Apocalypse System: I Evolve by Devouring Everything

System Hard Reset

"Jon... Jon? Why is there a number under my skin?!"

Emma screamed hysterically, scratching her wrist until it bled. The number [0.1%] glowed faintly, embedded deep within her veins. Around her, dozens of figures with faces identical to Jonathan stood frozen, staring at her with the exact same smile.

"Don't scratch it, Em. It’ll hurt," the dozens of Jonathans said in unison. Their voices overlapped, creating a terrifying echo in her ears.

"Crazy! This is absolutely crazy! Jonathan, what have you done?!" Sienna shouted, her energy sword trembling in her grip. She pointed the tip of her blade at the nearest Jonathan. "Back off! I won't hesitate to cut your head off, real or fake!"

"Real? Fake? Those boundaries don't exist anymore, Sienna," one of the Jonathans stepped forward, arms wide open as if to embrace the world. "I am the system now. And this system needs a wider vessel to save what's left of this trash planet."

"Save?! You call forced assimilation saving?! You're killing their souls, Jon!" Sienna charged, slashing her sword horizontally.

SLASH!

One of Jonathan’s heads was severed, rolling onto the wet asphalt. But there was no blood. The cut neck only spewed purple digital codes before the body evaporated into light particles. The next second, those particles reformed behind Sienna, creating a new Jonathan.

"Useless, Sienna. You can't kill something that is everywhere," Jonathan whispered right into Sienna’s ear.

"GET AWAY!" Sienna spun around, kicking Jonathan’s chest, sending him flying.

"Jon! Stop! Please, not like this!" Emma fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face. "I'd rather die than be part of... of whatever this is!"

Suddenly, the number on Emma’s hand changed. [0.5%... 1.2%... 2.8%].

"Feels weird, right, Em? Like cold water flowing through your brain?" The real Jonathan—or at least the one closest to Emma—crouched in front of her. His eyes were now pure purple, no whites at all. "Don't fight it. The more you fight, the more it hurts. Just give in. You'll see what I see. You'll feel as strong as me."

"No! I don't want to be strong if I have to become a monster!" Emma covered her ears, trying to block Jonathan’s voice now creeping directly into her mind.

"Monster is relative, Em. To ants, humans are monsters. To humans, 'The Cleaners' are monsters. But to me... they're all just variables to be managed." For a split second, Jonathan’s own voice sounded alien to his ears.

As if something inside him was speaking using his mouth. Jonathan stood up, looking into the city's darkness. "Look. They're starting to wake up."

From behind the ruined buildings, survivors began emerging one by one. A mother clutching her child, an injured old man, even the remaining thugs of Baron’s gang. All walked with stiff steps. All had purple light leaking from their eyes.

"Hello, Jonathan," they all said simultaneously. Thousands of voices merged into one frequency that vibrated the asphalt.

"Hello, Myself," Jonathan replied with a satisfied smile.

Sienna trembled. She lowered her sword, not out of surrender, but from a horror that paralyzed her nerves. "This isn't a monster apocalypse anymore. It's an identity apocalypse. You're stealing the one thing that makes us human, Jon. Our ego."

"Ego is what made Reymond destroy my life. Ego is what made Silas turn us into lab rats. I'm just... deleting the disease," Jonathan walked toward Sienna. "You too, Sienna. You have the purest Alpha DNA. If you join, we can be the perfect control center. Don't you want us to be together again? Like before?"

"Together like before? Are you joking?!" Sienna spat on the ground. "I did love you, Jon. But the Jonathan I loved was a human with dreams, fears, and weaknesses. Not a walking server like you!"

"Too bad. I had a special place prepared for you in this hierarchy," Jonathan raised his hand. His fingers began emitting purple light threads floating in the air. "System, accelerate Sector 7 area synchronization."

[Command Accepted. Global Overclocking: Initiated.]

"AGHHH! MY HEAD!" Emma screamed in pain, clutching her head as if it were being drilled from the inside. The number on her hand jumped drastically. [15%... 30%... 55%].

"Jon! Stop! You're hurting her!" Sienna tried to attack Jonathan again, but this time thousands of synchronized survivors moved forward, blocking her path. They formed an impenetrable human wall.

"Move, all of you! I don't want to hurt civilians!" Sienna shouted in frustration.

"We are not civilians anymore, Sienna. We are defense. We are the white blood cells of this new organism," said one survivor, a middle-aged man who looked weak before but now possessed hardened muscles and sharp, glowing eyes.

"You hear that, Sienna? This world is evolving. And you... you're just a fossil refusing to go extinct," Jonathan floated slowly, his feet no longer touching the ground. "In five minutes, this entire city will have one mind. One will. And we will fly to the sky to hunt down the remaining 'Cleaner' fleet. We will prey on them."

"You want to wage a star war using these people's lives?!" Sienna’s eyes widened.

"Not war. It's called environmental cleanup," Jonathan chuckled. "System, Emma's status?"

[Subject Emma: Synchronization 85%. Individual Consciousness: Decreasing. Entering Integration Phase.]

"Jon..." Emma’s voice sounded strange now. No more fear. Her tone was flat. "I... I can see everything. I can see the stars... I can see codes in the air... Jon, this is... so beautiful..."

"Emma! Don't listen to him! Fight it, Em!" Sienna tried to break through the crowd, slashing anyone in her way, but they kept coming like an endless wave.

"Useless, Sienna. Emma has seen the truth," Jonathan landed in front of Emma, extending his hand. "Come on, Em. Wake up. Show Sienna what it feels like to be part of something bigger than mere humanity."

Emma reached for Jonathan’s hand. Her hand trembled slightly before touching it—

as if a part of her was still trying to pull back. She stood up slowly. Her once clear eyes were now clouded with thick purple fog. She turned to Sienna with a deadly blank stare.

"Sienna... why are you still so noisy?" Emma asked. Her voice was no longer that of an innocent girl, but a layered voice, identical to Jonathan’s. "Just join. So the pain goes away. So your loneliness disappears."

"No... this isn't right... this is a nightmare..." Sienna backed away steadily, her sword dimming. She was surrounded by thousands of people with the same stare.

Suddenly, the calm sky rumbled again. A new dimensional hole opened, but this time it wasn't black or purple. It was bright gold, radiating a holy aura that contrasted sharply with Jonathan’s dark energy.

[WARNING! Deity-Level Entity Detected!]

[Supreme Authority Identified: 'The Architects'.]

[Suggestion: Prepare Total Defense Protocol.]

"Architects? Who are they now?!" Jonathan looked up, his eyes narrowing with hostility.

A being made of pure light descended from the hole. It resembled a human but had no face, only a large triangle symbol on its chest. The moment its feet touched the atmosphere, every newly synchronized survivor was forced to their knees, except Jonathan. The being didn't even raise its voice. As if Jonathan’s existence wasn't important enough to be treated as a threat. To them, Jonathan was nothing more than a system error report.

"Subject Jonathan. You have exceeded the permissible limits in this Experiment Sector," the being's voice sounded like a bell echoing throughout the city.

"Experiment?! You say the apocalypse on this Earth is just your cheap experiment?!" Jonathan roared, black energy exploding from his body, trying to resist the gravity pressure from the light being.

"Legion Evolution is not included in our blueprint. You are a biological anomaly that must be immediately purged," the being raised its hand. A very thin but incredibly sharp golden light descended from the sky, splitting clouds and buildings in its path.

"System! Activate All Shields! Use all survivors' energy as reserve!" Jonathan ordered frantically.

"NO! YOU'LL KILL THEM ALL!" Sienna screamed, but it was too late.

Thousands of survivors around them suddenly convulsed. The purple light in their eyes was forcibly pulled out to form a massive shield above Jonathan’s head. Emma collapsed, her body shaking violently. However, instead of being left to die, the life essence of Emma and the survivors was forcibly pulled into Jonathan’s Legion Core—locked inside the system so their souls wouldn't be obliterated by the God’s holy light attack.

"Forgive me, Em! This is the only way so your souls aren't wiped out by them!" Jonathan focused all his energy on the shield.

CRAAAAASSSSHHH!

The golden beam hit the purple shield with force enough to vaporize an ocean. The entire city shook violently. Jonathan groaned, his legs sinking into the asphalt up to his knees.

"So strong... who... who are you really?!"

"We are the legitimate owners of the Alpha System you stole. And now, we have come to reclaim our asset," the light being began splitting into thousands, surrounding Jonathan from every corner of the sky.

Jonathan grinned wildly, though fresh blood began flowing from his eyes. He looked at Emma lying helpless, then at Sienna still standing with her remaining strength.

"You want this system? Come and get it if you can! But don't expect me to give these people's souls for free!" Jonathan released his shield and instead blasted his energy toward the heart of the destroyed mothership, triggering an unexpected chain reaction.

"Jon! What are you doing?!" Sienna shouted in panic.

"I'm going to create destruction you can't fix, you arrogant Architect!" Jonathan laughed maniacally as his body began to crack and shatter into thousands of energy code fragments.

Suddenly, the virtual screen in front of everyone remaining turned deep red with a blinking message:

[CRITICAL: ALPHA VIRUS CONTAMINATION ON REALITY CORE.]

[INITIATING 'HARD RESET' PROCEDURE.]

[TIME REMAINING: 3... 2...]

"JONATHAAAAAN!!!"

White light swallowed the entire world.

"Jon... Jon? Why is there a number under my skin?!"

Emma screamed hysterically, scratching her wrist until it bled. The number [0.1%] glowed faintly, embedded deep within her veins. Around her, dozens of figures with faces identical to Jonathan stood frozen, staring at her with the exact same smile.

"Don't scratch it, Em. It’ll hurt," the dozens of Jonathans said in unison. Their voices overlapped, creating a terrifying echo in her ears.

"Crazy! This is absolutely crazy! Jonathan, what have you done?!" Sienna shouted, her energy sword trembling in her grip. She pointed the tip of her blade at the nearest Jonathan. "Back off! I won't hesitate to cut your head off, real or fake!"

"Real? Fake? Those boundaries don't exist anymore, Sienna," one of the Jonathans stepped forward, arms wide open as if to embrace the world. "I am the system now. And this system needs a wider vessel to save what's left of this trash planet."

"Save?! You call forced assimilation saving?! You're killing their souls, Jon!" Sienna charged, slashing her sword horizontally.

SLASH!

One of Jonathan’s heads was severed, rolling onto the wet asphalt. But there was no blood. The cut neck only spewed purple digital codes before the body evaporated into light particles. The next second, those particles reformed behind Sienna, creating a new Jonathan.

"Useless, Sienna. You can't kill something that is everywhere," Jonathan whispered right into Sienna’s ear.

"GET AWAY!" Sienna spun around, kicking Jonathan’s chest, sending him flying.

"Jon! Stop! Please, not like this!" Emma fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face. "I'd rather die than be part of... of whatever this is!"

Suddenly, the number on Emma’s hand changed. [0.5%... 1.2%... 2.8%].

"Feels weird, right, Em? Like cold water flowing through your brain?" The real Jonathan—or at least the one closest to Emma—crouched in front of her. His eyes were now pure purple, no whites at all. "Don't fight it. The more you fight, the more it hurts. Just give in. You'll see what I see. You'll feel as strong as me."

"No! I don't want to be strong if I have to become a monster!" Emma covered her ears, trying to block Jonathan’s voice now creeping directly into her mind.

"Monster is relative, Em. To ants, humans are monsters. To humans, 'The Cleaners' are monsters. But to me... they're all just variables to be managed." For a split second, Jonathan’s own voice sounded alien to his ears.

As if something inside him was speaking using his mouth. Jonathan stood up, looking into the city's darkness. "Look. They're starting to wake up."

From behind the ruined buildings, survivors began emerging one by one. A mother clutching her child, an injured old man, even the remaining thugs of Baron’s gang. All walked with stiff steps. All had purple light leaking from their eyes.

"Hello, Jonathan," they all said simultaneously. Thousands of voices merged into one frequency that vibrated the asphalt.

"Hello, Myself," Jonathan replied with a satisfied smile.

Sienna trembled. She lowered her sword, not out of surrender, but from a horror that paralyzed her nerves. "This isn't a monster apocalypse anymore. It's an identity apocalypse. You're stealing the one thing that makes us human, Jon. Our ego."

"Ego is what made Reymond destroy my life. Ego is what made Silas turn us into lab rats. I'm just... deleting the disease," Jonathan walked toward Sienna. "You too, Sienna. You have the purest Alpha DNA. If you join, we can be the perfect control center. Don't you want us to be together again? Like before?"

"Together like before? Are you joking?!" Sienna spat on the ground. "I did love you, Jon. But the Jonathan I loved was a human with dreams, fears, and weaknesses. Not a walking server like you!"

"Too bad. I had a special place prepared for you in this hierarchy," Jonathan raised his hand. His fingers began emitting purple light threads floating in the air. "System, accelerate Sector 7 area synchronization."

[Command Accepted. Global Overclocking: Initiated.]

"AGHHH! MY HEAD!" Emma screamed in pain, clutching her head as if it were being drilled from the inside. The number on her hand jumped drastically. [15%... 30%... 55%].

"Jon! Stop! You're hurting her!" Sienna tried to attack Jonathan again, but this time thousands of synchronized survivors moved forward, blocking her path. They formed an impenetrable human wall.

"Move, all of you! I don't want to hurt civilians!" Sienna shouted in frustration.

"We are not civilians anymore, Sienna. We are defense. We are the white blood cells of this new organism," said one survivor, a middle-aged man who looked weak before but now possessed hardened muscles and sharp, glowing eyes.

"You hear that, Sienna? This world is evolving. And you... you're just a fossil refusing to go extinct," Jonathan floated slowly, his feet no longer touching the ground. "In five minutes, this entire city will have one mind. One will. And we will fly to the sky to hunt down the remaining 'Cleaner' fleet. We will prey on them."

"You want to wage a star war using these people's lives?!" Sienna’s eyes widened.

"Not war. It's called environmental cleanup," Jonathan chuckled. "System, Emma's status?"

[Subject Emma: Synchronization 85%. Individual Consciousness: Decreasing. Entering Integration Phase.]

"Jon..." Emma’s voice sounded strange now. No more fear. Her tone was flat. "I... I can see everything. I can see the stars... I can see codes in the air... Jon, this is... so beautiful..."

"Emma! Don't listen to him! Fight it, Em!" Sienna tried to break through the crowd, slashing anyone in her way, but they kept coming like an endless wave.

"Useless, Sienna. Emma has seen the truth," Jonathan landed in front of Emma, extending his hand. "Come on, Em. Wake up. Show Sienna what it feels like to be part of something bigger than mere humanity."

Emma reached for Jonathan’s hand. Her hand trembled slightly before touching it—

as if a part of her was still trying to pull back. She stood up slowly. Her once clear eyes were now clouded with thick purple fog. She turned to Sienna with a deadly blank stare.

"Sienna... why are you still so noisy?" Emma asked. Her voice was no longer that of an innocent girl, but a layered voice, identical to Jonathan’s. "Just join. So the pain goes away. So your loneliness disappears."

"No... this isn't right... this is a nightmare..." Sienna backed away steadily, her sword dimming. She was surrounded by thousands of people with the same stare.

Suddenly, the calm sky rumbled again. A new dimensional hole opened, but this time it wasn't black or purple. It was bright gold, radiating a holy aura that contrasted sharply with Jonathan’s dark energy.

[WARNING! Deity-Level Entity Detected!]

[Supreme Authority Identified: 'The Architects'.]

[Suggestion: Prepare Total Defense Protocol.]

"Architects? Who are they now?!" Jonathan looked up, his eyes narrowing with hostility.

A being made of pure light descended from the hole. It resembled a human but had no face, only a large triangle symbol on its chest. The moment its feet touched the atmosphere, every newly synchronized survivor was forced to their knees, except Jonathan. The being didn't even raise its voice. As if Jonathan’s existence wasn't important enough to be treated as a threat. To them, Jonathan was nothing more than a system error report.

"Subject Jonathan. You have exceeded the permissible limits in this Experiment Sector," the being's voice sounded like a bell echoing throughout the city.

"Experiment?! You say the apocalypse on this Earth is just your cheap experiment?!" Jonathan roared, black energy exploding from his body, trying to resist the gravity pressure from the light being.

"Legion Evolution is not included in our blueprint. You are a biological anomaly that must be immediately purged," the being raised its hand. A very thin but incredibly sharp golden light descended from the sky, splitting clouds and buildings in its path.

"System! Activate All Shields! Use all survivors' energy as reserve!" Jonathan ordered frantically.

"NO! YOU'LL KILL THEM ALL!" Sienna screamed, but it was too late.

Thousands of survivors around them suddenly convulsed. The purple light in their eyes was forcibly pulled out to form a massive shield above Jonathan’s head. Emma collapsed, her body shaking violently. However, instead of being left to die, the life essence of Emma and the survivors was forcibly pulled into Jonathan’s Legion Core—locked inside the system so their souls wouldn't be obliterated by the God’s holy light attack.

"Forgive me, Em! This is the only way so your souls aren't wiped out by them!" Jonathan focused all his energy on the shield.

CRAAAAASSSSHHH!

The golden beam hit the purple shield with force enough to vaporize an ocean. The entire city shook violently. Jonathan groaned, his legs sinking into the asphalt up to his knees.

"So strong... who... who are you really?!"

"We are the legitimate owners of the Alpha System you stole. And now, we have come to reclaim our asset," the light being began splitting into thousands, surrounding Jonathan from every corner of the sky.

Jonathan grinned wildly, though fresh blood began flowing from his eyes. He looked at Emma lying helpless, then at Sienna still standing with her remaining strength.

"You want this system? Come and get it if you can! But don't expect me to give these people's souls for free!" Jonathan released his shield and instead blasted his energy toward the heart of the destroyed mothership, triggering an unexpected chain reaction.

"Jon! What are you doing?!" Sienna shouted in panic.

"I'm going to create destruction you can't fix, you arrogant Architect!" Jonathan laughed maniacally as his body began to crack and shatter into thousands of energy code fragments.

Suddenly, the virtual screen in front of everyone remaining turned deep red with a blinking message:

[CRITICAL: ALPHA VIRUS CONTAMINATION ON REALITY CORE.]

[INITIATING 'HARD RESET' PROCEDURE.]

[TIME REMAINING: 3... 2...]

"JONATHAAAAAN!!!"

White light swallowed the entire world.