Kaito stared at the looming gates of Sunderveil, its archways was carved with runes he couldn't read. A gentle wind blew the dusty cloak over his shoulders as the System came to life in his peripheral vision.
[New Destination Confirmed: Sunderveil - Thread Density: HIGH]
"Thread density? What is this, magical Wi-Fi?" Kaito muttered, rubbing his temples.
"Something wrong with your glitch-god again?" Seren asked sweetly, nudging his ribs with her staff as she stepped up beside him.
"Is that it?" Kaito whispered.
Seren exhaled. "Sunderveil. Where the system was born. Or maybe where it died. No one really knows."
Lyria growled under her breath behind them. "Maybe we shouldn't have come here."
Kaito turned. "You know this place?"
Her hand rested instinctively on her blade. "I've bled in these streets. Too many eyes, too many knives."
Seren chuckled. "Oh please. You bled in the bathhouse too. Doesn't mean we avoid hot water."
Lyria's glare could have turned the stones molten. "You stalking me now too, mage? Or just Kaito?"
"Oh, I was following him long before we crossed paths in the temple," Seren said, examining her nails. "Didn't think I'd be stuck with his whole harem fantasy."
Kaito held up his hands. "Can we not discuss my stalker to lover ratio before we get inside the cursed city?"
The main gate's queue moved slow, a mass of robed merchants, tired guards, and suspiciously quiet travelers.
Guards barked orders. "Papers or guild tokens! No sigil, no entry!"
"Leave this to me," Seren murmured, slipping something from her sleeve. She flashed a folded parchment in green light at the gatekeeper.
The guard squinted, then grunted. "Rogue Archivists, huh? Keep your relics to yourselves."
They were waved through until another guard caught Kaito by the shoulder. He scanned Kaito, and another flinched.
"System Host," he said. "You will come."
"Do I get a say...?" Kaito started.
Lyria stepped between him, blade half drawn. "He does."
The guard didn't blink, but he did let go of his shoulders. "He is permitted. The rest… contingent on conduct."
Seren smirked.
Kaito, caught between arousal and terror, stared up at her.
Mostly just arousal.
"Was that... necessary?"
She leaned in, her lips brushing his ear.
"So is kissing a statue but you're lucky I'm claiming you before someone else does."
From behind, Seren called, "Territorial much? Should I get collars for you both?"
The moment Kaito stepped past the threshold marked by twin cracked obelisks, his system sparked.
[System Alert: Proximity to Origin Node Confirmed.] [Host Signature Detected. S-Class Recognition Engaged.] [WARNING: Surveillance Triggered. Access being traced.]
"I definitely think this is the origin," Kaito muttered. "But I think we are being watched."
"Welcome to being the prize everyone wants to dissect," Seren said.
The trio was escorted through the city, across bridges that moved under their boots, then into a tower with no door.
"How are we supposed to—"
The stone simply parted. And a voice from nowhere whispered:
"Welcome back, Echo."
Kaito froze. "What did it call me?"
[System Log Updated: Alias Recovered - ECHO]
The others looked at him.
Seren, for once, didn't speak.
Which was a rare sight.
Inside the tower, screens echoed like ghosts. People watched from behind veils. Not just nobles, technocrats, priests, engineers of the divine. They murmured as he passed.
"The godling walks."
"He glitched the fragments."
"Maybe he can fix us."
And many more. Couldn't remember them all.
Lyria leaned close. "This place smells like prophecy and rot."
Kaito's heart pounded as they reached the chamber at the top.
There, in the center, was a single glowing throne and on it, a woman.
Her body was graceful,but looked too still. Her face, barely human now, was framed by hair that wasn't hair: luminous strands of silver circuitry that coiled and shimmered with every movement. Her eyes were nothing but dark sockets with a little glow.
"Hello, echo," she said, voice melodic and wrong. "We have so much to discuss."
"You kept your name," she said softly.
"Even in death. Even through reboot."
Kaito stood frozen. Lyria beside him, tense. Seren farther back, quiet and unreadable.
"I didn't keep anything," Kaito said slowly. "I don't even know what this is. Or who you are."
She smiled. "Then allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Silessa, Echo's chosen conduit. Oracle of the First Loop. Guardian of the Central Core."
She rose, and the throne dimmed behind her. Her feet made no sound on the polished stone.
"You were never meant to come back like this," she continued, circling him. "The Echo Protocol failed. The System scattered. The Fragments fled. And you... broke."
Kaito winced as another surge of feedback spiked behind his eyes.
[Warning: Memory Partition Integrity Failing.]
Lyria stepped forward. "Stop speaking in riddles. What do you want with him?"
Silessa tilted her head. "What I always wanted. For him to remember. To choose. And to finish what he began."
"Well, he's not your Echo anymore," Lyria snapped. "He's Kaito."
Silessa blinked slowly. "That is... uncertain."
Kaito cleared his throat. "Right. Great. Existential dread aside, maybe someone explains the god cage thing before I get another cryptic nosebleed?"
Seren stepped forward finally. "This room is a memory node. Built to interface with higher system users. Gods, mostly. Which... apparently includes you."
"Apparently," Kaito muttered.
Silessa waved a hand, and the room darkened. Holoscreens came to life around them. Scenes of a great city burning, towers crumbling, winged beings of light fighting shadowed monsters in the sky.
Then a figure stood atop the ruins.
Him. Crowned in fire. Surrounded by seven women, each glowing with fragment runes.
"You were a failsafe," Silessa said, voice low. "A divine countermeasure encoded with the ability to reboot a dying reality. The Fragments were your tools. Your army."
Kaito took a shaky breath. "And now they're... people. With feelings. And swords."
Lyria made a face. "And mine."
Seren didn't speak.
The visions vanished. Silessa approached again, close enough to touch. Her breath smelled.... well odd.
How you'd expect a terminators breath to smell, if you can imagine that.
"Come with me. I want to show you what remains."
They descended deep into the tower past locked doors and floating corridors, into the Sunderveil Archives. It was a tomb of data and ancient machinery, flickering with low power.
Relics lined the walls. A half shattered mask with a symbol. A broken sword labeled: Fragment 03: Combat – Disabled. A set of gloves glowing with latent magic.
Kaito reached toward them, and the system flared.
[Touch Restricted. Emotional Integrity Not Sufficient.]
"We built this place to preserve knowledge," Silessa said. "But even knowledge decays without belief."
Kaito stared at the sword. "Lyria's fragment was disabled...?"
Silessa turned. "All Fragments deactivate when the god host dies. Yours were corrupted... except the ones that found new purpose."
She looked at him with something that almost resembled sadness.
"They kept living. Even when you didn't."
Hours later, Kaito sat alone in a quiet chamber processing everything.
Lyria refused to speak to anyone. Seren had vanished into a databank alcove. The room was quiet, save for the gentle throb of the system.
Then:
[System Sync Level: 3 Fragments Detected. Emotional Contagion Rising.]
He groaned. "I'm not catching emotions like a virus. Stop that."
[Would you like to activate Suppression Mode? Y/N]
He hovered over 'Y'... then didn't press it.
When the door opened and Seren returned, her face unreadable, he asked:
"What happens if I do remember everything?"
She looked at him for a long time.
"Then none of us might survive you."