BOOM.
The sarcophagus explodes.
Fire engulfs the chamber as metal screams and data panels erupt like dying stars. But through the smoke—he survives.
The clone.
The Firstborn.
Unmarked. Unfeeling. The perfected version of Su Chen.
Not broken by betrayal.
Not burdened by pain.
Just cold, clean death in a human shape.
He steps from the wreckage barefoot, eyes glowing gold, like a god waking up after centuries of sleep.
Yun Xi raises her gun.
It's shaking.
Because her instincts are screaming louder than ever before:
This is the real threat. Not Elion. Not the High Lords. Not even the Executors.
Him.
The clone looks at Su Chen. Tilts his head, almost curious.
"You degraded," he says. Voice calm. Too calm.
"I evolved," Su Chen answers.
"No. You fell."
The clone glides forward.
"Emotion, grief, rebellion... all that made you inefficient. I am the clean version. The final version."
"And I'm the mistake?" Su Chen scoffs.
"You are the rust."
Meanwhile – Outer Tower Walls
The final two Executors arrive.
Their kill sphere hovers beside them, humming with untamed power. One of them touches the wall, feeding the virus in.
[Command Input: Corrupt all data clusters in the Core. Erase Astra. Erase Su Chen. Erase Origin.]
"Let's end the failed experiment," one hisses.
Inner Sanctum – Now
The clone lunges.
No windup. No flash. Just pure instant movement.
Su Chen barely dodges. His shirt tears open as a shockwave splits the floor behind him.
Yun Xi opens fire—every bullet aimed with assassin precision.
The clone catches them mid-air.
Twists his fingers.
The bullets flatten into dust.
"I don't hate you," the clone says to Su Chen. "But I must delete you."
Su Chen breathes hard.
He knows he can't beat this thing in a straight fight.
So he doesn't try.
He dives toward a nearby control panel, slamming in override commands, desperately trying to trigger the tower's self-destruct.
Yun Xi covers him, eyes wild.
"Faster, Chen!"
"I'm trying—!"
[Warning: Core System Under Viral Attack][Kill Sphere Contamination 37%… 52%… 70%…]
The clone appears behind Su Chen.
Too fast.
Too perfect.
His palm reaches for Su Chen's skull.
But then—
A blade sings.
Yun Xi slices across the clone's arm with a high-density energy knife.
It actually wounds him.
He stares at her, expression unreadable.
"You were meant to be my queen."
"I'd rather be a corpse," she hisses.
He shoves her aside—but not before she pulls a core injector from her belt and slams it into his neck.
[Injector Released: Parasite Code – VIOLET SHARD]
The clone jerks.
His systems hiccup.
And for the first time—he hesitates.
Su Chen grabs a data spike.
Slams it into the control port.
[Override Accepted. Detonation Countdown Initiated: 120 seconds.]
Lights flash red.
Screams echo from the walls—not human ones. The tower itself is dying.
The clone growls. "You would rather burn than be perfect?"
Su Chen rises.
Covered in blood. Breathing ragged. But smiling like the devil himself.
"I'd rather burn it all than be anything like you."
Command Deck – High Lords' Watch Room
Elion watches as the tower begins to collapse. Sparks fly. Systems fail. Fires burst from the walls.
He turns to escape—
But a figure stands at the exit.
Astra-02. One of the failed prototypes. Discarded. Left to rot.
She's smiling.
Holding a bomb core made of Elion's stolen secrets.
"Elion," she says sweetly. "You forgot one of us."
He screams.
Back in the Sanctum
The clone charges again, flickering between dimensions as if reality can't contain him.
But Yun Xi throws herself between them.
Again.
And again.
Until finally—
Su Chen leaps behind the clone, grabs the power conduit running through the sanctum, and rams it directly into the clone's spine.
[Voltage Spike: 4000+]
[System Rejection: Critical]
The clone convulses.
Sparks explode from his chest.
And Su Chen grabs him by the collar.
"Perfection is just failure with a god complex."
Then throws him into the collapsing core.
The light swallows him whole.
00:05… 00:04… 00:03…
Su Chen grabs Yun Xi.
They run.
Walls fall.
Heat roars.
And then—
WHITE.
Sometime Later – Unknown Location
He wakes to the sound of rain.
Cool. Soft. Real.
Yun Xi is beside him.
Her head resting on his chest. Breathing.
Alive.
He looks up.
The High Tower is gone.
Just ash where it once ruled the sky.
She stirs.
"You did it," she whispers.
He doesn't answer at first.
Then—
"No. We did."
She smiles.
And somewhere in the distance, as the new sun rises, the world begins again.
Without chains.
Without gods.
Just the boy they tried to break.
And the girl who remembered him.
End of Chapter 68