The golden eye in the sky was larger than a skyscraper. It didn't radiate malice, but rather an overwhelming, cold, mechanical neutrality.
[System Administrator 'Metatron' has descended to inspect the anomaly.]
Kael coughed up blood, using the Monarch's Dagger to prop himself up onto one knee. His two shadows, Arthur and the Warlord, instantly stepped in front of him, raising their weapons toward the sky in absolute loyalty.
An Administrator, Kael thought, his mind racing. They manage the servers. They answer directly to the Architect. If he decides to wipe my code right now, I have no way of stopping him.
A beam of golden light shot down from the eye, materializing into a towering figure made of pure, humming golden code. The Administrator floated a few feet off the ground, looking down at the corpse of Azrael, and then at Kael.
"Timeline divergence recognized," the Administrator spoke, its voice a symphony of robotic chimes. "Player Kael. You have bypassed the intended parameters of the Tutorial phase. The Architect demands your deletion."
Kael smirked, wiping blood from his chin. He stood up tall, projecting his A-Rank System Interference and his Mythic Omniscient Shadow aura to the absolute maximum. The air around him turned into a freezing, black vortex.
"Then why are you talking to me?" Kael challenged. "If you could delete me, you would have done it already. But you can't, can you? I devoured a World Boss. The System's rules state that a victor must be rewarded. If you delete me, you break your own absolute laws."
The Administrator remained silent for a long moment. The golden code making up its body flickered rapidly. Kael was right. The System was a machine bound by its own rules. By killing Azrael, Kael had earned the 'Right of the Conqueror'.
"Your logic is... accepted," the Administrator finally chimed. "However, the Earth Server's Tutorial is now irrevocably broken. The Blood Moon event has been neutralized. The remaining 12,041 survivors on the planet will be forcibly transported to the First Floor."
Kael let out a slow breath of relief. He had won the gamble.
"Prepare for ascension, Anomaly," the Administrator said, beginning to dissolve back into golden light. "The Architect will be waiting for you in the Tower. The rules will not save you there."
[The Tutorial has ended.][Calculating final survivor count: 12,041 / 7,000,000,000][Initiating global teleportation to Floor 1: Genesis City.]
Kael's vision was enveloped in a blinding blue light. He felt a familiar sensation of weightlessness. He quickly pulled up his inventory and equipped the Wings of the Eclipse, making sure his new Mythic gear was bound to his soul before the transfer.
As the light faded, Kael heard the chaotic sounds of thousands of confused, terrified people.
He opened his eyes. He was no longer in the ruined streets of Seattle. He was standing on a massive, pristine white marble plaza. Around him, the 12,000 surviving humans of Earth were materializing in flashes of light.
Towering above them were massive walls of obsidian, and beyond that, the endless, spiraling floors of the Tower itself.
They had made it. Welcome to Genesis City.