The void wolves tore through the server farm's crumbling walls, their pixelated jaws snapping at the trio. Elara's Defiant Threads lashed out, slicing through one beast as Kael's sword cleaved another. Lysandra stood at the center, clutching the glowing shard of Celestia, her voice raw.
"We're out of time! The system's offer—restore the city and forget, or die here!"
System Notification:
FINAL BARGAIN: RESTORE CELESTIA (100%) IN EXCHANGE FOR MEMORY ERASURE. DECLINE? ERASE SUNSPIRE MOUNTAINS IN 00:02:17.
Kael parried a wolf's strike, his arm glitching. "If we forget, the system wins. We'll just repeat this hell."
Elara's shadows wavered. "And if we don't, thousands die now."
Lysandra's eyes hardened. "There's another way. I can merge with the core—use my holy magic to control it."
The room froze. Even the wolves hesitated.
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"Merge?" Elara snarled. "You'll become what we're fighting!"
Lysandra unclasped her necklace—a relic from her family's sacrifice. "The glyphs in the temple showed me how. My bloodline's magic can bind the core… temporarily."
Kael stepped closer, sword dripping static. "Temporarily? Then what?"
"Then we rewrite the system from within," she said, trembling. "But it'll need an anchor. Someone to… contain the corruption."
Elara laughed bitterly. "Let me guess. The villainess?"
Lysandra met her gaze. "Your Defiant Threads are the only thing that's ever disrupted the system. If I channel the core's power through you—"
"I become a puppet. Again."
System Alert: SUNSPIRE ERASURE IN 00:01:03.
The wolves howled, lunging.
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Lysandra didn't wait. She slammed the shard into her chest, holy light erupting. The core's fractured orb shuddered, tendrils of code snaking into her veins.
"Stop her!" Kael roared, but Elara grabbed his arm.
"We're out of choices, Hero."
Lysandra's voice echoed, warped by the core's influence. "Elara… the threads!"
Elara's shadows surged, weaving a lattice around Lysandra—a prison of defiance. The core's data flooded into her, searing like acid.
System: MERGER PROGRESS: 40%. HOST INTEGRITY FAILING.
Kael slaughtered wolves, buying time. "Hurry!"
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Lysandra's eyes bled gold and static. "I see it… the system's heart. It's afraid of us."
Elara gritted her teeth, her threads fraying. "Then rip it out!"
The core pulsed, reality splintering. Lysandra's hand morphed—scales, claws, a monstrous hybrid of holy light and glitched code.
"It's too much!" she screamed. "Elara, you have to—"
"No! We finish this together!"
Elara plunged her shadows into Lysandra's chest, intertwining with the core. The system's screams shook the void.
System: PARADOX OVERLOAD. REBOOT INITIATED.
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Light vanished.
Elara awoke on a familiar rooftop—the Celestial Gala, intact. Lysandra stood beside her in a gown of starlight, no scars, no wolves. Kael approached, smiling, his sword sheathed.
"Welcome back," he said softly.
System Notification (Golden Text): CELESTIA RESTORED. THANK YOU FOR PLAYING.
But Lysandra's eyes flickered—a hint of static.