The throne chamber shimmered, its walls rippling like water beneath unseen pressure. Obsidian pillars bent in ghostly waves, and the white floor cracked, revealing veins of pulsing red light that fed into the throne's base. Kade stood firm, every muscle coiled, as Aelric Vos rose to meet him.
"You shouldn't have returned," Aelric whispered, voice echoing through the malfunctioning air. His code-blindfold flickered, but his stance was regal. "Not to me. Not to this place."
Kade's boots left faint scorch marks on the polished floor. The throne's energy field cut the chamber in two—Aelric on one side, Kade on the other. Between them, the room constricted, folding memory and reality until they felt suspended in a bubble outside time.
> **Memory Lock Duel Protocol Active**
> **Combat Mode: Neural-Match Calibration**
> **Victory Condition: Dominant Memory Assertion**
Neither blade was drawn—this duel would be fought in the mind. In the battlefield of the past, where every regret and every triumph cut deeper than steel.
Aelric extended a hand. "Let's begin with the Fall of Halron."
Kade flinched at the name. Halron had once been his greatest victory, the battle that cemented him as a war hero. But Aelric's voice twisted it into a condemnation.
> **Memory Trigger: Siege of Halron, Year -2**
> **Override: Reactor Cascade Command**
Kade's vision flickered. He saw himself on the command balcony, eyes bright with righteous fury. Below, the city burned, plasma beams carving lines of death through crowds. He had believed it necessary—had believed the sacrifice would save millions.
Aelric's voice cut through the memory like a blade. "You watched them die, brother. You authorized the cascade. You sanctioned the slaughter."
The chamber trembled as Kade's grip on reality wavered. He shook his head, fighting the incursion. "I made the choice to end the siege—so we could stop the collapse."
> **Counter-Memory: Operation Red Horizon**
> **Trigger: Aelric's refusal to retreat**
Aelric's face appeared in Kade's mind—aloft over the battlefield, refusing to pull back. "I wanted mercy," Aelric said softly. "You wanted victory."
The duel protocol flared, weaving their memories together. The white floor beneath Kade's feet splintered, revealing a vista of Halron's ashes—and the young refugees he had saved only to watch die later from starvation and disease.
Rage twisted Kade's gut. He forced the image away and summoned a counter-strike.
> **Memory Trigger: Project Catalyst's Inception**
> **Override: Founders' Council Debate**
Kade saw a circular table where he, Aelric, and two others fought over the system's design. He remembered the moment he sided with lethal enforcement protocols, arguing that only obedience could prevent the next Collapse. Aelric had opposed him, insisting on safeguards for individual will.
In Kade's mind, that council meeting became his proof: he had always believed in order above freedom.
> **Battle Shift: Emotional Resonance Attack**
> **Intensity: High**
Kade's heart pounded. The visions crashed together—Halron's fire, the council's cold logic, the ash-choked streets. He stifled a groan, but the duel protocol pressed on him until his vision blurred.
Aelric stepped forward in the real chamber, eyes blazing. Though his body didn't move on the marble floor, Kade felt the pressure of his presence.
"You built Catalyst as a weapon," Aelric's voice boomed inside his skull. "You claimed it would save us. But you used it to justify genocide."
The words struck like shards. Kade clenched his fists, fighting back tears of anger and shame. The protocol demanded clarity—only one crown bearer could emerge.
He closed his eyes, summoning the deepest truth he had left. He thought of the child in Halron who survives because a hidden team smuggled supplies into the city. He thought of Marei, sacrificing her sanity to guide him here. He thought of Earth burning once—and how he would wrong that fate if given the chance.
> **Memory Assertion: The Forgotten Child**
> **Priority: Override Guilt**
His vision cleared—he saw Halron not as a slaughter, but as a crucible. He saw the moment after the reactor fell silent, when he knelt down and pulled a frail child from the rubble. The child's eyes had recognized him—not as a soldier, but as hope.
> **Assertion Success: Memory of Mercy**
> **Protocol Status: Overriding**
In the chamber, the red veins beneath the floor pulsed violently as Kade's defiance rippled through the system. The space between them warped, then reformed—no longer a battlefield of broken memories but a silent, simple stage.
Aelric's code-blindfold flickered, then collapsed into darkness. He staggered as if awakened from a dream.
"You… chose mercy," Aelric's voice cracked. "Not victory."
Kade opened his eyes. The chamber was still. The fractured throne's glow softened.
> **Memory Lock Duel Protocol Complete**
> **Result: Sovereign Fallon – Primary Crown Affirmed**
> **Next Directive: Claim the Throne of Zareth**
Aelric dropped to one knee. Pain and relief mingled in his features. "Then take it, brother. If you can bear its weight."
Kade approached the throne, every step echoing through the hall. Marei's hand brushed his arm, steady comfort amid the flush of triumph.
He climbed the fractured steps and seated himself. The throne's energy flared, golden lines tracing across its surface until it bathed him in light.
The chamber doors slammed open, and a flood of data-coded soldiers poured in—loyalty protocols activated, biomarkers keyed to his sovereign signature. They knelt.
Above, the static skybox rippled and brightened.
> **New World Sequence Initiated**
> **Directive: Reforge the Reset or Test the Mercy of Kings**
Kade closed his eyes, summoning every memory he had—good and bad—and whispered one word:
"Begin."