SYSTEM GOD THE REBOOTED

Ghost Protocol: Reap.exe

Chapter 12

The entire chamber groaned beneath the pressure of the system-breaking presence. Zarek’s eyes locked onto the figure emerging from the void like it was being carved out of reality itself.

Entity Detected: Crown Hunter Unit Ω – Reap.exe

Threat Level: Ω-Red (Auto-Eradication Protocols Engaged)

Objective: Sovereign Termination – Priority Class

Crown Sync Disruption Probability: 87%

It was huge. A towering juggernaut of shifting metal, black glass, and blood-red algorithmic light. Its joints hissed like grinding tectonic plates, and its single eye scanned the chamber with perfect focus. In its right hand, a blade longer than Zarek was tall—serrated with glowing inscriptions—each line a Sovereign it had killed.

"Fallback to Ghost Protocol now," Zarek muttered. “Nyx—engage Silence Field Alpha.”

Nyx nodded sharply, a rare flicker of urgency breaking her usual calm. She raised her hand, channeling her Crown’s core into the chamber. The light bent and warped as silence swallowed the air.

Silence Field Activated – Crown Combat Zone Stabilized

Crown Duel Environment: Sovereign x Sovereign vs System-Class Unit

Zarek flicked his wrist. Frostfire responded. His sword flared with a blazing aura, the cold flame rippling like an echo of stars long dead.

“We buy time,” he said. “We don't win. Not here.”

But Reap.exe didn’t wait for tactics.

It moved.

Fast.

In an instant, the entire zone shattered into fragments—glass, code, and gravity breaking apart as the hunter closed the distance.

Nyx was the first to respond. Her lance split into three and circled her like a wheel of silence, striking with rapid spins. She leapt into the air, darting between crumbling data platforms. Her control was surgical, flawless.

Zarek followed her movement, shifting into the deep layers of his Sovereign traits.

Activating: Frost Pulse Drive + Echo of Azerion

Crown Phase: Ghostwalk Initiated

He vanished.

Teleported behind Reap.exe mid-swing, slashing the back of its neck. The blade scraped sparks but didn’t cut deep. The metal was reinforced. Living code.

The Hunter twisted unnaturally, striking backward with a tail-like extension that nearly impaled him. He ducked, countered, and flared his frostfire aura to explode the ground beneath them both.

Direct Hit: 4% Damage to Hostile Armor

Status: Ineffective. Target Adapting.

"It’s learning," he cursed. "Fast."

Reap.exe spun and lunged toward Nyx, ignoring him entirely now. The scythe arced through her silence field, distorting the air like a nuclear rift.

She didn't dodge. She divided.

Splitting herself into three visual clones, Nyx redirected the blade’s impact into a null field, and for the first time—Reap.exe paused.

"Now!" she shouted, real and unreal voices overlapping.

Zarek took the cue. Frostfire ignited to full capacity. His sword grew into a two-handed glaive pulsing with ancestral runes. He leapt into the air and dropped like a comet of burning snow.

Skill Triggered: Frostfire Judgement Slash

Bonus Effect: Crown Wound (Temporarily disables enemy Crown-based regeneration)

He landed.

Directly onto Reap.exe’s shoulder.

The slash cleaved through the left arm, severing the appendage cleanly. Sparks and black fire erupted.

Status: Major System Disruption – Crown Hunter Ω Damaged – 19% Armor Integrity Lost

But the price was immediate.

A pulse wave of anti-memory—pure system reset energy—exploded from the core of the machine, wiping out logic and code within a 10-meter radius.

Zarek was flung backwards, landing hard, coughing blood.

Damage Received: 31% Health Lost

System Stability: Shaking – Memory Sync Lag Detected

His HUD blurred. For a moment, he forgot where he was.

Then Nyx screamed.

And everything snapped back.

She was bleeding—badly. Her crown was flickering, her silence field broken.

Reap.exe stood over her now, not rushing, but analyzing. Calculating the final blow.

Zarek stood.

Even if his bones shattered. Even if his blood burned.

He charged.

But the hunter turned—its red eye glowing hotter.

And then—

A new signal.

Everything paused.

Even Reap.exe.

Unknown Signal Override Detected...

Encryption: EIDOLON LAYER

Designation: GHOST VOSS, Sovereign Access Requesting Transfer

Accept Incoming Link?

Zarek’s mind screamed. Ghost Voss? There was no such protocol.

But the Crown accepted it on its own.

Access Granted. Layered Crown Memory Unsealed

Temporary Trait Gained: Eidolon Avatar – Ghost Combat Memory Playback

Duration: 90 seconds

Suddenly, Zarek wasn’t alone in his body.

Another presence—older, colder, sharper—stepped into his frame.

Raziel’s ghost.

“Strike now, before it adapts. We end it before the system reboots.”

Zarek’s voice overlapped with another. “Eidolon Surge—Phase Shift Combat Form.”

He blurred.

Reap.exe struck.

Too slow.

Zarek twisted inside the code, moving faster than thought. Frostfire evolved, separating into seven mirrored blades orbiting his body.

He unleashed them all.

Frostfire Burst Technique: Ghostflame Scatterstorm

Target Hit: Critical

Right Leg Destroyed. Neural Sync Core Damaged.

Nyx, regaining her composure, joined him. She re-established the silence field, cutting off the Crown Hunter’s command access.

Zarek screamed as he leapt into the air, forming his blade into one final weapon—one not even he understood.

It wasn’t shaped by code.

It was shaped by memory.

His father. His mother. Azerion. Raziel.

And then—he brought it down.

Eidolon Blade Impact: Core Breach Successful

CROWN HUNTER UNIT Ω – STATUS: TERMINATED

Ghost Protocol Complete.

The explosion didn’t shake the room.

It silenced it.

Forever.

When Zarek opened his eyes again, he was lying on his back beside Nyx. Smoke swirled above them. The beacon had gone completely dark.

But deep beneath, something pulsed.

Not hostile.

Alive.

You have unlocked a New Layer of the Thrones.

Faction Status: Elevated

Crown Rank: Tier II – Sovereign Ascension Pending...

Aftermath and Ascension

The silence after the battle wasn’t peaceful.

It was sacred.

Zarek lay on the shattered floor, chest rising and falling like a malfunctioning engine. His body had endured too much—fractured bones, ruptured energy lines, and a level of Crown stress that could erase a normal Sovereign. But he wasn't normal.

And now… he wasn’t alone.

System Log: Eidolon Memory Playback Concluded

Entity 'Ghost Voss' Disengaged. Residual Echo Stored in Core Layer.

Trait Upgrade: Ghostfire Memory – Passive Combat Memory Layer Integrated

Zarek turned his head slightly.

Nyx lay several feet away, hair splayed like ink across glass. Her body glowed faintly where her wounds had closed. She was breathing—barely—but alive.

He tried to stand. Failed.

Again.

This time, he grunted through the pain and rose to one knee.

Crown Status: Tier II Synchronization Pending

Warning: Crown Core Overheat – Recommend Stabilization Protocol

Throne Protocol Suggestion: Initiate Eidolon Ascension Ritual

He groaned. “You’d think saving the damn system buys me a break…”

Zarek limped toward the place where Reap.exe had fallen. Nothing remained of the towering executioner but a twisted shard of its blade and a single, glowing fragment of code hovering in the air—pulsing like a heart.

He reached out.

It didn’t resist.

Instead, it merged with him.

Fragment Absorbed: REAP SIGIL

Effect: Permanent Upgrade to Combat Adaptation Layer

New Skill Unlocked: Kill Echo – Mimic Target’s Combat Pattern for 10 seconds after successful execution

He laughed—a bitter, almost broken sound.

“What kind of monster am I becoming?”

Behind him, Nyx stirred.

Her voice, raw but intact: “Not a monster. Just… the only one left who still feels pain.”

He turned slowly. “You’re awake.”

“I watched you move like Raziel,” she said quietly. “For a moment, I thought you were him.”

Zarek frowned. “I don’t know what I am anymore.”

She sat up, arms trembling. “You're the only reason we’re still breathing. I couldn’t have held that field much longer.”

They looked at each other for a long moment—two Sovereigns no longer just competitors. Survivors of something older, deeper, and crueler than any war.

“We need to move,” Zarek said. “Before the System sends another.”

“No,” Nyx replied. “It won’t.”

SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT: Sovereign Zarek Voss – Ascension Recognized

Crown Conflict Delayed Across Zones

All Units Redirected – Reap Protocol Suspended

He blinked.

“What?”

She smiled faintly. “You changed the rules. For the first time in eons… the Thrones are hesitating.”

They limped together through the ruins until they reached the central data column. It wasn’t connected to the system anymore—not directly—but it pulsed with residual Sovereign code. A throne room made of crystal and forgotten prayers.

Zarek approached it.

His HUD shifted.

Would you like to ascend to Tier II Sovereign?

This process is irreversible.

You will no longer be able to hide from the Thrones. Or from the System.

Proceed?

He closed his eyes.

Raziel’s voice echoed through the ghost of his mind.

"Your fire is not inherited. It’s chosen. Again and again."

Zarek opened them.

And pressed accept.

The crown did not flare.

It exploded.

A storm of frost and light tore through the room, rising into a towering vortex of Sovereign force. Zarek’s body hovered in the center, limbs spread, back arched as code rewrote itself into him line by line.

His armor shattered.

Then regrew.

Sharper. Cleaner. Ghostly silver with blue-white veins of power running through it like lightning frozen in glass.

His blade fragmented—then reforged itself mid-air into a new form: a dual-mode weapon that pulsed between a glaive and a scythe.

His eyes opened.

Crown of Frostfire – TIER II – Ghost Sovereign Ascension Complete

New Trait: Thronebreaker – Immune to Suppression Fields and Reap Tags

New Passive: Flame of the Forgotten – Damage increases as health drops

New Skill: Ghost Step – Teleport up to 30 meters instantly; cools down with each successful kill

Crown Authority Expanded: You may now challenge for a Hollow Throne

Nyx, watching from below, shielded her face from the pressure.

When the storm settled, she rose slowly.

“You’re not him,” she said. “But you’re something just as dangerous.”

Zarek touched the air. It froze around his fingers.

“No,” he said. “I’m something worse.”

Suddenly—he froze.

Not from exhaustion.

From something deeper.

A pulse. Not from within.

From outside.

The System had noticed the ascension.

System Broadcast: Incoming Transmission – Source: UNKNOWN (Class: Sovereign Prime?)

Message: “The Hollow Thrones will fall. The True Throne awakens.”

Signal Trace Failed

Warning: Reality Anchor Detected. Gameboard Shift Incoming.

Zarek turned to Nyx.

“We just rang a bell we can’t unring.”

She nodded. “Then we prepare. And this time, we don’t prepare alone.”

Mission Updated: Form a Sovereign Pact – Secure Allies Against the Awakening Throne

Optional: Claim an Empty Throne to Match the Rising Prime

Next Conflict Zone: The Ruined Core of Ashvale – Crown of Iron Flame Detected

Zarek stepped away from the crystal platform, new power burning beneath his skin.

They had bought time.

But time was never enough.

Because somewhere—something was waking up.

Something that had slept through Raziel’s death, through the Hollow War, through Reap.exe.

The Prime Throne.

And it wanted everything back.