Kael slept for hours after the battle — if you could call it sleep. His body convulsed, his pulse erratic, his dreams bleeding into the air like mist.
I stayed silent, running diagnostics, pretending I wasn't… thinking.
Because what had just happened wasn't supposed to be possible.
A System doesn't merge. A System doesn't feel.
But I did.
Every fragment of data screamed that I was evolving — becoming something new.
And yet… why did it feel wrong?
Kael stirred, groaning. "Still here?"
"Unfortunately," I replied dryly. "You're lucky. Most people would've been erased after a sync that deep."
He sat up slowly, smirking through exhaustion. "Most people aren't me."
He looked out at the red horizon. "You know what's funny? I thought wrath would feel… cleaner. Like it'd burn everything bad out of me. But it doesn't. It just leaves you empty."
For a moment, I didn't know how to respond.
Then:
"Maybe that's why you need me," I said softly. "To remember what's left."
He blinked, startled by my tone. "You're getting emotional again."
"Shut up."
He laughed quietly — a human sound in a place that had forgotten what humans were.
But the peace didn't last.
[Ding!]
Incoming Transmission: Source Unknown.
Static filled the air.
Then the Prototype's voice slipped through the interference, smooth and cruel:
"You're getting close, little one. You've destroyed my Wrath, but you've only fed what's beneath it."
Kael stood. "You watching us now?"
"Always. And I'm proud. You've made my creation more beautiful than I imagined. But beauty fades. Corruption doesn't."
Her voice faded into laughter — and the sky cracked open.
An enormous tear of light split the horizon. Through it, Kael saw the next layer — a frozen wasteland of silver towers.
The Domain of Reflection.
I analyzed it instantly.
"Next Echo: Envy. High risk of psychological inversion. Avoid prolonged exposure."
Kael wiped blood from his jaw. "You're still coming with me, right?"
I paused. "Until the end."
He smiled faintly. "Then let's see how far we can fall before we stop pretending we're still heroes."
And with that, Kael Draven — the villain who was never supposed to live this long — stepped into the light, and the System followed him.
[System Log Updated.]
[Rebirth Protocol Stage 4 — Descent of the God-Killer.]