Thorne Tower stood as a monolith of glass and obsidian, piercing the smog-choked sky of the city. To the average citizen, it was a center of finance. To Arthur's Architect Eyes, it was a pulsing antenna of violet energy, every window shimmering with lines of defensive script.
[LOCATION: THORNE TOWER – SYSTEM STRONGHOLD]
[SECURITY LEVEL: S-RANK]
"There are two hundred armed contractors in the lobby," Sarah reported, checking the magazines of her Ghost-tuned pistols. "And the elevator system is biometrically locked to Julian's DNA. We'll have to fight for every floor."
"No, we won't," Arthur said.
He didn't look at the doors. He looked at the air five feet to the left of the entrance. In his vision, he saw a flickering yellow thread—a Latency Leak in the building's spatial coordinates.
"Follow me. And don't step outside the golden line."
[The Ghost Walk]
Arthur stepped into what looked like a solid marble pillar. Sarah and Elena flinched, but as they followed, they felt a sensation of cold water passing over their skin. They weren't in the lobby; they were in the "Interstitial Space"—the gap between the building's rendered reality and its structural code.
They walked past the guards, who stood like frozen statues, unaware that three people were moving through the very air beside them.
"You're using the System's own lag against it," Elena whispered, her eyes wide. "How do you even know this exists?"
"I'm the one who built the prototype," Arthur said, his voice flat. He didn't say will build. In his mind, the past and future were beginning to blur into a single, continuous loop.
[The 50th Floor: The Kill-Zone]
As they reached the 50th floor—the executive level—the golden lines turned blood-red.
[WARNING: TRAP TRIGGERED – 'SYSTEM DEFRAG']
The hallway ahead began to shift. The floor tiles didn't just move; they dissolved into digital teeth. The walls compressed, and a high-pitched hum began to vibrate through their skulls.
"Arthur! The 'Eyes' are failing!" Sarah shouted, her vision blurring as the System tried to scramble Arthur's perception.
Arthur didn't panic. He closed his eyes and used Phantom Grip to grab the "Process ID" of the hallway itself.
[SKILL: REALITY EDIT – COMMAND: 'SUSPEND PROCESS']
The hallway froze. The moving tiles stopped mid-snap. The high-pitched hum died into a low drone.
"Twenty seconds," Arthur gasped, a fresh trickle of blood running from his nose. "Go!"
They sprinted through the frozen nightmare. Just as they reached the heavy oak doors of the Senator's office, the "Suspend" command broke. Behind them, the hallway collapsed into a void of white static.
[The Reconstructed Senator]
The office was massive, overlooking the entire city. Standing by the window was Julian Thorne Senior. He looked twenty years younger. His hair was jet black, his skin unnaturally smooth, and his eyes were glowing with a fierce, stable violet light.
[BOSS ENCOUNTER: JULIAN THORNE (RECONSTRUCTED) – LVL 30]
[TRAIT: SYSTEM-BLESSED (IMMUNE TO PHYSICAL DAMAGE)]
"Arthur," the Senator said, turning around with a chilling smile. "The Architect told me you were coming. He said you were the 'Beta' version of what I've become."
He raised a hand, and the air in the room solidified into hundreds of jagged, violet glass shards.
"I don't care about your upgrades, Julian," Arthur said, his golden eyes locking onto the Senator's chest.
Arthur's Architect Eyes zoomed in, bypassing the Senator's skin and muscle. He saw the Third Fragment. It wasn't just held by the Senator; it had replaced his heart.
WEAKNESS DETECTED: Data Overflow. The vessel cannot handle 100% synchronization.
"Sarah! Elena! Don't attack him!" Arthur commanded. "Attack the windows! Break the building's stabilization!"
[The Reality Delete]
Sarah and Elena didn't hesitate. They unleashed a barrage of fire and explosives at the reinforced glass walls. As the glass shattered, the "Internal Atmosphere" of the System Node began to leak out into the real world.
The Senator screamed as his skin began to flicker. The violet light in his eyes grew unstable. "What have you done?! This node must remain sealed!"
"You're not a person anymore, Julian. You're a file," Arthur said, stepping forward. "And I just found the 'Delete' key."
Arthur reached out. This wasn't a Phantom Grip. This was something new. His hand turned into a void of pure blackness—a hole in the universe.
[NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: REALITY DELETE (RANK: E)]
He touched the Senator's chest.
There was no explosion. No scream. Julian Thorne Senior simply began to vanish, pixel by pixel, starting from where Arthur touched him.
"No! I was promised... eternity!"
"Eternity is for the Architect," Arthur whispered as the Senator's face dissolved. "You were just a temporary file."
[The Third Fragment]
The Senator vanished completely, leaving behind a glowing green shard that hummed with the sound of a forest.
[NOTIFICATION: CORE FRAGMENT 3/7 ACQUIRED]
[ACCESS LEVEL: 4 – 'SYSTEM COMMANDER' REACHED]
Arthur picked up the green fragment. As it merged with the blue and red shards, a massive map of the city projected itself into the air from Arthur's palm.
Four more dots remained. One was in the ocean. One was in the sky. One was deep underground.
But the last one... the seventh fragment... was pulsing right in the center of Arthur's own forehead.
[WARNING: THE SEVENTH FRAGMENT IS STAGED. THE ARCHITECT IS WATCHING THROUGH YOUR EYES.]
Arthur looked into the reflection of a remaining piece of glass. He didn't see a teenager anymore. He saw a king. And behind him, in the reflection, stood the Man in White, holding a crown.