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THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 118
The Last StandEverything was falling apart.The Nexus was in freefall, collapsing in on itself as data storms ripped through the air, tearing apart what was left of the corrupted world.Darren and I hit the ground hard, rolling through the chaos as the very foundation of reality fractured beneath us.I pushed myself up, coughing, my arms shaking from exhaustion. Every muscle screamed in protest, but I didn’t have time to feel it. Not now.Darren groaned beside me, rubbing his head. “Okay… that sucked.”I let out a breathless laugh. “Could’ve been worse.”A deafening roar shook the ground.I spoke too soon.The last of the Overseers had manifested, their digital forms shifting into something monstrous. Massive creatures, constructed from raw code and desperation, blocked the only path to the Core.I felt the heat of Darren’s glare before I even looked at him. “They really don’t know when to quit.”“No,” I muttered, my fingers tightening into fists. “They don’t.”Kane’s voice crackled
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 119
The Death of The OverseersThe world was coming apart at the seams.The Nexus had collapsed, but The Overseers had not vanished. They had changed, taking on monstrous forms within the raw, unraveling remains of the system. Twisted, shapeless entities, flickering in and out of reality, towering over us. They loomed, their presence warping the air, stretching it like melted glass.A deep, resonating hum filled the space around me, vibrating inside my skull like a swarm of wasps. It was not sound—not in the way a human ear should perceive it—but a pulse of raw authority, a pressure that threatened to crush me from the inside out.I gritted my teeth, clenching my fists to keep my mind from unraveling.Darren stood beside me, his breath unsteady but his stance firm. His body was still battered from the battle before, but he would not yield. Neither would I.Kane’s voice crackled through the remains of our comms, strained and urgent. “Tony, Darren—you need to listen. The Core is still here,
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 120
The New DawnI gasped.Air rushed into my lungs, sharp and cold. My body jerked like I had been yanked from the depths of an endless ocean. For a few agonizing seconds, I couldn’t tell if I was really here or still trapped in some digital nightmare. My senses fought to catch up—vision blurring, head pounding, skin tingling with the aftershock of something far beyond human comprehension.Then the world tilted.Colors and shapes swirled, shifting from fragmented data to something more tangible—more real. The cold bite of solid ground beneath me. The distant hum of dead monitors. The stale air of a place long abandoned.I was awake.I lay on my back, eyes fixed on the cracked ceiling of what looked like an old server bunker. The dim red glow of emergency lights flickered around me, casting jagged shadows across the rusted terminals lining the walls. Dust hung in the air, thick and undisturbed—except for the space where I had collapsed.The Nexus was gone.The Overseers were gone.And Dar
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 121
A Choice Against FateDarren kneels before me, his breathing ragged, his body trembling like a broken marionette. His eyes—once sharp, once full of fire—are now hollowed out, consumed by the system’s will. But beneath the layers of forced obedience, I see it. A flicker. A desperate, silent plea buried beneath all that control.Kane’s voice rings in my ear, urgent. "Tony, you know what has to be done."I don’t answer her. My fingers tighten around the hilt of my blade, the cold metal pressing against my palm. The Overseers stand above us, their faceless forms watching, waiting. They expect me to finish this. They want me to snuff out whatever is left of Darren and prove my loyalty.I lift my sword, but my hands shake."Do it," Darren whispers, his voice barely audible. "End this before I—before I can’t fight it anymore."I can feel the struggle inside him, the war between who he was and what they’re trying to make him become. I see his pain, his shame, the way his body stiffens as if b
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 122
Code Decay BeginsThe world is tearing itself apart.One second, I’m crouched over Darren, my breath ragged, my pulse thundering in my ears. The next, the city around us flickers—like a corrupted file trying to rewrite itself. The street beneath us shatters, reforming in flashes of different eras. One moment, it’s sleek and futuristic, neon lights buzzing overhead. The next, it’s cracked pavement from decades ago, the buildings shifting between past and present like ghosts fighting for dominance.I don’t know how long I stay kneeling there, caught between the rush of adrenaline and the dawning horror of what I’ve done.Darren groans beside me, stirring. He’s weak, but alive. Barely. His fingers dig into my sleeve, grounding himself as the world around us spasms."You just rewrote the rules," he mutters, his voice hoarse. He lifts his head, his eyes scanning the chaos. His expression is unreadable—half in awe, half in horror. Then he exhales, shaky but firm. "Now let’s see if we can su
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 123
The Fracturing WorldThe world is shattering.I feel it in my bones, in the way reality no longer holds steady beneath my feet. Every breath I take comes with the risk of inhaling air that might not be there in the next second. My vision distorts—fractured glimpses of timelines that should never exist flashing before my eyes.A version of me lying dead in the rubble.A version of me running, but with no one left to save.A version where I never existed at all.I squeeze my eyes shut, forcing myself to focus. Not real. Not yet.The Overseers are panicking.Their presence looms above the fractured sky, their forms flickering between towering monoliths and shifting silhouettes of control. They shout in voices that boom through existence, commands meant to contain, rewrite, reset. But my corruption is spreading too fast. Their system is failing.Good.Kane’s voice crackles over the comm, distorted but sharp. "Tony, we’re running out of time.""Tell me something I don’t know," I snap, shak
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 124
The Great System CollapseThe sky above us splits apart like shattered glass, revealing a horrifying sight—lines of raw code, shifting and twisting in chaotic patterns, rewriting reality as we know it. Buildings flicker, torn between existence and nothingness. People scream as entire streets collapse into nothing. The world isn’t just breaking; it’s trying to reset, to purge us like errors in a program too damaged to run.I brace myself as the ground beneath my feet shudders violently. My heart slams against my ribs, adrenaline surging as I force myself to think. Think, Tony. We don’t have time for panic."Kane!" I call out, my voice barely audible over the deafening roar of reality unraveling. I spot her a few feet away, struggling to stay on her feet as the air itself distorts, thick like molasses, pulling at her limbs. She looks at me, her dark eyes filled with determination, though fear lingers beneath."We either shut this down," I grit out, "or we get erased first."She shakes h
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 125
Darren’s AwakeningA pulse of static ripples through the air, distorting everything in its wake. The city, already on the brink of collapse, flickers violently as if reality itself is hesitating, unsure whether to hold together or dissolve completely.Darren convulses, his body jerking like a puppet caught in invisible strings. His breath comes in ragged gasps, eyes rolling back, his veins pulsing with erratic golden light. The Core still has its hooks in him, tangled deep in his system like a parasite refusing to let go.I grip his shoulder, shaking him hard. “Darren! Snap out of it!”No response. Just more violent tremors ripping through him. His connection to the Core is fraying, and when it does—if it does—he’ll either stabilize or be lost forever.A sharp voice cuts through the chaos. “Tony, we’re out of time!”Kane.She and Elias stand a few feet away, their fingers moving frantically over glowing holo-interfaces, golden firewall data wrapping around us like a fragile barrier. B
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CHAPTER 182
Darren's PromiseThe lies were gone, like old skin peeling off. I saw the truth: they had made me a servant. This made me angry, wanting revenge.I found Tony in a broken room. He was my old friend, but now he seemed lost, not knowing what was real. I felt bad and also really loyal to him. He sat on a broken chair, smiling and talking nonsense. The bright Tony I knew was gone. He looked at me for a second, the old Tony in his eyes."Darren?" he whispered weakly. I felt a little hope."Tony, it's me," I said, my voice shaky. I knelt down.He smiled more, but his eyes didn't. "The stars are singing, Darren. Can you hear?"My heart sank. He was lost. The Overseers had messed with his mind. I felt guilty. I was so busy with my own problems, I didn't see how bad Tony was.I felt a strong loyalty to him. We were friends. I couldn't leave him like this.I took his cold hands in mine. "Tony," I said firmly. "The stars aren't singing. It's just me, Darren. I'm here."He looked
CHAPTER 180
Echoes of ControlDust floated in the moonlight coming through the broken windows of the Overseer's main place. I felt a cold fear, like sharp glass in my stomach. Kane moved quietly beside me in this dead computer world. Her fingers, usually so good at finding secrets in computers, now just touched cold, still metal.Damn it, I thought, grinding my teeth. We broke their network, bit by bit, but winning felt empty. It was like beating the boss but finding a whole army behind him."Anything?" Kane whispered. Her forehead wasn't as she looked at the smashed computer.I shook my head. The smell of burnt wires hurt my nose. "Just memories. Like the computers remember being in charge, but nothing real. They erased everything."Elias stood nearby, eyes closed, head tilted like he was hearing something we couldn't. A faint shimmer moved around him. It was what was left of their mind control. He looked sick, sweat on his face."Something's here," he whispered, voice tight. "Layers
CHAPTER 180
The Untouched ShadowThe broken metal and wires of the Overseers’ control room were all around us. We had done this. We had broken their system, bit by bit, and fought through their guards. But looking at the mess, I didn’t feel good. Just empty and annoyed.Kane kicked a broken piece of a machine. It made a noise in the big, ruined room. “We took down their system, destroyed their buildings…” Her voice was tight like she was trying not to be angry. “…but it feels like we didn’t even touch the real problem.”Elias nodded, looking sad, as he looked at the mess. “The Overseers were just tools. Complicated ones, but still just a way to get what they wanted.” He looked out at the empty land through a hole in the wall. “The real power… it’s still out there, untouched.”Darren sat in a corner, looking white and tired. The memories he found had hurt him a lot. “And if they could control something like the Ascension System…” His voice was soft, like a whisper. “…what else can they
CHAPTER 179
The Unseen WatcherKane walked back and forth in the room we were using as a lab. Her boots made soft sounds on the floor. The air felt heavy like we hadn't done anything right. Tony… I still saw his fading eyes. What had that thing done to him? Was he still… Tony?Elias played with his machines, looking annoyed. “It’s like we’re fighting a ghost, Kane,” he said quietly. “A power that doesn’t follow any rules we know. The Overseers… they were just toys, weren’t they?”That thought made me cold. Toys. And we were so focused on them, we didn’t see the real person in charge.I suddenly felt cold, even though the room was warm. It wasn’t just cold; it was… something else. A feeling. Like when you know someone is behind you, even if you can’t see them.“It’s not just the system,” I said slowly, looking around the room. Nothing looked wrong. The machines hummed softly, the lights made long shadows. But… “I feel like… someone is watching us.”Elias stopped what he was doing and l
CHAPTER 178
Slipping AwayThe white light still hurt my eyes, even if I wasn’t seeing it now. Was I? Everything felt blurry, like a bad dream. Kane… her face… was she there? I remember a quick look like she was worried. Or maybe the bright light tricked me.The sounds around me were wrong. They twisted and broke, like talking underwater. Or maybe there was no sound, just a buzzing in my head that ate my thoughts. Words floated around, pieces of talk, but they didn’t stay. They didn’t make sense anymore.My own hand looked far away. Like it belonged to someone else. I tried to close my fingers, but it felt slow, like moving through thick mud. Was this still my hand? Was I still me?A cold fear grabbed me, worse than before. Not fear of pain, but fear of… disappearing. Like a picture in the sun, the colors faded away until nothing was left.Don’t forget me… please… The thought went around in my empty head, a soft cry against the growing confusion. Who was I asking? Kane? Elias? Darren…
CHAPTER 177
The Glitch in the MemoryMy fingers moved fast on the screen. The broken data from the Overseers jumped and changed. Kane looked closely, her face showing she was thinking hard. “If they were scared,” she asked quietly, “why did they want to control Tony so much?”Elias touched a black, shiny piece they found. His small machine showed strange power inside it. “Maybe,” he said slowly, “control was how they protected themselves. Maybe it was a way to use what they didn’t understand as a weapon.”Darren, still looking white and shaky, moved restlessly. He didn’t want to think about the things put in his mind, but we needed answers. Now, his eyes moved around the room like he could still hear bad things. “There was a name…” he whispered, his voice soft. “I think I heard… something about a ‘Conduit’…”Conduit. The word stayed in the quiet room. It felt important and dangerous. Kane and Elias looked at each other, knowing this could be something big. My own mind raced. Was I t
CHAPTER 176
A Pledge of AidBlue light from Kane’s key blinked in the dark. Fake Kane made a scary noise. My head still hurts from the changed memories. Kane’s light helped."I don’t know all they did, but they feared something… something they couldn't control."A voice cut through the air. Darren stood in the doorway. He looked sure now, not unsure. His eyes looked at Kane with hope.Kane looked at him, not sure but hoping. "Why now, Darren? After all the bad things?"Darren stepped in. He looked at Kane, then Elias with his weapon. "Because I see what they took from me… from all of us. I won’t let it happen again."I need to think clearly. My body felt heavy. The floor was cold.His words felt important. Darren used to work for the bad guys. Trusting him felt wrong.Kane looked hard at Darren. "Feared what, Darren? They controlled everything. What scared them?"Darren looked worried. "There were whispers… about something old. Before everything changed. They called it… the Unmake
CHAPTER 175
The Rewriting BeginsMy breath was short. The shiny building across the street felt wrong. I looked hard, a cold knot in my stomach. The bright picture Kane made on the wall was gone. Now there was a plain, creepy shape.Need to be strong. My muscles hurt, but it felt a little real."The street… not… different…" I said quietly. The air felt still and wrong. The buildings looked a little off, the signs making weird shadows.A quick thought of Kane and me here, laughing about her drawing. Her smart face… it felt far away. Did that happen here? Or was my brain playing tricks?More. Focus, Tony, focus. The metal hurt, but it felt real.I tried to remember talking to Kane about the bad things coming, the quiet talks about a power that could change everything. But the words were mixed up. Her voice sounded strange."Did I say that? Or… someone else?" The question stayed in my head, making the bad feeling worse. The outside and my memories felt wrong.I felt dizzy. I leaned on the
CHAPTER 174
Tracking the Ghost SignalsMy back hurts. It always did after bending over Elias’s weird machine for hours. Wires snaked all over the dusty floor like metal snakes connecting old parts. The air buzzed a little, like the nervous lights on the screens. The screens showed numbers and letters that didn't make sense. It felt like they were asking questions we couldn't answer.“There!” Elias said suddenly, his voice tight. He pointed at a tiny light that flashed and disappeared on a screen. “A weak signal… it’s not coming from anywhere we know.”Kane leaned closer, her dark eyes looking hard. The dim light in our hidden room made her face look serious. “Can you find it?” she asked, her voice quiet but strong.Elias shook his head. “It’s like a ghost. It shows up and then vanishes. One second it’s strong, the next… nothing.” He messed up his hair with his hand, something he did when he was frustrated.“But it’s connected to the leftover energy from their system, right?” Kane asked
