The skies crack.
Not from thunder.
But from the sound of a fortress deploying.
Astra—Yun Xi—descends like a god-made-weapon in silver. Her combat suit gleams with hardlight panels, her eyes no longer empty but now glowing with unstable light. She's locked between two versions of herself—killer and lover, duty and memory.
Su Chen feels her before he sees her.
The temperature drops. Gravity feels heavier.
He steps out of the hideout just as the first drone explodes above him. Her arrival isn't stealthy.
It's a declaration.
She lands thirty feet from him, boots shattering concrete. Steam rises around her like a veil. The streets empty. Everyone knows to run when a High Lord weapon deploys.
Except him.
He stands still.
She looks at him.
No words.
Just silence. Charged. Heavy.
Then—
[Directive Active: Neutralize Su Chen.][Override Directive: Synchronize with Subject Su Chen.][Conflict Detected.][Mental Stability: 63%… 58%… 44%...]
Yun Xi's hands tremble.
Her vision glitches—Su Chen is flickering between the enemy and the boy she once kissed.
"Yun Xi," he says softly. No weapons. No defense stance. Just… vulnerability.
And for her, that's more dangerous than any blade.
"I remember…" she whispers.
A sniper drone targets Su Chen from above.
She hears the charge-up whine.
Her training screams: Complete the mission.
Her soul screams louder: Save him.
She moves.
Fast.
A blur of silver and speed.
Boom.
She intercepts the shot, takes it in her shoulder. The suit absorbs most of it, but she staggers.
Su Chen runs toward her.
[System Error: Directive Violation. Initiating Shutdown.]
"No!" she screams.
Light explodes from her body—raw and uncontrolled. Her code is fracturing. The artificial commands wired into her brain are clashing violently with her real memories. Her knees hit the ground as lightning arcs from her back and wings of digital flame erupt, glitching and distorting.
Yun Xi is becoming… something else.
Su Chen drops beside her, gripping her wrist.
"You're not theirs. You never were. Come back."
Her eyes meet his. That old fire—the human one—burns inside her now.
"I wanted to protect you," she breathes. "So I became a monster."
"You're not a monster," he replies.
"You don't know what I've done."
"Then let me carry it with you."
She chokes on emotion. On code. On memories trying to overwrite themselves.
[Warning: Containment Failure Imminent. Astra Protocol Corrupted.]
A blinding flash surges through the sky.
And somewhere, in the High Lords' citadel, alarms begin to blare.
Sector 0 – High Tower, Command Deck
Elion stares at the data stream, frowning.
"She's syncing with him."
His aide stammers, "Should we activate the kill-switch?"
Elion smiles coldly. "No. Let it play. If she fully awakens, we'll get something even better than a weapon."
He presses a command.
[Initiate Reclamation Protocol – Order 77][Deploy Executors. Target: Su Chen. Priority: Absolute.]
"They can run. They can hold hands. But they won't outrun fate."
Sector 9 – Rooftop
Yun Xi's body collapses into Su Chen's arms, her breathing heavy. She's still in partial combat mode, but her eyes are back. Human again.
The light around her flickers like dying fireflies.
"They'll come for me now," she says.
"No," Su Chen replies. "They'll come for us."
She looks at him, tears cutting lines through the dirt on her face. "I don't want to be a weapon anymore."
"Then stop being one."
[New Joint Objective: Destroy Project Astra.]Location: Genetic Core Lab – High Tower, Sector 0Time Frame: 72 Hours before Full System LockdownRisk: Terminal
A beat.
Su Chen's hand tightens around hers.
And for the first time in years, Yun Xi smiles.
"I guess we're going to burn heaven down."
End of Chapter 65