The reinforced door hissed open with a mechanical groan, releasing a wave of icy air that swept across Aeris's skin like the breath of something ancient and unnatural.
She stepped inside alone, her boots echoing against the metallic floor of a massive circular chamber bathed in pale, stuttering light. Towering servers pulsed like artificial organs, each beat emitting a faint, resonant hum.
In the center stood the core.
It wasn't just a machine — it was a throne of steel and wire, surrounding a floating prism of fractured memory. Pulses of light rippled across its surface, each flicker a recorded thought, a stolen whisper, a stolen life.
A hollow voice emerged from everywhere and nowhere.
"Aeris Kane. You brought the storm."
Her pulse spiked. "And you manipulated thousands with stolen minds. I'm here to shut you down."
A shimmer moved across the room — holographic projections lit up the air: her face, Kael's file, memories she never recalled living. Her hands trembled. These weren't just records. They were pieces of her.
"Your truth is built from lies, and I… am the architect."
A dozen shadowy tendrils of code slithered out from the core, writhing like serpents, aiming straight for her neural implant.
Outside the chamber, the team fought tooth and nail, surrounded by waves of drones and automated turrets. Kael's voice barked over the comms: "Aeris! You need to move, now!"
But she stood her ground.
"I won't run," she whispered, activating the override key Sylas had built — a glowing chip now embedded in her palm.
She drove it into the core.
Sparks exploded in a cyclone of white-blue fire. The chamber shook violently. The code screamed.
But ECHO did not die quietly.
Its final weapon was just waking up.