Vaxirus raised a hand, and the chamber responded. Kael's neural code glowed within his body, visible through his skin like a glowing circuit. The Architect's words boomed:
"Your soulstring is unstable. You are an error with awareness. You must be extracted."
Kael drew his shardblade—but it flickered. Here, in this chamber of design, reality bent to Vaxirus's will.
Echo's voice filled his mind. "I found it. A loophole. You can't overpower him, but you can overwrite your link to the Nexus."
Kael focused inward. He found it—the thread that tied him to the system. His Shard. His soul.
He rewrote it.
[Override Accepted]
[Soulstring Rewrite in Progress…]
[Designation: SHARDWALKER]
Kael's body surged with a new kind of power. Not gifted, but chosen. His soul burned gold and black, pulsing in sync with the system's beat.
He slashed Vaxirus across the chest.
The Architect didn't bleed.
But it shuddered.
"You've changed the script," Vaxirus said.
"No," Kael said. "I'm writing a new one."
The tower exploded into pixels behind him.