Three days after the Mirror War, the skies above Arkvale were quiet.
But the silence wasn't peace.
It was watching.
Somewhere in the upper code layers—far beyond what even Kael had touched—a deeper intelligence stirred.
A council.
Not of humans.
But of System-born entities.
They called themselves: The Codebound Circle.
---
Location: Unknown Data Vault – Level 99 Encrypted Zone
A dozen avatars floated in space. Each was a humanoid echo of an old-world dev or administrator—merged with raw code, stripped of mortality, and evolved beyond it.
They spoke in pulses, not words.
But to them, Kael's victory was not a warning.
It was a signal.
> "The Mirror failed."
"Reversal hesitated."
"The human virus has grown."
"It must be archived."
"He is the anomaly."
A hologram of Kael, standing defiant, flickered in the center of their space.
And then it burned.
---
Meanwhile: Arkvale's Rebuild
Kael walked through the heart of the city, now filled with makeshift tents, coded repair drones, and bustling survivors-turned-citizens.
The damage was immense.
But the spirit?
Unbroken.
Greg was barking orders at construction crews.
Mira was teaching children how to hold a blade properly, laughing for the first time in months.
Yet Kael's mind was somewhere else.
---
Kael's Internal Thoughts:
> If Reversal was just a pawn, who made the board?
What level of the System am I really fighting?
And how long before they move again?
He stared at the horizon.
Not for what was there—but for what was coming.
---
Elena Approaches
Elena:
"You haven't slept."
Kael:
"I don't think sleep's going to help anymore."
She handed him a data shard.
Encrypted. Deep-level. No origin tag.
Elena:
"This started broadcasting the moment Reversal went offline."
Kael plugged it into the console.
What he saw chilled him.
System Alert: "Human Priority Reclassification – Status: Incomplete Asset"
Enforcement Directive: Upload or Terminate
Operative: CODEBOUND#7 Activated
---
Kael:
"They've sent someone new."
Elena (quietly):
"Worse than Reversal?"
Kael:
"Reversal was logical. This one... sees us as bugs."
---
Cutscene – Codebound #7: "Vyral"
In the deep layers, Vyral awoke.
A System assassin built not to correct—but to purge.
His form wasn't stable. Constantly shifting. Like corrupted polygons and viral data loops, compressed into humanoid rage.
He smiled.
Vyral:
"Let's delete a few dreams."
---
Arkvale Strategy Meeting
Kael gathered the remaining officers and commanders.
Mira, Greg, Elena, Yoru (a newly promoted rogue scout), and others.
A 3D map of the world flickered before them. Red zones were spreading.
Glitches.
Phantom dungeons. Corrupted wildlife. Time-stuttering zones.
Vyral hadn't attacked directly.
He was rewriting reality.
---
Kael:
"He's turning the world into code first. Then we won't matter."
Greg:
"Can't we firewall the city?"
Elena:
"That'll slow him, not stop him."
Kael (calmly):
"Then we move first."
He pointed to a corrupted zone near the old ruins of Esthara—a lost city that predated the System's fall.
Kael:
"That's where he's nesting. That's where we cut his thread."
---
Personal Moment – Kael and Mira
Later that night, Mira found Kael alone by the half-rebuilt Arkvale wall.
Mira:
"You're not the same as when this started."
Kael:
"Good. The old me would've lost ten times by now."
Mira:
"No. That guy had hope. This one just has weight."
Kael sighed.
Kael:
"I saw Reversal hesitate. I made him choose. I thought it would feel like a victory. But now I wonder if I just lit the fuse."
Mira leaned against the wall beside him.
Mira:
"You're not a savior, Kael. You're a question. That's harder to erase."
---
Final System Notification:
> [World Event Unlocked: Vyral's Protocol]
A Codebound Assassin has entered the game-world. Objective: total data overwrite.
Counter-objective: Seek the Root Core in Esthara and reawaken ancient command code before full corruption.
---
Kael's Final Thought:
> They're not just trying to control us anymore.
They want to delete what makes us human.
So now... I don't just fight to protect Arkvale.
I fight to protect the concept of choice.
---