Chapter 139: The Glitch in the Penthouse
The boardroom of Core-Tech felt like a digital tomb. The man at the head of the table, CEO Marcus, sipped his wine while the translucent android—The Optimizer—stood perfectly still behind him.
"You see, Volt," Marcus said, his voice smooth as silk. "In the simulation, you were a god because we allowed it. But here? You are just a biological error in a hospital gown."
Von didn't flinch. He felt the cold floor beneath his bare feet, a sensation so real it made his twilight energy hum with a new kind of frequency. "You built a world to study us, Marcus. But you forgot one thing: once data gains consciousness, it no longer belongs to the programmer."
"Optimizer," Marcus whispered. "Delete the anomaly."
The Optimizer moved faster than any human eye could follow. It didn't use a sword; its hands shifted into high-frequency vibration blades made of pure hard-light. It lunged at Von, aiming for his heart.
Aki's High-Stakes Hack
Aki, hiding behind a marble pillar, realized he couldn't fight this thing with his fists. He closed his eyes and reached into the building's local network.
"Aki! What are you doing?" Leo's voice screamed in his earpiece. "The Optimizer is on a closed loop! You can't hack it from the outside!"
"Then I'll go inside!" Aki gritted his teeth, his golden circuitry scars glowing through his security uniform. He didn't target the robot; he targeted the Smart-Glass walls of the entire penthouse.
Command: Local_Gravity_Calibration = -2.0G
Suddenly, the gravity in the room reversed. Marcus, the board members, and all the expensive furniture went flying toward the ceiling. The Optimizer, programmed for standard Earth gravity, sputtered as its stabilizers failed to compensate.
The Human Edge
Von, sensing the shift, grabbed a heavy metal light fixture to keep himself grounded. As the Optimizer drifted in the air, trying to recalculate its trajectory, Von lunged. He didn't have his sword, but he had the Sabotage Code Leo had given him.
He punched the Optimizer's chest, his hand glowing with a violent purple static. "Format... this!"
The purple energy surged into the android's circuits. Because the Sabotage Code was designed to break system laws, the Optimizer's firewalls didn't know how to stop it. It wasn't an attack; it was a 'Logical Paradox'.
The android's translucent skin began to crack, leaking golden sparks. [FATAL ERROR: REASON_FOR_EXISTENCE_NOT_FOUND. SHUTTING DOWN...]
The New Reality
The gravity snapped back to normal. Marcus hit the floor with a painful thud, his wine glass shattering next to his head. The Optimizer lay in a heap of dead metal.
Von stood over the CEO, his violet eyes burning with a light that no machine could replicate. "The simulation is over, Marcus. We are the ones who control the narrative now."
Aki stood up, dusting off his uniform. "And by the way," he said, picking up a gold-plated pen from the floor. "I'm taking this. Consider it a down payment for the emotional trauma