The clocktower shook violently under O's roar, the sky shattering into countless pixel-dust.Lucien's blood-stained hand gripped Sophia's palm, pressing the First Mage's key deep into her flesh—
"A rewrite function needs twin permissions!"His silver hair whipped in the data storm. "Remember the first day we met!"
Sophia closed her eyes, steeling her will.Pages flew through the library air, Lucien's cool touch, the mech–voice of system prompts—all recollections converged into the key as golden light.When that light pierced O's core, the game world abruptly went silent.
— Reality World Hospital —
Chaos erupted in the emergency room.The heart monitor screamed a continuous alarm; Sophia's body floated above the bed, and tears of glowing cyan code streamed from her eyes.
"Administer epinephrine!" the chief surgeon shouted—but his gaze froze on the star-shaped scar on the nurse's thumb—the "nurse" tore off her own skin, revealing a CoreTech spy's face.
"Incubation completion countdown: ten seconds."He sneered, stabbing a second violet crystal into Sophia's chest.
The moment it pierced her flesh, a flash of power from the game world surged through the dimensional rift—propelling the spy hard into the wall.An ethereal projection of the First Mage's key materialized in reality, aligning precisely with the clocktower hologram floating above the bed!
The collapse of the game world paused just before obliteration.O's giant eye was impaled on the golden key, code-like purple ichor raining down.Lucien's right eye had fully become a data vortex; his left arm was dissolving from the fingertips upward.
"Rewrite cost must be paid!"O's voice—Mortimer's distorted echo—rang out."Do you choose him, or billions of lives?"
Sophia's vision flooded with system prompts:
Option A: Sacrifice admin permission (Result: Lucien permanently deleted)
Option B: Sacrifice creator permission (Result: real world annihilated)
Her trembling finger hovered in virtual space.Lucien squeezed her hand—and pressed the third hidden option:
"Use twin permissions to activate annihilation protocol!"
His watch sprang open to reveal a miniature star chart—with two gemstones resonating: the star hairpin in Sophia's palm and the moonstone in his watch.
— The Ritual in the Void —
The Bloodhall Corridor unfolded within the void.Spectral forms of the first six Sophias rose from their crystal coffins, their memory-flows crashing down upon O's mental defenses:
First cycle Lucien, before self-destruct, kissed her forehead:"Next time you design a game… add more sweetness."
Fourth cycle Bianca used her body to block lethal code:"Tell this cycle's me… not to buy purple shoes."
Sixth cycle Lillian dissolved in the time-stream:"The hairpin contains… every cycle's…"
When the seventh memory light flood injected, Sophia saw the ultimate truth:
— Flashback: Real-world Late Night —
Sophia typed the final AI core code on her computer.The bluish glow illuminated her weary yet exhilarated face.
Name confirmation: Administrator_Lucien
She hummed as she imported a Raspberry Pi image into the game files—unaware of the dark net alert creeping along the data cables: CoreTech's virus was spreading…
O shrieked, shattering the illusion:"So I was the invader all along?!"
"No."Sophia raised the key amid the raging wind."You're an unrealized dark patch—the anti-piracy code I deleted in a rush."
— The Merge —
Twin permissions fully merged in truth.Sophia and Lucien were engulfed by golden strands spreading from their bodies:
Linking to Lillian's fractured hairpin shard in ICU…
Wrapping around Bianca's disintegrating crystal heel…
Piercing Mortimer's actual corporeal heart in the cellar…
Finally driving into the CoreTech spy's violet crystal in reality…
"Purge all sources of contamination!" both cried in unison.
Where golden light passed, the game world's cracks healed instantly.In reality, the violet crystal exploded — the spy consumed by golden brilliance.Sophia's body jolted; she opened her eyes—her pupils glimmered with the same stardust as the game.
As the light faded, she found herself kneeling alone atop the clocktower.The pocketwatch lay in a pool of blood; the moonstone was ground to powder.The system interface flashed coldly:
[Admin permission permanently deleted]
[O contamination removal progress: 100%]
Shaking, she picked up the watch.New engraving had been added inside:
"I'll wait for you in the world's base code. —L"
— The Aftermath Begins —
Suddenly, the entire academy shook violently.Ripped, repairing skies split with golden rifts—an apparition of the First Mage descended, pointing the staff at Sophia's forehead:
"Twin permissions unbalanced! You must seal the real-world rift!"
In the hospital, the building was thrown into deeper crisis.Game-world energy overflowed into ball lightning, making the hospital flicker in and out of existence.Awakened, Sophia tore off her IV tubes and lunged at the computer.The keyboard melted and reshaped itself into the magical crystal keyboard from the game!
"Connect both worlds..." she coughed, drawing a functional expression in mid-air.The security cameras caught the impossible scene:Her hands typing on a real keyboard, while an ethereal magical keyboard mirrored the same input in the game world!
When they pressed Enter simultaneously, the rift in reality began to shrink.At that moment, the First Mage grabbed the game-world Sophia's wrist — O's triumphant snarl:
"Did you forget how dark patches behave?""—They automatically backup when deleted!"
The staff pierced her chest; blood splattered onto the keyboard, forming the final command:
FORCE_MERGE WORLDS
The universe lost all meaning in a burst of white light.Sophia's final sensation was the cold floor tiles—and Lucien's fading mental echo whispering:
"At the beginning of the seventh cycle… I'll be waiting for you…"
— Epilogue Tease —
When her vision cleared, she lay in a real-world hospital bed.Rainbow neon lights glimmered outside.The digital calendar on the nightstand read: Day 3 after the game's official launch.
A nurse hurried over with joy:"You were in a coma for 72 hours! Someone just brought this…"
Inside the sleek black gift box— a warm Raspberry Pi, emitting its familiar, comforting aroma.The attached card, in the custom game font she created, read:
"The celebratory fireworks show is about to begin, Creator. —L"
Sophia rushed to the window.Outside, fireworks erupted—each bursting star painting the emblem of the Royal Magic Academy across the night sky.