In Neo-Elysium City, the System watched everything—and judged everyone.
Every street camera.
Every biometric scan.
Every heartbeat translated into data by invisible sensors embedded in the city's steel spine.
No one lived outside its sight.
So when the judgment light ignited above Plaza Sector-9, no one questioned it. Neon billboards dimmed automatically, rain-slick streets reflecting a single towering hologram at the center of the square.
They already knew how this would end.
Public executions were no longer rare in Neo-Elysium.
They were reminders.
[System Evaluation Complete.]
[Subject: Noah Cain]
[Utility Value: DEFECTIVE]
[Disposition: SYSTEM PURGE APPROVED]
The verdict echoed across the plaza and into millions of augmented lenses. Holographic panels rotated in the air, projecting Noah Cain's profile in cold blue light—genetic data, combat logs, quest completion rates, behavioral graphs.
Perfect obedience.
Abnormal efficiency.
Unacceptable deviation.
In the Lower City, some people watched with hollow eyes, already turning away. Others slowed their steps, curiosity briefly overpowering fear. A few even smiled—another defective erased, another threat removed from their fragile order.
No one spoke.
No one protested.
Noah stood alone on the execution platform, magnetic restraints locked around his wrists and spine. Each restraint pulsed with suppression fields that crawled across his nervous system, pinning his muscles in place.
The metal beneath his boots vibrated faintly, resonating with the System Core orbiting far above the megacity.
Rain fell in thin silver lines, sliding off chrome structures and pooling around the platform's edges.
No one stepped forward.
Not the corporate enforcers lining the perimeter in matte-black armor.
Not the Authority officials watching from armored balconies high above.
Not the civilians broadcasting everything in silence.
In Neo-Elysium, value decided existence.
And Noah Cain's value had just dropped to zero.
"Subject Noah Cain," a voice echoed across the plaza—synthetic, layered, stripped of human warmth. "You are confirmed as a destabilizing variable. Your continued operation exceeds acceptable System risk parameters."
The speaker materialized as a towering hologram.
Director Hale.
Executive authority of the Authority Consortium.
His real body was nowhere near the plaza—safe behind kilometers of reinforced steel, firewalls, and armed proxies. Here, only his image existed, immaculate and untouchable.
Noah lifted his head slowly.
"Risk?" he asked, voice steady despite the restraints grinding against his spine. "I followed every contract. Every quest. Every order."
"That is precisely the problem," Hale replied without hesitation.
Above Noah, data cascaded downward in sharp geometric patterns—predictive curves, efficiency projections, deviation forecasts.
Noah's survival rate exceeded acceptable thresholds.
His autonomous decision-making increased with each cycle.
His psychological obedience index had begun to decline.
He was no longer predictable.
The System did not tolerate unpredictability.
"You were designed as a disposable asset," Hale continued calmly.
"Your survival was a rounding error."
The words landed heavier than the restraints.
So that was it.
Ten years ago, when the System integrated with human civilization, Noah had been among the first wave of awakeners. Not gifted. Not privileged. Just… useful.
He cleared Black Zones others avoided—zones where disposable assets were expected to die.
Accepted contracts others rejected.
Completed objectives no one wanted to claim.
And every time, he handed over the rewards.
Every credit.
Every enhancement.
Every authority token.
He thought loyalty had value.
He was wrong.
"Execution will proceed," Hale said. "System Purge protocol is authorized."
The restraints tightened violently.
A spike of agony tore through Noah's spine as his neural interface was forcibly overridden. His vision blurred as the System seized direct control, flooding his senses with suppression signals meant to erase resistance.
Around the platform, System Enforcers activated.
Humanoid combat units stepped forward, rain hissing as it struck their armored frames. Crimson optics locked onto Noah simultaneously. Above them, surveillance drones repositioned, adjusting angles for optimal broadcast quality.
This wasn't just an execution.
It was a demonstration.
[System Purge Initiated.]
[Countdown: 5…]
Noah exhaled slowly.
So this was how the System erased mistakes.
Clean. Efficient. Public.
[4…]
The pressure increased, his thoughts slowing under forced neural compliance. The System was already calculating the optimal moment of termination.
[3…]
Fragments of memory surfaced—missions completed without recognition, teammates promoted using rewards he had earned.
Disposable assets were not meant to be remembered.
[2…]
Energy gathered within the Enforcers' weapons. The air hummed as lethal charge condensed, bending light around the barrels.
[1…]
Light exploded.
Pain tore through Noah's body—
And then stopped.
Not darkness.
Not death.
Silence.
The world froze mid-frame.
Rain hung suspended in the air like shards of glass.
Energy beams halted inches from Noah's chest.
The plaza, the city, the entire megacity locked in place.
For the first time since its creation—
The System hesitated.
[ERROR.]
The word tore through the frozen silence like a fracture in reality.
Noah's consciousness snapped fully awake.
"What…?" he whispered.
Text flooded his vision—raw, unstable, stripped of the System's pristine authority interface.
[Critical Exception Detected.]
[Authority Layer Conflict.]
[Unregistered Variable Identified.]
Time remained frozen.
Only Noah could move.
A new interface manifested before him, jagged and incomplete, as if forced into existence against the System's will.
[WARNING: Unauthorized Authority Detected.]
[Query: Grant OVERRIDE Permission?]
Noah stared at it.
Override.
A cold realization settled in his chest.
"So even you…" he murmured, neon reflections dancing in his eyes, "…can fail."
The prompt pulsed.
Waiting.
Noah smiled.
It wasn't relief.
It was certainty.
"Yes," he said. "Grant it."
The city shattered into cascading light.
[Override Permission Accepted.]
[Authority Fragment Bound.]
[Overrule System Initialized.]
The restraints dissolved into particles.
Pain vanished.
A new status panel unfolded before Noah's eyes—one hidden beneath all others, inaccessible to the world.
[Authority: ACTIVE]
[Designation: Overrule System – Authority Class]
The System spoke again.
Its presence was still vast.
Still omnipresent.
But no longer absolute.
[Warning… System Hostility Increased.]
Somewhere deep within the System Core, countermeasures began to move.
Noah lifted his head as time resumed.
The rain fell.
The plaza erupted into chaos.
And for the first time since the System ruled the world—
It had lost control of a single man.