The silence inside the 'Origin Forge' was different from the silence of space. Space was empty, but this place was full of the humming of trillions of lines of code. The air smelled like ozone and ancient dust.
Arthur stood fifty feet away from the throne. The man sitting there looked so much like him that it made his stomach turn. It was like looking into a mirror that showed him twenty years into the future—a version of himself that had never known hunger, never known pain, and never known love.
"You're late, Arthur," the Architect said. His voice was perfectly calm, lacking the arrogance of Zeus or the malice of Hades. It was the voice of a man who was simply stating a mathematical fact.
Arthur gripped the hilt of his black blade until his knuckles turned white. "I was busy cleaning up the mess you left on my planet. Who are you? Why do you have my face?"
The Architect stood up, his white robe flowing like liquid light. "I am the original 'Variable'. Eons ago, I was just like you—a creature of flesh and bone, struggling against a cruel universe. I created the System to bring order to the chaos. I created the 100x Multiplier to find a successor. Someone who could carry the burden of existence."
He walked down the steps of the throne, his eyes fixed on Arthur. "You think I am your enemy? I am your father, your creator, and your future. Every dungeon you cleared, every drop of blood you shed, every insult you took as a porter... it was all part of the calibration."
The Weight of a Life
Arthur felt a wave of nausea. "Calibration? My mother died because of your calibration! Millions of people were eaten by your 'System' while you sat here playing god! You didn't create order; you created a slaughterhouse!"
[Warning!]
[Host's Emotional State is Unstable!]
[100x Multiplier is reacting to Heart Rate!]
"Loss is a necessary data point," the Architect said, stopping ten feet away. "To become the Monarch of the Void, you had to lose everything that tied you to the dirt. If you had stayed a porter, you would have died as a footnote. Because of me, you are a god-slayer. You should be thanking me."
Arthur's aura exploded. The violet light turned into a storm of black flames that licked the ceiling of the Forge.
"Thank you?" Arthur's voice was a low growl that shook the entire structure. "I'd rather thank the dirt I slept on. I'd rather thank the cold water I drank to stop the hunger. At least they were real. You... you're just a coward hiding behind a screen."
[100x Multiplier Activated!]
[Skill 'Monarch's Rage' multiplied x100!]
Arthur lunged. He didn't use a complicated technique. He just swung his blade with all the strength of a man who had been pushed too far.
The Architect didn't move. He simply raised a finger.
CLANG!
The 'Void-Render', a blade that had killed Zeus, was stopped by an invisible wall an inch away from the Architect's skin. The shockwave of the impact sent a tremor through the entire Forge, but the Architect didn't even blink.
"Your 100x Multiplier is a masterpiece, Arthur. But I wrote the code. You cannot use my own weapon to kill me."
The Reality of the Glitch
The Architect waved his hand, and suddenly, the hall of the Forge changed. The glass tubes disappeared, and Arthur found himself standing in the middle of the old dungeon where he had been betrayed.
He saw his younger self—skinny, bleeding, and terrified—looking at Elara as she plunged the dagger into his back.
"Look at him," the Architect's voice echoed in the air. "He was nothing. A glitch in the dirt. I gave him the System because I wanted to see if a 'Zero' could actually become a 'One'. And you succeeded. But now, the experiment is over. It's time to merge back into the Source."
Arthur watched his younger self gasp for air. He felt the phantom pain in his back. The Architect was trying to use his trauma to break his connection to the 100x Multiplier.
"You're wrong about one thing," Arthur said, his voice steady even as the illusion tried to crush him.
The Architect paused. "And what is that?"
"I didn't succeed because of your system," Arthur looked up, his eyes turning a solid, glowing violet. "I succeeded because I was a porter. A porter knows how to keep walking even when his legs are broken. A porter knows how to hold on to the bag even when the world is ending. You gave me the 100x Multiplier, but I was the one who survived the weight of it."
Breaking the Code
[Ding!]
[Unknown Variable Detected!]
[100x Multiplier is evolving...]
[New Concept: 'The Sovereign's Soul'!]
The illusion of the dungeon shattered. Arthur stood back in the Forge, but this time, he wasn't just Level 1300. His Level was flickering, moving so fast the System couldn't track it.
"You wrote the code?" Arthur asked, stepping closer to the Architect. "Then you should have known... that you can't control something that has a heart."
[100x Multiplier Activated!]
[Concept 'Willpower' multiplied x100!]
[Concept 'Vengeance' multiplied x100!]
[Concept 'Humanity' multiplied x100!]
Arthur's blade began to glow with a light that wasn't violet or white. It was a deep, warm crimson—the color of human blood, the color of a sunrise over the slums.
"100x Multiplier... Origin Break!"
Arthur struck. This time, there was no invisible wall. The crimson energy tore through the Architect's defenses like they were made of silk. The Architect's eyes widened in genuine shock as the blade cut through his shoulder, leaking white starlight instead of blood.
"You... you modified the multiplier?" the Architect gasped, clutching his wound. "That's impossible! The logic doesn't allow it!"
"My logic is simple," Arthur hissed. "You owe the world an apology. And I'm here to collect it."
The battle for the beginning of time had officially started. Arthur wasn't just fighting for his life anymore; he was fighting for the right of every human to live without a 'System' telling them what they were worth.
[Ding! Level Up! Level Up!]
[Host reached Level 1500!]
[The Forge is destabilizing!]