2025-03-27 18:48:02
Previous Chapter
Related Chapters
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 131
The Core AwakensThe ground beneath me trembles like a heartbeat—erratic, violent, alive. This isn’t just a system anymore. The Core is something else, something sentient. The air is thick with static, every breath sharp and electric.Before me, the Overseers hover—formless beings of shifting light and darkness. Their presence warps the space around them, flickering between dimensions, their voices layered in echoes that stretch through time itself."You have broken the balance," one of them intones, its voice rippling like a thousand whispers converging into one. "You are an anomaly that must be erased."I barely hear them over the chaos around me. The Core isn’t just rejecting me—it’s rejecting everything. The system fractures, reality splitting at the seams.A strangled scream rips through the collapsing space. Darren.I whip my head toward him. His body flickers, caught between existence and oblivion, his form shifting like a distorted signal. His eyes lock onto mine, panic floodi
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 132
Power Beyond LimitsThe Overseers descend upon me, their forms constantly shifting, rewriting themselves mid-motion. They are a storm of energy and intent, their presence distorting reality itself. I feel their influence pressing down on me, like the weight of a collapsing universe.I react instinctively, bending the digital code that makes up this realm, warping the space between us. A ripple pulses outward as I reach into the very fabric of this place, trying to disrupt them—but they adapt instantly. Their bodies glitch, twist, and reform as if my attacks never happened."You cannot win," they chant in unison, their voices layered over each other like echoes folding in on themselves. "Because you cannot exist."A blast of pure white energy surges toward me faster than I thought. Before I can react, Darren throws himself in front of it. The impact distorts him, his body flickering like corrupted data. He drops to his knees, his form struggling to stabilize."Not today," he growls thr
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 133
The Cost of PowerThe realization slams into me like a crashing wave—I’m merging with the system. It’s not just a sensation anymore. It’s a fact. My thoughts stretch beyond my body, reaching into the very foundation of this world. I can feel the threads of existence, the raw code running through everything. And worse... I can hear it calling to me.It whispers in a language I don’t fully understand yet somehow know. Each pulse of energy threading through my veins pulls me further from what I was—further from what I should be. My body hums, every cell in me vibrating like I’m no longer made of flesh and bone but something else entirely.Something beyond human.Darren grabs my arm, his grip tight, grounding me in a way I barely understand anymore. His expression is grim, his face streaked with sweat and something dangerously close to fear."Tony," he says, his voice rough. "If you don’t stop this now, you won’t be you anymore."I clench my jaw. "We don’t have a choice."Kane’s voice cra
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 134
The Overseers’ WeaknessFor the first time, the Overseers are vulnerable.I can see it in the way their forms flicker, the once-fluid movement of their shifting bodies becoming erratic. The Core pulses wildly behind them, struggling to maintain its form. The cracks along its surface spread like fractures in glass, barely holding together under the pressure.This is it.This is the moment we’ve been fighting for. The moment we win.Darren stumbles forward, his breaths ragged, his body shaking from the sheer force of the last attack. His face is pale, his hands unsteady, but there’s something dangerously close to a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth."We might actually have a shot at this," he mutters, half in disbelief, half in exhilaration.Kane grips her weapon tighter, her breathing heavy, sweat dripping down her brow. "Don’t jinx it," she warns, eyes darting around, searching for the next move.Elias exhales sharply, still shaking from the last energy wave that nearly ripped
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 135
The Last CommandDarren is gone.His form unraveled like loose code, breaking apart into nothing before I could even process it. One second, he was there—grinning, defiant even in the face of annihilation—and then he was gone. Just a void where he used to be.A gaping hole in reality.My breath is ragged, my heartbeat a fractured, uneven thing. Every instinct in my body screams for me to fall to my knees, to rage, to claw at the air and try to pull him back. But there’s no time. No moment of silence.The Overseers hover before me, shifting like phantoms, their forms flickering with raw, unstable power. They don’t feel grief. They don’t feel anything. They are constructs of logic, boundless and cruel in their indifference.But for the first time, they hesitated.They fear.I see it in the way they hold back, their movements less fluid, more rigid. Their voices, once an endless, seamless chorus of omnipotence, now crack with uncertainty.The Core pulses violently, sending out shockwaves
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 136
Rewriting RealityThe Overseers scream.It’s not a sound made of words or voices—it’s deeper, rawer, something woven into the very fabric of existence. A rupture in the foundation of everything."You do not understand what you are doing!" Their voices merge into one, echoing across time and space, distorted with something I never expected.Fear.I tighten my grip around the Core, feeling the pulsing energy writhing beneath my fingers. It’s alive—not in the way a person is, but in the way an idea is. Shifting, evolving, infinite.I let out a slow breath, and my voice carries with it the weight of everything I’ve become. "No." The word reverberates, pressing against the world itself. "But neither do you."I pull.The system bucks against me, resisting, fighting back. Timelines snap and unravel, entire realities flickering in and out of existence like dying stars. I see them all—every version of history, every possibility the Overseers have tried to control.The war-torn wastelands.The
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 137
The VoidI woke up.Or at least, I think I do.There’s no sensation, no weight, no breath—just a sudden awareness, like my mind was switched on without a body to house it. I don’t feel the warmth of skin, the pull of gravity, or even the rhythmic beat of a heart.There’s no floor beneath me. No sky above. No air to fill my lungs.There is only nothing.Not darkness. Not light. Not even an in-between. Just pure, endless absence.My thoughts drift, untethered. Where am I? How did I get here? Wasn’t I just—The Core.The fight.The Overseers.Darren—A sharp pang cuts through the void, more emotion than pain. Darren was—he was dying. I saw it.And then…I changed everything.I should be afraid. But fear feels distant. Like it belonged to another version of me. Another life.A ripple disturbs the nothingness. A presence shifts, subtle yet undeniable.Not a voice, not a sound—just a pressure.And then—"Tony…?"The whisper is faint, barely more than a ripple against my thoughts. But it’s e
THE ASCENSION SYSTEM CHAPTER 138
Echoes of ExistenceI drift.Weightless. Formless. A whisper in the void.The world I knew flickers like static, pieces of reality breaking apart and reforming around me. Nothing stays solid for long. It’s like watching an old film reel catching fire, each frame dissolving into something new, something rewritten. But I’m no longer part of the story.Kane’s voice is distant and fractured. "Tony!"I try to turn toward her, but there’s no turning. Nobody to turn with."We’re losing him!"Her voice wavers, sharp with desperation. She’s reaching for me, but she might as well be a million miles away."Tony, don’t leave us!" Elias adds, but I can’t even tell if he’s speaking to me or the void that surrounds us.His voice, like Kane’s, fades into nothing, absorbed by the vast emptiness.Elias stands beside her, gripping the Core—what’s left of it—like it’s the last fragile thread holding reality together. His knuckles are white, his jaw locked tight. But even he knows.This is it.I glance at
Latest Chapter
CHAPTER 190
The Unseen HandWe walked deeper into the broken building. The air had a low buzzing sound that made my teeth feel funny. It felt like we were getting to the center of everything. Kane’s light moved over walls with strange drawings, the same ones from the leather book. They seemed to glow a little.“This way,” Kane whispered, her voice tight. She pointed to a strong metal door behind some broken wall. It looked new in all the mess.Elias pulled at the door, and it made loud noises before opening with a bang. The room inside was round, with glowing lines on the walls. In the middle was a strange machine with metal rings and shiny parts. It made a buzzing sound, and the air around it shook a little.“What is this?” I whispered, walking closer. The drawing from the book was on the shiny part in the middle, glowing strangely. It felt alive.Kane walked around the machine slowly, looking at everything. “This has to be it. The thing that’s causing all this.”Elias reached out to
CHAPTER 189
The Fading AnchorI felt like I was falling fast. The colors around me spun and didn't make sense. Was this the floor? Or the sky upside down? A hand grabbed my arm, strong and familiar, but the face above changed. One second it was Darren, looking worried like always. The next, it was a scary person from a dream I almost forgot, with glowing eyes."Easy, Tony. Just breathe." It was Darren's voice, thank goodness. For now.I blinked, trying to see clearly. My head felt full of buzzing; each buzzed a different, mixed-up memory. Kane… where was Kane? Had she been here? Or was that just a whisper from another time?"Kane… the… the light…" I mumbled, the words feeling thick in my mouth. Light. Yes, there was a bright light, a tear in the world. And then… everything became a mess of broken pictures.Darren held my arm tighter. "Kane's not here now, Tony. It's just me. Remember? Darren."Darren. Yes, I remembered Darren. Sometimes. He was… real. Something steady in this craz
CHAPTER 188
The Tangled WebDust floated in the dim light through dirty windows. The air smelled old and a bit like metal and something sweet. Kane's light moved across the dark room, showing broken machines and glass. My stomach felt bad; this place felt very wrong."See anything, Elias?" Kane's quiet voice barely made a sound. She moved carefully, her hand near her gun. I stayed close behind, my heart beating fast. The drawing we found led us here, an old building outside the city that wasn't on any maps. That made me scared.Forgotten for a reason, I thought, looking at a table with broken bottles and strange tools – some for living things, others like machines mixed together. It was a gross mix."Tony, look here." Elias's voice was usually calm, but now it sounded worried. He was kneeling by a broken metal box. Inside were glass jars with weird things floating in liquid, with thin wires all through them. I couldn't breathe for a second. This wasn't just science; it was horrible.
CHAPTER 187
Darren's WatchThe room was dim, but I could see the tired lines on Darren’s face. He hadn’t slept much. He watched Tony all the time, trying to guess what Tony was seeing in his head. He told Tony old stories, showed him old pictures, played music they both knew – anything to help Tony remember. Sometimes, Tony’s eyes would focus, and he’d remember a joke or something fun they did. But these moments were quick, like flashes of light before a storm. Then, Tony would go back to being lost. Darren was getting more and more worried that he was losing his friend.Darren sat next to Tony, holding an old picture. It was the four of us – me, Elias, Tony, and Darren – smiling after we did something dangerous but got away with it. Tony had dirt on his face and looked happy.“Remember this, Tony?” Darren’s voice was quiet. He held the picture close to Tony’s face. “That old computer place? We thought we were going to die when the robots locked the doors. But you… you fixed that old
CHAPTER 186
The Shifting LandscapeThe air this morning felt wrong. Not just city dirt, but different. Like something familiar had changed a little. Elias smelled it too.“Did you feel that Kane?” he asked, looking around. “Something feels… heavy.”I checked my systems. The air was okay. But I knew what he meant. It felt like the world was holding its breath.We were following a clue, a small digital piece left in the Overseers’ broken computer system. It pointed to a secret lab outside the city. We knew the way. Or so I thought.The first thing that was really wrong happened after walking three blocks. A street we knew very well was just… gone. Instead, there was a tall, black wall, smooth and endless. It looked old and strange like it didn’t belong there.“What the…” Elias said, stopping. He touched the wall. “This wasn’t here yesterday, Kane. I’m sure.”My inside maps agreed. This street was important. It couldn’t just disappear. My brain couldn’t understand it. It was impossibl
CHAPTER 185
The Seed of DoubtThe quiet hum of the Overseer's secret room always bugged me. It felt cold and planned. Tonight, the air felt tight, like something was about to break. Elias, next to me, looked closely at the moving computer words.“See anything?” I whispered. The room was quiet, so my voice felt loud. I checked for hidden traps. This room was supposed to be impossible to get into. But we were inside.Elias made a noise like he was annoyed. “Lots of locks inside locks, Kane. They weren’t kidding.” He stopped, tilting his head. “Wait… something’s not right.”On the screen, one file glowed in the middle of broken computer stuff. It looked perfect. A soft light blinked inside it.When the picture on the file showed up, I held my breath. It wasn’t tech like I knew. The lines looked like they were alive. A soft light moved inside.Elias made a small sound. I looked at him. He looked worried. “Do you feel that, Kane? It feels old.”I did feel it. A little shake inside me.
CHAPTER 184
Listening to NothingTony was slipping away. Not like falling asleep, but in a broken, scary way. What was real for him was fading, like sand in a hand. The Architect's power was still there, like a poison inside him.His memories were like water, moving and mixing, past times all messed up. One minute he'd talk about a trip to a star we never went to, describing things we never saw. Then he'd ask about Joyce, a woman Kane and I never knew, his voice sad."She always loved the rain, Darren," he'd say, looking at nothing. "Said it washed away the noise.""Tony," I'd say softly, holding his hand. "There was no trip to that star. And I don't know Joyce. It's just you, me, and Kane."He'd look confused for a second. "But... the red deserts... the shiny trees..." Then he'd look away again like he was hearing something far off.He started seeing things. Faces would flash in the shadows, people I couldn't see. He'd point, handshaking. "Did you see that? By the door... the woman
CHAPTER 183
The World Playing TricksSomething felt wrong. Not just a little, but deep down. It started with small things that you could almost ignore. But that bad feeling in my neck wouldn't leave.We were walking back through a part of the Overseer place we had already checked. Kane was looking for any missed computer spots, and Elias was feeling for leftover mind energy."This room..." Kane stopped, looking confused. "I'm sure this room was empty."I looked around. It was a small, round room with dead computers. Nothing special. "Yeah, I remember. We checked for traps."But in the middle of the room now was something I had never seen. It was round, black like stone, and had a soft blue light inside. Thin, silver lines went across it and into the smooth surface."That wasn't here before," Elias said quietly. He moved slowly towards it, hand out but not touching. "I would have felt... something."Kane used her scanner. "The energy is... strange. Not Overseer stuff. Not anything I k
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
