Chapter 152: The Orbital Soul-Transfer
The roar of the rocket's cooling fans was deafening, a mechanical scream that filled the silver dome. Aki's hands were shaking as he bypassed the final security layer of the Core-Tech mainframe.
"Leo! The rocket isn't just a carrier!" Aki yelled over the noise. "I've looked at the schematics. It's a 'Bio-Digital Bridge'. If this thing launches while we're in the room, it will rip our consciousness out and leave our bodies like empty shells on the floor!"
"I know, Aki!" Leo's voice was breaking up as the electromagnetic field intensified. "But it's the only way. The Afterlife server on the moon is isolated. You can't hack it from Earth. You have to be 'Inside' the signal to delete it."
Von looked at his hands, which were beginning to turn translucent, flickering between flesh and violet pixels. "Then we go. We didn't fight for our freedom just to let a ghost on the moon take it back."
The Three-Minute War
The ceiling of the dome began to slide open, revealing the dark desert sky. Hundreds of security drones, shaped like silver wasps, dived from the rafters.
Sai stood at the base of the rocket's platform, his heavy gauntlets glowing with a defiant blue light. "Rena! Stay behind me!"
Rena didn't just hide. She closed her eyes and focused on the 'Life-Signatures' of the group. Even without her magical staff, she could 'Edit' the pain receptors in their bodies. "Sai, I'm linking your nervous system to mine. I'll take the fatigue, you take the hits!"
Sai let out a roar as he punched a drone out of the air, his fist creating a shockwave that shattered the glass sensors of five others. Von was a blur of violet static, moving so fast that he looked like a glitch in reality, his hand-strikes disabling the drones' internal processors before they could fire.
The Choice: Flesh or Data?
[T-MINUS 60 SECONDS TO IGNITION.]
"Aki! Is it ready?" Von shouted, kicking a drone into the rocket's exhaust port.
"I've done it!" Aki screamed, his eyes now completely gold. "I've turned the 'Recovery Protocol' into a 'Transit Protocol'. Instead of them pulling us, we are 'Riding' the signal. But once we enter the moon's network, there's no guarantee we can ever come back to these bodies."
Von looked at Rena, then at Sai. They all knew the risk. They had spent five years learning what it meant to be human—to feel the sun, to eat real food, to grow old. To go back into the code was to risk losing it all again.
"If we don't go," Rena said softly, her voice steady despite the chaos. "No one is safe. The system will keep trying until it succeeds."
"We go together," Sai said, slamming his gauntlets together.
Ignition
[5... 4... 3...]
Aki hit the final 'Enter' key. A pillar of white fire erupted from the base of the rocket. But it wasn't just heat; it was a column of pure information. The group didn't feel the fire. They felt a sudden, violent pull at the base of their skulls.
In an instant, the desert, the dome, and their physical bodies vanished.
They were no longer in Oakhaven. They were floating in a void of cold, lunar-silver code. Above them, a massive, jagged structure made of black data-crystals loomed—the Afterlife Server.
Von reached for his hip, and this time, the Twilight Reaper was there, solid and screaming with violet power.
"Welcome to the Moon, everyone," Aki said, his voice echoing in the digital vacuum. He was wearing his old thief's gear, his golden scars glowing brighter than ever. "Let's find Marcus and tell him his rent is overdue.