The system pulse still echoed in Zane's head.
[Alert: Root Access Infiltration Points Detected – Level 3 Surveillance Activated.]
Zane stood motionless in the empty corridor, the overhead neon lights flickering like a warning. He had just hijacked an S-rank system. Chimera Drive wasn't just power—it was recognition. And recognition in this world meant exposure.
His thoughts raced like commands in a terminal window.
"They saw me," he muttered under his breath. "Level 3 Surveillance… that's corporate-grade. I'm on someone's radar now."
He turned a sharp corner, heading toward the academy's abandoned east wing—his designated dead zone. A place off the grid. Shielded from basic tracking protocols. It was here, surrounded by broken classroom walls and outdated tech boards, that Zane had set up his mobile terminal base.
The doors creaked open, and the scent of rust and dust filled his lungs. Inside, his terminal workstation blinked to life. Root Access hummed with threads, data pulses, and decrypted logs.
[System Notification: Phantom Rewrite—Chimera Fragment Detected. Initiate Integration?]
Zane hesitated. Using Phantom Rewrite too early was risky. Every system fragment added complexity to his framework—and the more complex it became, the more vulnerable it could become without proper stabilization.
"Do it," he said finally. "We adapt. That's how we survive."
The screen glowed.
[Chimera Fragment: Wing Protocol, Phase Morph, Accelerated Vision unlocked.]
[System Stability: 71%]
New code branches sprouted in his HUD. Wings of fragmented energy formed for a split second before dissipating. He could feel it now—his body processing something alien. Not just borrowed power, but forcefully rewritten dominance.
He reached for a nearby terminal interface and tapped into the school's lower-tier network.
"Let's see who pulled the strings to send Nero after me…"
A security footage cluster blinked to life.
He scrolled, decrypted, filtered.
There it was.
Nero. Not acting alone. Behind him stood a woman—tall, elegant, with a holographic mask veiling her face. But the system signature flared bright.
"Unknown System. Tier: Undisclosed. Authority: Administrative Override."
Zane leaned forward, eyes narrowing.
Someone with administrative override privileges inside the academy?
That wasn't just rare—it was illegal.
"I've stepped into something bigger than I thought."
Elsewhere in the Academy – Secret Council Chamber
The hologram flickered. "You let him hijack Chimera Drive?"
Nero, bandaged and half-recovered, gritted his teeth. "He… rewrote the protocol mid-combat. I've never seen anything like it."
A voice boomed from the shadows. "Then you've failed. The Root Access anomaly must be contained. Eliminated."
Another voice—softer, female, but colder—interjected. "Or studied."
The masked woman stepped forward, lowering her hood. A brief shimmer revealed her eyes—golden with circuit-like irises. Not natural. Modified.
"He's dangerous, yes. But also… promising."
"You're playing with fire, Kyra."
"And fire's exactly what we need."
Back in the East Wing
Zane pulled his hand back from the terminal, sweat dripping from his brow.
Too much data. Too many surveillance nodes now trained on him. He needed allies. Or at least buffers.
His thoughts went to Aiko.
He hadn't spoken to her since before the duel. She was the only one who'd seen fragments of the truth. A gifted strategist with her own shadows—and she'd helped him once. Subtly. An anonymous message. A warning embedded in a corrupted quest file.
He pulled up an encrypted messenger. The screen pulsed.
ZANE: [I need eyes inside the admin level. Meet me tonight. Neutral zone.]
UNKNOWN: [You're being watched, Zane. Even this message pings like a flare.]
ZANE: [Still trust me?]
UNKNOWN: [Trust? No. But curiosity? That's different. I'll be there.]
Zane closed the window and leaned back, exhaling.
Then the lights flickered.
A shadow moved near the doorway.
He instantly raised his hand.
[Phantom Rewrite – Chimera Claw Deployed.]
The wall exploded—but no one stood there.
Only a small metallic spider, skittering across the floor.
[Warning: Surveillance Drone Detected.]
Zane crushed it with a foot.
Too close.
"They're watching more than just my system now," he muttered. "They want my decisions."
He packed up his terminal, sealed the logs, and disabled all visible signatures.
Tonight… would be a trap.
But he'd go anyway.
Because if someone had Override Authority, they could not only rewrite systems—but rewrite people.
And he needed to know if that's what happened to him before his death.
If this whole reset was orchestrated.
If Root Access was ever meant to be his.
Later – Neutral Zone (Underground Subway Ruins)
The air here was damp, stale. Long-abandoned subway tunnels stretched for miles beneath the academy. Few dared to go deep. Too many stories. Too many system echoes—like ghosts of corrupted code.
Aiko appeared from the mist, cloaked in a digital hood that shimmered every few seconds, warping her presence.
"You're late," she said, arms crossed.
"You expected me not to be?"
She smirked faintly, but it faded fast. "I traced a signal after your duel. They activated Project Blackline."
Zane stiffened. "What's that?"
"A ghost protocol. Designed to trace, trap, and extract unknown systems that threaten stability. But here's the problem—it doesn't extract them cleanly. It wipes the host. Reboots the body as a blank shell."
"They're going to try and erase me."
"No, Zane. They already are. This meeting triggered three drones. I had to wipe five echoes on my way here."
He clenched his fists. "Then I don't have time."
She stepped closer. "Which is why I'm giving you this."
She handed him a black cube—small, pulsing with dim red light.
"What is it?"
"Anchor Core. If Root Access gets corrupted or back-hacked, this will lock your personality into the system's root directory. They can't wipe what they can't extract."
Zane looked at her, seeing not just a hacker—but an ally. A rogue piece in a broken game.
"Why help me?" he asked.
Aiko's eyes softened—just barely.
"Because the moment you rewrote Chimera Drive… I saw it. The system shuddered. You weren't just rewriting code. You were rejecting the order they built. And I've been waiting for someone like you."
Root Access: Internal Notification
[System Mutation Threshold Approaching 80%]
[New Pathway Unlocked: Subconscious Override Layer]
Zane blinked.
"What the hell is that?"
The answer came as a memory.
One he never lived.
A corridor. Cryo tanks. Screams. Needles. And a voice saying—
"Subject 9—System injection complete. Begin memory overwrite."
His heart pounded.
What was real?
What wasn't?
And who the hell had he really been… before Root Access?
End of Chapter 9