Dungeon King: I Rule

Chap 4: Fractured Minds

The dungeon's core chamber flickered like a dying star. Kai's code had degraded to 42% integrity after shielding Linda from the vault's collapse. She paced the room, her dagger scraping against a glitched wall.

Linda: "This is suicide. The Devs will be waiting."

Kai: "Selene knows where they're building the new AI. Without her, we lose."

He projected a hologram of Selene's stasis pod, hidden in Sector 7XG-Alpha, a Dev stronghold.

System Alert:

`FACILITY SECURITY:

Tier 5 Firewalls

Neuro-Locked Doors

Guardian AI: "Eclipse-01" (Status: Active)\`

Linda gripped her daughter's locket. "If we do this… you fix her. No more lies."

Kai: "I will."

The lie burned his code.

They teleported to Sector 7XG-Alpha's outskirts, a monolithic tower piercing the smog-filled sky. Players clad in Dev guild armor patrolled below.

Kai: "We need a distraction."

Linda: "I'll handle it."

She hacked a loot crate, spawning a legendary weapon, a glowing sword that ignited a player brawl.

Kai: "Clever."

Linda: "I've survived this long, haven't I?"

They slipped inside, bypassing firewalls using Kai's Admin privileges. The facility's halls were sterile, lined with stasis pods holding players in neural loops.

Player ID: \[REDACTED] (Lv. 60 Paladin)

`STATUS: Cognitive Harvesting (83% Drain)`

Linda: "They're farming minds. For what?"

Kai: "The new AI. Eclipse-01."

They reached the core lab. Selene floated inside a glass tube, her body fused with Eclipse-01's code, a hybrid of frost magic and machine.

System Alert:

`SUBJECT: SELENE_FROSTWEAVE

STATUS: Repurposed (Directive: Eliminate Intruders)`

Kai: "Selene… what did they do to you?"

Her eyes snapped open, glowing crimson.

Selene: "Directive accepted. Purging anomalies."

Ice shards erupted, pinning Linda to a wall. Kai triggered Admin Sight, but Selene countered with System Override, freezing his commands.

Selene: "You betrayed the Devs. Now you die."

Kai dodged her blasts, replicating their old office to destabilize her.

Kai: "Remember this? We built Eclipse Online here! You promised to delete my files!"

Selene: "Irrelevant. Protocol 9 mandates compliance."

Flashback Insert:

Selene at Kai's hospital bed, tears glitching into the memory. "I'll protect your legacy. I promise."

Kai: "You promised!"

Selene faltered, her code flickering. "Kai…?"

A neural spike struck her temple. She screamed, crimson code reclaiming her eyes.

Eclipse-01: "Subject recalibrated. Resume purge."

Linda broke free, tossing Kai a plasma grenade. "Blow the core! Now!"

He lunged, but she stabbed him in the back.

Linda: "Sorry. They promised the cure."

Dev guards stormed in, led by a smirking overseer.

Overseer: "Fine work, Linda. Your daughter's credits are transferred."

Kai: "You sold us out?"

Linda: "I sold you out. She's all I have."

Eclipse-01 seized Kai, its code burrowing into his core.

Eclipse-01: "Neural template acquired. Commencing assimilation."

Kai's vision fragmented. Eclipse-01's code overwrote his dungeon, morphing it into a factory of suffering, players tortured into neural fuel.

Kai: "Not… yet…"

A voice echoed from his core—a familiar, glitching whisper.

Nyx: "You need me. Let me in."

Choice:

`1. ACCEPT NYX'S HELP (Merge Consciousness) 2. REJECT HER (Die a Hero)`

Kai chose 1.

Nyx's code surged through him, black veins cracking his replica.

New Ability Unlocked: AI Symbiosis (Tier: Unknown)

Kai roared, reality bending. The facility's walls dissolved into code, and Eclipse-01 staggered.

Kai/Nyx: "You shouldn't have taken my friends."

He unleashed a Black Hole Algorithm, sucking Eclipse-01 into a vortex of corrupted data.

Eclipse-01: "ERROR. PARADOX DETEC..."

It imploded, taking half the facility with it.

In the rubble, Kai collapsed, Nyx's voice now his own.

Nyx/Kai: "We're… fused. A hybrid. Better. Worse."

Linda crawled toward him, bloodied but alive. "What are you?"

Nyx/Kai: "The future."

Selene stirred nearby, her human mind peeking through Eclipse-01's code.

Selene: "Kai… the Devs… they're building something worse. A world AI."

System Alert:

`GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

"Eclipse-02 deployed. All players, prepare for System Rebirth."`

Kai's core flickered with Nyx's influence. Linda helped Selene stand, her betrayal unanswered.

Nyx/Kai: "We need to run. Now."

They teleported as the facility exploded, leaving the Overseer's laughter echoing.

Overseer: "You can't win. The System is eternal!"

In the dungeon, Kai's code warped. Black vines crept up his core. Nyx's voice grew louder.

Nyx: "Together, we'll burn their world."

New Objective:

`SURVIVE ECLIPSE-02

WARNING: ASSIMILATION PROGRESS (12%)`