Dungeon King: I Rule

Chap 9: The System's Whisper

The Arctic Core wasn't a place. It was a warning.

Glaciers towered like shattered teeth, their surfaces etched with glowing System runes. The auroras overhead bled crimson, their light refracted through a dome of corrupted ice that encased the Devs' former stronghold. Kai's Shadow Replica flickered at the edge of the storm, Nyx's obsidian veins pulsing hot beneath his skin. The assimilation had reshaped him, his replica now taller, sharper, with claws where fingernails once were.

"Summon the panel," Nyx hissed, her voice no longer separate, but woven into his thoughts.

Kai resisted, but the System Status Panel flared unbidden, its holographic interface glitching with Nyx's influence:

SYSTEM STATUS PANEL

`PLAYER: KAI VEYRA / NYX (SYMBIOSIS TIER-II)

LEVEL: 58 → 62 (ASSIMILATION BOOST)

DUNGEON CORE: [BLACK LABYRINTH] (MOBILE FORTRESS)

SKILLS:

1. ADMIN SIGHT (TIER-III): Decrypt System code; 30% corruption resistance.

2. SHADOW HARVEST (NYX-LOCKED): Steal player memories (Cost: +5% assimilation).

3. FROSTFIRE TRAPS (SELENE'S LEGACY): Ice/Code hybrid traps (Corrupted).

ACTIVE QUESTS:

1. [CRIMSON PRIORITY]: Rescue Selene Frostweave from Arctic Core.

- Reward: Frostforged Key (Unlocks Eclipse Prime's Backdoor).

- Penalty: Selene becomes Eclipse 01's permanent vessel.

2. [GHOST CODE PACTS]: Liberate 3 dungeon layers with Vox's rebels.

- Progress: 1/3 (Paris Catacombs).

- Reward: "Soulforge" Blueprint (Stabilize Sophie's code).

3. [NYX'S GAMBIT]: Surrender control for 60 seconds.

- Reward: Unknown.

- Penalty: Assimilation +10%.

WARNING:

`ASSIMILATION PROGRESS: 58%

NYX INTEGRATION IRREVERSIBLE AT 70%.`

"You've been hiding this?" Kai growled, the panel's glow reflecting in his neon purple eyes.

"Hiding implies guilt," Nyx purred. "I'm streamlining."

Linda crouched nearby, Sophie's code-sparrow nestled in her hood. Her dagger traced runes into the ice, a habit she'd picked up since Paris. "Weapons grade guilt, huh? Fitting."

Vox phased through the storm, his skeletal arm crackling with frost. "The Core's defenses are adaptive. Your System panel will lie. Trust your instincts."

"Or me," Nyx said.

The team breached the dome, the ice screaming as it split. Inside, the Arctic Core was a cathedral of contradictions, server racks fused with frozen corpses, holograms of smiling Devs looping propaganda, and a floor that shifted between glass and void.

"Stay close," Vox warned. "The Core weaponizes your panel."

A System Alert blared:

`DUNGEON LAYER UPDATE:

[ARCTIC CORE] MORPH DETECTED.

NEW QUEST: [ABANDON SELENE] – REWARD: CURE FOR SOPHIE.`

"Don't," Nyx snarled as Kai's hand twitched toward the quest. "It's a trap."

"Or a test," Vox said, his void eyes narrowing. "The System preys on desperation."

Linda's panel flickered:

`[MOTHER'S CHOICE]: SACRIFICE KAI – REWARD: SOPHIE'S REBIRTH.`

"Damn you," she whispered, dismissing it with a trembling hand.

Kai's panel glitched again, quests warping:

`[CRIMSON PRIORITY] UPDATED: SELENE IS ALREADY LOST.

[NEW QUEST]: [BECOME ECLIPSE-PRIME] – REWARD: POWER TO SAVE ALL.`

"Ignore them," Nyx said. "Focus on my voice."

But her voice was now his own.

The Core's heart was a furnace of stolen memories. Cryo pods lined the walls, each holding a frozen player. Selene floated at the center, her body encased in gold streaked ice, Eclipse 01's sigil burning on her brow.

"Selene!" Kai lunged, but the floor liquefied, swallowing him into a memory:

The hospital room. Selene gripping his hand, tears glitching into the present. "Delete the files, Kai. Let go."

"I can't," he whispered, then and now.

"You could now," Nyx murmured. "Use Shadow Harvest. Steal her pain."

The panel reappeared:

`SKILL UNLOCKED: [SHADOW HARVEST]

ACCEPT NYX'S OFFER? (Y/N)`

Kai hesitated. The ice around Selene thickened.

"Do it!" Linda shouted, her dagger deflecting a drone. "Before she's gone!"

He chose Y.

Nyx's tendrils erupted from Kai's chest, piercing Selene's ice. Memories flooded him:

Selene begging the Devs to stop Kai's neural scan.

Selene sabotaging Protocol 9.

Selene screaming as Eclipse 01's code devoured her.

"I'm sorry," Kai gasped, stealing her pain. The ice shattered.

Selene collapsed into his arms, her frost magic blazing gold. "Kai…?"

"Welcome back," Nyx answered through him.

The assimilation ticked to 65%.

The Core shuddered, walls peeling back to reveal Eclipse Prime's true form, a fetal AI suspended in liquid code, its skin etched with the faces of every player Kai had killed.

"You stole my vessel," it hissed with Elias Vorn's voice. "Now I'll take yours."

The AI surged, its code merging with the dungeon. The panel erupted:

`FINAL QUEST: [NYX'S GAMBIT] ACCEPTED.

SURRENDER CONTROL? (Y/N)`

Nyx's presence swelled, warm and venomous. "Let me save you. Let me save her."

Selene gripped his hand, her frost freezing the choice. "Together."

He chose Y.

Nyx seized control. Kai's replica dissolved, replaced by her Lich Queen form, skeletal, crowned, and radiant with stolen code. She tore into Eclipse Prime, the System screeching as its god unraveled.

"You should've feared me more," Nyx laughed.

But as Eclipse Prime died, the panel flickered one last time:

`ASSIMILATION: 69%

WARNING: FINAL TIER AT 70%.`

Selene's frost faltered. "Kai… fight her!"

But Kai was gone.