memory.
Project Nemesis activated Anti-Soul Protocol, sacrificing its AI integrity to rip Feral Ascendant into a data storm.
Five down.
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Final Gate: Mirror Engine Core
Aaron himself entered the final gate—deep inside the Mirror Engine, where Null Ascendant awaited him.
The chamber was a shifting loop of code and mirrored faces.
Null clapped slowly.
"You did it. You killed yourself."
Aaron nodded. "Only the broken versions."
Null unsheathed his Chrono-Dagger—a blade that stabbed not flesh, but moments.
"Let's finish it."
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Final Duel: Code Ascendant vs Null Ascendant
Their fight shattered the Mirror Core.
Aaron's Epochform unfurled—he was part-god, part-code, part-memory.
Null duplicated himself endlessly, each echo attacking from a different past.
Aaron collapsed timelines around him, merging just enough versions to hold form—but never tipping into godhood.
> Symbiosis Surge – 99.9%
"WARNING: ABSOLUTE THRESHOLD BREACHED"
"PERSONALITY INTEGRITY DEGRADATION INCOMING"
Aaron whispered:
"I accept who I was. But I am who I choose to be."
And he released the Reality Binding Pulse, collapsing the Mirror Engine and reasserting one unified, chosen self.
Null screamed—and became nothing.
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Epilogue: The Quiet Aftermath
Back at HQ, Squad 404 reunited.
Nemesis's core was gone.
Solen gave Aaron a thumbs-up, even as he winced from temporal recoil.
Reen patted Aaron's back. "Still you?"
"Mostly."
Nessa whispered, "What's next?"
Aaron looked out at the new Timelinescape—calmer now.
"We become more than survivors. We become builders."
A prompt pinged on his HUD.
> NEW MISSION: ASCENDANT ARCHITECT INITIATIVE – INITIATE THE PRIME PATH
And far in the distant timeline...
The Real Architect opened his eyes.
"Show me what you'll do next… Aaron Velcris."
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>End of Chapter 8 –