Level 999: The Glitch King

Voluntary Action Review

REQUESTING AUTHORIZATION...

The words remained between Jace’s fingers and the throne long enough to become insulting.

“Well,” he said. “This is a very slow yes.”

The chain answered by lowering his arm.

MOVEMENT REQUEST: DENIED.

Reason: Territorial contact presents elevated recovery risk.

It did not jerk him away. It guided his hand down with the same patient care Theodore had used while fitting the links around his wrist.

That made it worse.

Jace pulled back on his own.

Retreat from restricted interface: APPROVED.

His wrist moved cleanly. Easily. The chain almost seemed pleased with him.

APPROVED MOVEMENT EFFICIENCY: +14%.

“So my hand works,” Jace said. “It just has management now.”

“The review is temporary,” Theodore replied.

“Temporary things usually come with an end date.”

“They come with an objective.”

Caleb stood behind him, recording small gold symbols over one palm.

SUBJECT RESPONSE: HOSTILE HUMOR.

COGNITIVE FUNCTION: INTACT.

DIAGNOSTIC COOPERATION: PARTIAL.

Jace glanced at the last line. “You’re counting jokes as cooperation?”

“You remain verbally responsive.”

“I’ll try to be less helpful.”

He reached toward Seraphina instead.

The chain allowed it.

Contact with external claimant: APPROVED.

Her hand closed around his. She did not pull him up or squeeze hard enough to make a point. She simply held on.

“Stand,” she said.

Jace planted his left hand against the floor and braced with the right.

Brace to stand: APPROVED.

His arm held. One knee came beneath him. The room tilted, his balance failed, and the chain tightened around his wrist before he could collapse onto it.

He ended up back on the marble, breathing harder than the effort deserved.

“And that,” he said, “is called cheating.”

“It is called recovery,” Theodore said.

Seraphina stayed crouched in front of him. “Reach for the throne again.”

Jace did.

His hand stopped four inches short.

Reach toward restricted territorial interface: DENIED.

No pain. No warning. Just a door quietly deciding not to open.

“Did you try to stand?” Seraphina asked.

“Yes.”

“Did you want to?”

“Yes.”

“Did your body follow your intention?”

Jace looked at his frozen arm. “Selectively.”

“That is the answer,” she said, turning to Theodore.

A sharper notice appeared.

INTENT RECOGNIZED.

FINAL AUTHORIZATION: WITHHELD.

“His will is intact,” Seraphina said.

“No one claimed otherwise,” Theodore replied.

For a moment, the throne room seemed quieter than the containment field should have allowed.

Jace had expected the chain to dull his thoughts or persuade him that he had never wanted the throne. Instead, it understood him perfectly.

It simply considered that understanding sufficient.

“Good system,” he said. “Very respectful.”

“The distinction matters.”

“To who?”

“To the part of you that survives.”

CHAIN ATTUNEMENT: 22% → 31%.

Caleb’s fingers moved through another line of symbols. “Denial registered. Safety correction applied.”

“You keep calling it that.”

“Because it is accurate.”

“It really isn’t.”

Elijah’s hand moved.

Not toward his wrist this time. Toward the throne.

It stopped at almost the same angle as Jace’s, fingers extended into empty air. The motion was so brief Theodore might have missed it.

Jace did not.

“Elijah.”

The hand dropped.

Jace filed that beside the first twitch.

CHAIN ATTUNEMENT: 31% → 40%.

Breach Sight opened behind his eyes.

The chain separated into layers. The visible links were only the final piece. Beneath them ran a queue of gold instructions carrying every movement request away from his body.

APPROVAL HIERARCHY

1. Sunchain Safety Law

2. Bloodline Preservation

3. Asset Value

4. Subject Intent

His own intention sat last. Below the House. Below his bloodline. Below whatever number the System had assigned his body.

Subject intent was not denied.

It was advisory.

Breach Sight pushed deeper. The relief resisted him, smoothing the chain’s edges whenever he tried to focus. He forced through it and found a narrow request opening before every approved or denied action.

The chain asked for permission outside the room.

Only then did it move him.

AUTHORIZATION ROUTE: EXTERNAL.

EXECUTION DELAY: 0.3 SECONDS.

Breach Sight Proficiency: 12% → 16%.

There.

A seam.

Jace closed the sight before the pressure behind his eyes became expensive.

Theodore watched him. “What did you find?”

“My opinion is fourth.”

“It remains present.”

“So does a complaint filed in the basement.”

Caleb’s symbols changed.

RECOVERY RESISTANCE: 12% → 14%.

WILLPOWER PROFICIENCY: 52% → 55%.

CORRUPTION LOAD: 82%. UNCHANGED.

“Your Corruption is no longer decreasing,” Caleb said.

“Then it’s done helping,” Jace said. “Now it’s just staying.”

“The chain is preventing further escalation.”

“You say that like it’s a gift.”

Seraphina still held his hand. “He is not confused,” she said quietly. “You are not correcting confusion. He knows exactly what he wants.”

Theodore did not argue.

He did not agree either.

“At fifty percent attunement,” he said, “the review will extend through connected motor pathways.”

“My arm.”

“Initially.”

“And after that?”

“Standing. Movement. Skill activation. Any function likely to worsen your condition.”

“Including saying no?”

“Speech is not currently restricted.”

“Comforting.”

The chain pulsed once.

STABILITY CHAIN — CONTINUATION OFFER

Continued Corruption Suppression.

Expanded Pain Regulation.

Supervised access to quarantined Overflow Experience.

Condition: Retain Stability Chain beyond full-body review threshold.

CHAIN ATTUNEMENT: 40% → 47%.

Jace looked at his hand resting quiet and useful in Seraphina’s.

It no longer shook. The pain remained distant. His thoughts were clear. For the first time since the fleet, his body felt less like something failing around him.

The chain had not lied about any of it.

It had simply placed him last.

ATTUNEMENT: 47%.

FULL-BODY REVIEW AT 50%.

DECISION WINDOW: 04:00.

“Four minutes,” Jace said. “That’s generous of you.”

Nobody answered.