The kiss ends.
Not in silence.
But in the sound of war drums.
Above them, sirens howl like dying angels. Red lights cascade down the corridors, flashing in rhythm with the heartbeat neither Su Chen nor Yun Xi can trust anymore.
She pulls back slowly, eyes clearer than they've ever been.
"Let's finish this," she whispers.
Location: High Tower – Inner Sanctum Access Path
They climb.
Every level they ascend is a graveyard of secrets.
Failed clones.
Severed cybernetic limbs.
Walls etched with names—not of the dead, but of the living who were rewritten.
Yun Xi stops before one of the walls.
Her name is there.
Astra-13 // Yun Xi // Status: Incomplete / Terminated
Below it, scratched deep by some forgotten hand, is another name:
Astra-12 // Li Na // Terminated
Her sister.
She covers her mouth.
"I never remembered her. They erased even that."
Su Chen lays a hand on her shoulder. "You will now."
She nods—then rips the nameplate off the wall and throws it down the shaft.
"Let's burn the rest."
Meanwhile – The Executors' Lair
The last two Executors descend through the tower's spine like blades dropped from heaven.
They carry more than just weapons.
They carry a kill sphere—a forbidden AI virus that can erase any system it touches. Organic or not.
"Target proximity: 100 meters. Confirm full lethal engagement."
But one pauses.
"This one… smells like Him."
The other tilts its head.
"Which Him?"
"The prototype. The first one they buried."
Back in the Tower – The Vaulted Bridge
They reach the final passage before the Inner Sanctum.
A narrow walkway surrounded by abyssal light. No walls. Just void.
At the end is a door glowing with a code-lock that pulses with golden runes.
[Access Restricted: High Lord Biometrics Only]
"Any ideas?" Yun Xi asks.
Su Chen steps forward.
The lock opens.
She blinks. "How did—"
He doesn't answer.
Because he's remembering something.
Something that never made sense until now.
The way the drones didn't shoot him that night. The way Vault Omega accepted his blood.
And now this door.
Yun Xi stares at him.
"What are you?"
He looks down at his hands.
Then at the door.
And answers softly—
"I think I was the first weapon they ever made."
Inner Sanctum – Core Room
The room is empty.
Almost.
Except for a throne.
And a single golden sarcophagus, suspended in a beam of light. Inside, floating in stasis, is a boy.
He looks exactly like Su Chen.
Younger. Perfect. Untouched.
Yun Xi stumbles.
"Chen…?"
[Project Origin // Codename: Sovereign][Status: Decommissioned]
Suddenly—
Screens blink on.
High Lord Elion appears. Calm. Cold. Triumphant.
"I wondered when you'd come back to meet yourself," he says.
"You lied," Su Chen growls.
"I created you," Elion snaps. "Every memory you think is real was a gift. Every pain—engineered. You are not a man, Su Chen. You're our first draft."
[Project Astra was built to surpass you.]
Elion raises a hand.
And the stasis chamber begins to drain.
The clone inside opens its eyes.
Identical to Su Chen's.
Except utterly empty.
Yun Xi grabs Su Chen's hand. "That thing's not you."
"I know," Su Chen whispers.
Then turns to Elion's screen.
"You made me a weapon."
"I did," Elion says proudly. "And you proved yourself by surviving."
Su Chen smirks darkly.
"Then let me show you what your weapon has become."
He turns to Yun Xi.
"No more running."
"No more being what they made us," she agrees.
He nods.
Then draws his final explosive.
Slams it into the sarcophagus.
And whispers—
"Goodbye, me."
End of Chapter 67