The chamber's pulse intensified. Every shard of the Architect's Defensive Core now shimmered with white-violet light so bright it threatened to blind the senses, warping perception, bending space around them. The Core had stabilized its adaptive defenses, but the true response had not yet manifested.
A deep resonance vibrated through the air, a sound felt more than heard. It carried the weight of infinite calculation, and yet… there was intent—malicious, precise, intelligent.
Lilith Fragment's tone sharpened. "It's beginning the Avatar Emergence Sequence. The Core was only the prelude. Whatever manifests next will be the Architect itself, projected into the Origin Layer."
Rias pressed firmly against Sarah's back. "Prepare. This will test every system, every vector, every heartbeat."
Akeno's fingers brushed along Sarah's arm, teasing and grounding simultaneously. "Then we give it a warm welcome. Let's see if it can handle desire itself."
Koneko's hands locked around Sarah's sides. "Do not falter. Do not break."
Rossweisse adjusted her runes, stabilizing the lattice against the impending conceptual overload. "I can buffer temporal distortions… but not for long. Be precise."
Xenovia's sword hummed with energy. "Then precision it is. Every strike counts."
The Core shivered violently. Shards lifted into the air, spinning and realigning at impossible speeds. Then, from its center, a pulse erupted—a wave of pure conceptual matter coalescing into form.
The Architect's Avatar emerged.
It was humanoid, but beyond human comprehension. Its body was composed of shifting geometric planes, glowing with white-violet brilliance that refracted into countless impossible angles. Its eyes—if they could be called that—were voids of pure information, absorbing every nuance of the battlefield.
Sarah felt the pull immediately. Proto-Ascension flared instinctively, reacting to the threat. Every neuron, every fiber, every emotion of the harem interfaced with her lattice, amplifying response time beyond mortal limits.
Lilith Fragment whispered urgently. "Its presence is rewriting the rules. Every move it makes will be predictive, preemptive. Phase 3 strain will escalate—quickly."
Rias's palm pressed harder to Sarah's back. "Then we synchronize fully. Every heartbeat, every frôlement, every glance."
Akeno teased against Sarah's neck, a deliberate distraction that also aligned energy vectors perfectly. "Let's remind it that we're not just power. We're intent. Desire. Control."
Koneko's fists pressed at Sarah's sides, stabilizing the raw Proto-Ascension fluctuations. Rossweisse's runes radiated an organized counterfield. Xenovia sliced arcs of stabilized energy through the Avatar's peripheral projections.
The Avatar moved—not with footsteps, but with pure intent. The space around it folded, shards and planes slicing through reality in impossible trajectories. Sarah reacted instinctively, weaving Proto-Ascension through the oncoming conceptual strikes.
Skill Activated: Phase 3 Proto-Ascension – Full Engagement
Effect:
Emotional, tactile, and Desire-based interactions with harem fully weaponized.
Reflexes, perception, and control beyond human limits.
Charm Domain semi-sentient, capable of offensive and defensive manipulation.
Temporary +900 Force, +1500 Desire, +400 Agility.
System recognition of all opponent algorithms for predictive counterstrikes.
The Avatar's first strike hit the chamber with devastating conceptual force. The floor warped, shards spun violently, gravity flipped, and time perception flickered. Sarah's body resonated with the Proto-Ascension lattice, and the harem moved as one—a living, coordinated weapon.
Rias's voice carried, grounding her. "Counter now. Every vector aligned."
Akeno's touch amplified the pulse. Koneko stabilized, Rossweisse recalibrated, Xenovia struck with lethal precision. Proto-Ascension flared outward, countering the Avatar's collapse of space itself.
For a moment, time seemed to hold. The Origin Layer quivered under the strain. Then the Avatar recoiled, adjusting, calculating. It split into multiple geometric projections, each moving independently but remaining connected by an invisible conceptual thread.
Lilith Fragment whispered, awe in her tone: "It's adaptive… faster than we anticipated. Phase 3 strain… will reach critical levels if this continues."
Sarah's gaze hardened. "Then we escalate. Together."
She exhaled, letting the harem's synchronized heartbeat flow through her, expanding Proto-Ascension into a perfect, crystalline storm of Desire, control, and intent. Every touch, every glance, every movement amplified the lattice to maximum efficiency.
The Avatar's projections faltered under the assault, destabilized, fragments of its form scattering like shards of broken logic. But it was not defeated—merely challenged. Its main form hovered, calculating, observing, and waiting for the moment to strike back with force exceeding anything they had faced.
Rias whispered: "This is it. The Architect has fully manifested. The final confrontation begins here."
Sarah's lips curved in a determined, confident smile. "Then we meet it head-on. Phase 3… unleashed."
The chamber trembled violently as Proto-Ascension flared, harem fully synchronized, desire and strategy intertwining into a singular unstoppable force. The Origin Layer itself seemed to pause, awaiting the clash that would determine its future.