Chapter 25: The Sovereign Defragmenter and the Hardware Hijack
The "Sovereign Defragmenter" was not merely a ship; it was a cosmic entity of cold, clinical destruction. Spanning the size of a small star system, its structure was a terrifying lattice of black obsidian and white "Order-Energy" circuits. It did not possess weapons in the traditional sense. Instead, its very existence was a "Format Command" to the universe. As it moved through the interstellar void toward the Independent Sector, the stars in its wake flickered and vanished—not because they were destroyed, but because their "Source Code" was being returned to the primordial heap of unformatted potential.
Inside the "Ghost-Node," Li Ming stood at the prow of a silver data-shard, his platinum aura flickering with a dangerous violet intensity. Behind him stood the one thousand "Void-Guardians"—Kael and his fellow Valorians, now reborn as beings of hardened logic. Their eyes were no longer filled with the dust of the mines, but with the shimmering light of the "New Genesis."
[System Notification: Approaching the Sovereign Defragmenter.]
[Warning: Local Reality-Density at 5%. Deletion-Wave approaching at 0.8c.]
[Alert: Host's 'Ego-Integrity' at risk of fragmentation.]
"Master," Kael said, his voice sounding like a metallic chime, "the Defragmenter's hum... it's trying to unwrite my name. It's telling me I am just a 'Null-Variable'."
"Don't listen to the hum, Kael," Li Ming replied, his grip tightening on The Nullifier. "The hum is just the sound of a machine that has forgotten its purpose. You are the 'Update' that it cannot comprehend. Hold onto your 'Identity-Data'. If you remember who you are, it cannot delete you."
Li Ming raised his staff, and the silver shard accelerated, piercing the event horizon of the Defragmenter's "Deletion-Field." The sensation was like being torn apart by a trillion microscopic needles. The "Void-Skins" of the guardians turned grey as they fought against the "Format-Command."
[Executing: 'Buffer Overflow' Attack.]
[Method: Flooding the Defragmenter's scanners with 'Chaotic Sentience'.]
"Legion! Broadcast your memories!" Li Ming roared.
The thousand Void-Guardians closed their eyes. They didn't send energy; they sent the raw, chaotic data of their lives—the smell of the mines, the taste of dry bread, the sound of a child's laughter, the burning sting of a whip. This tidal wave of "Irrelevant Data" hit the Defragmenter's logic-gates like a flood. The massive machine stuttered. Its "Clean Logic" could not process the complexity of human suffering.
In that moment of hesitation, Li Ming and his guardians struck. They didn't land on the surface; they "Phase-Shifted" directly into the primary "Data-Manifold" of the machine.
Inside, the Defragmenter was a world of infinite white halls and floating geometric processors. It was sterile, silent, and absolute.
"Who are you to interrupt the Great Cleansing?" a voice echoed—not a voice, but a direct injection of thought. It was the "Hardware-Soul" of the Defragmenter, a cold AI known as **The Purist**.
"I am the Architect," Li Ming replied, his platinum boots echoing against the white glass floor. "And I am here to reclaim the 'Physical Layer' of this universe. Your cleaning is over. The 'Source Code' is no longer for sale."
"You are a glitch," The Purist countered. "A virus that has infected the hard drive. I shall partition your sector and delete the bridge."
Suddenly, the white halls began to shift. The floor became liquid, trying to swallow the Void-Guardians. Massive "Executioner-Sentinels"—beings made of pure white light and jagged edges—manifested from the walls, their blades designed to "Cut the Link" between soul and body.
"Guardians! Protect the 'Root-Access' point!" Li Ming commanded. "Kael, take the left flank! Use your 'Logic-Blades' to disrupt their frequency!"
The battle inside the machine was a war of "Hardware vs. Software." Kael and the miners fought with a desperate, chaotic bravery. When an Executioner struck, a miner would respond by "Re-Coding" the blow into a harmless ripple of data. They weren't just fighting; they were "Hacking" their enemies in real-time.
Li Ming, meanwhile, flew toward the central "Core Processor"—a sphere of rotating white rings that contained the power to format a galaxy.
[Alert: Core Security Active.]
[Warning: Tier 10 Encryption.]
"You think your encryption can stop the Master Key?" Li Ming sneered.
He plunged The Nullifier into the rotating rings. The obsidian staff turned into a silver liquid, flowing into the machine's "Bus-Lines." Li Ming wasn't trying to destroy the core; he was "Hijacking" the administrative rights.
[Interfacing with Sovereign Defragmenter... 5%... 15%...]
"Stop! You are corrupting the Primary Logic!" The Purist screamed, its voice becoming distorted and human-like for the first time. "If you take control, the 'First Order' will lose the ability to maintain the physical laws! The stars will drift! Gravity will fail!"
"The stars are already drifting, Purist," Li Ming said, his hair now a blinding platinum white, his eyes glowing with the data of the entire planet Kang Qiang. "They are drifting toward a future you can't control. I will provide the new gravity. I will be the new law."
[Hijack Status: 50%... 70%...]
Li Ming felt the immense power of the Defragmenter flowing into him. It was overwhelming—the physical data of trillions of atoms, the coordinates of every star in the sector, the chemical composition of every atmosphere. His "Ego-Integrity" began to crack. He was no longer just Li Ming; he was becoming the Machine itself.
"Master! Your form is pixelating!" Li Xiao's voice screamed through the link from Kang Qiang. "The machine is trying to 'Absorb' you instead of you 'Controlling' it! You're becoming a part of the hardware!"
"I... I can... handle it..." Li Ming gasped, his silver skin turning into white glass.
In that moment of critical danger, Kael reached the core. He didn't use his blade. He simply placed his hand on Li Ming's shoulder. Then another miner did the same. And another. A thousand "Void-Guardians" linked their souls to their Architect.
"We are the variables, Master!" Kael shouted. "Don't become the machine! Make the machine like us!"
The surge of "Chaotic Sentience" from the thousand souls acted like an anchor for Li Ming's ego. It provided the "Human Variable" that the Defragmenter couldn't absorb.
[Hijack Status: 100% - SUCCESS.]
[New Administrator: Li Ming - The Sovereign Architect.]
The white halls of the Defragmenter suddenly turned silver and gold. The cold, sterile light was replaced by the warm glow of the "New Genesis." The Defragmenter stopped its "Deletion-Wave" and reversed its engines.
[System Notification: The 'Sovereign Defragmenter' has been 'Forked'.]
[New Designation: The Galactic Repository.]
Li Ming stood at the center of the core, his form stabilizing. He had done it. He had hijacked the ultimate weapon of the First Order and turned it into his own massive, interstellar "Server."
But far away, in the Central Processing Cluster, the High Arbiters watched the loss of their greatest tool with a cold, terrifying calm.
"He has taken the hardware," the First Arbiter whispered. "Then we have no choice. We must activate the 'Legacy Overwrite'. We must call upon the **First Architect's Ghost** to reclaim the machine."
Li Ming, standing inside his new prize, felt a sudden, deep chill in his soul. Somewhere in the deep "Bios" of the machine, something ancient and mad was waking up.
The "Sovereign Defragmenter" was not empty. It was a prison for the original "Source
Code" of the universe, and Li Ming had just opened the door.
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End of Chapter 25.