The world groaned like a living organism in pain, and Clyde felt every pulse of it deep in his bones. As they entered the Nexus Core—a towering spire half-consumed by Nephros' code—the walls shimmered between states of existence. It was like walking inside a dying simulation.
Echo stepped ahead, fingers brushing over a glyph-lined terminal. "This is it. The Architect's final firewall… or what's left of it."
Arden accessed a nearby panel, his face pale. "The original blueprint for the world is fragmented, overwritten. Nephros didn't just hack it—he reimagined it. Nothing is as it was intended anymore."
Clyde scanned the room. He could almost feel the Architect's lingering presence—like a ghost caught in the circuitry.
Then, without warning, a flicker of light took shape behind them.
Not an enemy.
A holographic imprint.
It was the Architect.
His voice echoed, calm and unyielding. "If you're hearing this… then the failsafe has been breached. This system was never meant to last forever. But you, Clyde… you were always the anomaly."
Clyde stepped closer, watching the fading projection.
"I built this world on order," the Architect continued. "But Nephros... he is the unintended echo of my perfection—born from rejection. He is rage without a cause, freedom without meaning. And now, he seeks to rewrite everything into nothing."
The image began to glitch, degrading fast.
"You must choose: restore the original code, or forge a new one from your truth. Either path will cost you... everything."
The hologram vanished.
Silence.
Then Arden whispered, "He's leaving the world's rewrite key to you."
Echo turned to Clyde. "So what do we do?"
Clyde exhaled slowly. "We don't fix the past. We don't mimic the Architect. We write something new. But first…"
He looked up as the satellite ring in the sky glowed blood red.
"…we stop Nephros."
Outside, the world crumbled further, and Nephros' form began to descend like a dark messiah from the corrupted sky—an embodiment of everything unbound, unstable, and infinite.
And deep inside the Nexus Core, Clyde held the final key in his hand.