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Chapter 188
The cold, robotic voice fell from the dark sky over New York City. It echoed off the broken glass of the tall skyscrapers. It shook the empty, yellow taxi cabs left ruined on the streets."FORTY-FIVE SECONDS TO DELETION."In the center of the famous street known as Broadway, right in the middle of Times Square, Jayden fell to his knees. The giant digital billboards above him were dark and broken. The only light came from the massive glowing dome of energy that covered the street, and from Jayden himself.He was burning.The heat inside his chest was not normal fire. It was pure, raw System data. It was the feelings, the pain, and the heartbeats of the thousands of people standing around him. He had given them his power to protect them from Caelum's cruel soldiers. The people had felt his empathy, and their own soft, glowing Proto-Systems had awakened.But humans were not meant to be servers. A human brain could not hold the weight of a thousand minds.Jayden’s skin began to crack. Dee
Chapter 187
Right beside Jayden, a figure made of white noise and glitching light appeared. It was Luna.Luna usually looked calm and neat. Her artificial face was usually perfectly smooth. But right now, her avatar was violently shaking. Her digital hair was flying everywhere. Her eyes were wide with pure, absolute panic.She looked up at the glowing dome. She looked at the thousands of connected people. Then, she looked at Jayden."Jayden!" Luna screamed. Her voice sounded distorted, like a broken radio. "Jayden, snap out of it! You need to look at me right now!"Jayden turned his head slowly. He felt incredibly peaceful. "Luna. Look at what they did. Look at what we built.""I am looking at the data, Jayden!" Luna yelled. She waved her hands. Floating red screens of raw code appeared in the air around her. The code was scrolling so fast it was just a blur. "And you don't understand what is happening!""They are safe," Jayden said softly. "The field is protecting them. Caelum’s power can't reac
Chapter 186
Caelum’s rule was built on people being selfish. If everyone only cared about themselves, Caelum could rule them with fear. But empathy, feeling someone else's pain and loving them anyway, destroyed fear completely.The empathy linked them all together.Jayden felt it. He was standing in the center, struggling to breathe. But suddenly, the pain in his chest grew a little lighter. The burning in his torn muscles cooled down.He looked at the crowd. He saw the sea of glowing colors. He saw thousands of eyes looking back at him, shining with tears and soft light.They were helping him carry the load.In the shadows near the edge of the street, Caelum’s followers watched in pure horror.Tariq, the kinetic fighter who had beaten Jayden over and over, was on his knees. He held his broken hand against his chest. His orange combat glow was completely dead. He stared at the crowd."This is impossible," Tariq muttered. His teeth were chattering. He was shivering, even though the night was hot.
Chapter 185
The pain was a living thing. It was a fire that burned inside every single muscle, every single bone, and every single nerve in Jayden’s body.He was on his hands and knees in the middle of the ruined street of New York. The dry, hot Harmattan wind blew over him. It carried the thick grey dust of the city, mixing with the dark red blood that dripped from his chin.Jayden’s injuries were catastrophic. They were the kind of injuries that would kill a normal man ten times over.His ribcage was shattered. When he breathed, he heard the terrible, wet sound of broken bones grinding against each other. His left arm hung at a wrong angle. The skin on his back was torn open from the kinetic blasts. His internal organs were bruised, leaking, and failing.But he did not die. He did not pass out.The Immortality Lock was fully awake. Deep inside his blood, bright golden lines of System energy flared. The System refused to let him sleep. It forced him to stay completely conscious. It stitched his
Chapter 184
Tariq turned and pointed his finger at Jayden. "What did you do to them, you monster?!" Tariq screamed. His voice cracked with fear. "You broke the rules! We are the strong! We rule you!"Jayden did not answer. He just looked at Tariq with deep sadness.Tariq could not handle the silence. He could not handle the peaceful eyes of the crowd. He needed to prove he was still the boss. He needed to prove that violence always wins.Tariq turned around. He saw Franklin standing in the front row. Franklin was just a boy from the scrap yard. Franklin was nobody."I will show you!" Tariq roared.Tariq ran at Franklin. He pulled his fist back. He put all of his natural, human strength into his arm. He aimed right for Franklin’s face.The people in the crowd did not scream. Amara did not cover Charlie’s eyes. Rihanna did not run away.Franklin did not flinch. He did not raise his hands to block. He did not close his eyes. Franklin just stood there, glowing with his soft blue light. He looked exac
Chapter 183
Ping. A soft silver screen popped up in the air in front of Rihanna.PROTO-SYSTEM AWAKENED.USER: Rihanna.CLASS: PILLAR.PRIMARY SKILL: PAIN SUPPRESSION.WEAPONS: NONE.Rihanna raised her old, wrinkled hand. Her fingers were glowing with a gentle, silver light. She reached out and touched the blue screen. It felt warm.She looked at the tall man next to her. She smiled. It was a beautiful, huge smile. "I do not hurt anymore," she told him. "The Halo... he took the hurt away. He showed us how to stand."The tall man looked confused. But then, he closed his eyes. He rubbed his forehead. "I... I feel a pressure behind my eyes," he said softly.The gift was spreading. It was moving through the crowd like a wave of pure water washing over dry, dirty ground.Further back in the crowd, a mother named Amara was holding her ten-year-old son, Charlie.Charlie was very sick. The dust in the air from the fighting was terrible for him. Charlie had very bad asthma. His lungs were weak. Every time
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