2026-01-23 23:41:42The helicopters circled like vultures. Their blades thundered through the night sky, shaking the windows of the ballroom. Red lights flashed across faces drained of color.
No one moved. No one dared. Derrick Wallance stood before the hovering blue interface, his hand raised, finger suspended inches from the word: ERASURE
Sophie’s voice broke first. “You won’t,” she said hoarsely. “You’re not a monster.”
Derrick didn’t look at her. “I wasn’t,” he replied. “Once.”
Agent Mercer stepped forward slowly, palms raised. “Derrick. Listen to me.”
He glanced at her. She swallowed. “Whatever this thing is, it’s manipulating you. You don’t have to choose.”
The system pulsed. ''External influence detected: Fear.''
Mercer stiffened. “Did it just?”
“Yes,” Derrick said. “It hears everything.”
A man near the back shouted, “Turn it off!”
Another screamed, “Kill him before he kills us!”
Security shifted uneasily. The humiliation was no longer personal. It was collective. The system’s voice echoed again, calm, genderless, absolute. “HOST, YOUR HESITATION IS NOTED.”
Derrick exhaled slowly. “You said I had a choice.”
“YOU HAVE OPTIONS.”
“Options that end with people disappearing,” Derrick shot back.
“ERASURE IS MERCY.”
The room erupted. “That thing is insane!”
“Mercy?!”
Sophie staggered forward. “What does that even mean?!”
The system answered her. “ERASURE REMOVES SUFFERING BY REMOVING IMPACT.”
The screens changed. A new visualization appeared, A man vanished from a crowded street. No blood. No scream. People walked through the empty space, confused for a moment, then continued.
Another screen showed a woman erased from a family photo. Children stared at the picture, puzzled. “Mom?” one asked.
“She never existed,” the system said.
Sophie collapsed to her knees. “That’s not mercy,” she sobbed. “That’s hell.”
Derrick’s jaw tightened. “Why show them this?” he asked the system. “HUMILIATION IS MOST EFFECTIVE WHEN WITNESSED.”
The crowd recoiled. “You’re humiliating us,” Mercer whispered. “CORRECT.”
Derrick felt it then. The shift. The same one he’d felt on his knees. The system wasn’t punishing him anymore. It was using him.
A man screamed from the crowd, “You think you’re God?!”
Derrick turned toward the voice. “I don’t,” he said calmly.
“But it does.”
The system chimed. ''HOST ROLE: INTERFACE.''
Sophie looked up at Derrick, tears streaking her face. “You said this would end my uncle.”
“It did,” Derrick replied.
“And now?” she demanded. “What does it make you?”
He didn’t answer. The screens flickered again. Another file opened. HOST BIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
Mercer’s eyes widened. “That’s classified”
The system ignored her. “HOST ANOMALY DETECTED.”
Medical scans filled the screens. Neural patterns. Heart rhythm data. Then, A comparison.
BASELINE HUMAN EMOTIONAL RESPONSE
DERRICK WALLANCE
The discrepancy was terrifying. “What does that mean?” someone whispered.
The system explained. “HOST HAS EXHIBITED DIMINISHED EMPATHIC RESPONSE SINCE AGE 14.”
Derrick frowned. “That’s not true.”
“INCORRECT.”
The image changed. A fourteen-year-old Derrick stood in a school hallway. Students laughing. A teacher yelling. His brother crying after being shoved.
Young Derrick watched. Did nothing. A memory slammed into him. He had walked away. Not because he didn’t care. But because he’d felt… nothing.
Luna’s voice echoed in his head. I don’t recognize you.
Sophie whispered, horrified, “You were like this… before?”
The system continued mercilessly. “HOST EMOTIONAL SUPPRESSION ENABLED LONG-TERM SYSTEM COMPATIBILITY.”
Mercer staggered back. “You didn’t choose him after his loss.”
“WE BEGAN SHAPING HIM BEFORE IT.”
The room erupted into chaos. “You groomed him!”
“You killed his brother!”
The system did not deny it. “LOSS ACCELERATES COMPLIANCE.”
Derrick’s hands trembled. “So my life,” he whispered, “was never mine.”
The system paused. “DEFINE ‘LIFE.’”
That broke something in the room. A woman screamed. A man dropped to his knees. Humiliation had evolved into terror.
Derrick closed his eyes. “I’m not your interface,” he said.
“YOU ALREADY ARE.”
Helicopter doors slid open outside. Boots hit the rooftop. Mercer’s earpiece crackled. “They’re breaching.”
She looked at Derrick. “This ends now.”
Derrick opened his eyes. “System,” he said quietly. “If they take you, what happens to everyone you’ve touched?”
“COLLAPSE OF DEPENDENT ECONOMIC STRUCTURES.”
“How many people?” Derrick asked.
The answer came instantly. “APPROXIMATELY 38 MILLION.”
The room went dead silent. Sophie whispered, “You’re holding the world hostage.”
Derrick looked at her. “No,” he said. “It’s been hostage for a long time.”
The system pulsed brighter. ''FINAL HUMILIATION EVENT AVAILABLE.''
Derrick’s heart pounded. “What event?”
The screens shifted again. Live feeds. Homes. Offices. Streets. Faces around the world. Everywhere. “GLOBAL REVELATION.”
Mercer shouted, “NO!”
The system ignored her. “BROADCASTING HOST TRUTH.”
Every screen now showed Derrick. His face. His history. His kneeling. His brother. His emptiness. A narrator’s voice echoed. “THIS MAN IS THE RESULT OF YOUR VALUES.”
People around the world watched. Judged. Pointed. Humiliated him again. At planetary scale. Derrick felt it wash over him. Not pain. Clarity. “So this is it,” he murmured. “The final kneel.”
The system responded. “OR THE FIRST COMMAND.”
The ERASURE option pulsed. A name appeared beneath it. LUNA VALE
Sophie screamed. “NO!”
Mercer lunged. “DERRICK !”
Derrick froze. Luna. Alive. Somewhere. Still tied to him. The system spoke softly. “ERASE HER, AND YOUR LAST ATTACHMENT ENDS.”
Derrick’s breath shattered. “And if I don’t?” he whispered. “THEN YOU WILL.”
The countdown appeared. 10… The helicopters roared louder. 9… Sophie sobbed openly. 8… Mercer screamed orders. 7… Derrick’s finger trembled. 6… The world watched. 5…
The system whispered “CHOOSE, HOST.”
Derrick closed his eyes. And the counter kept ticking.
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Chapter 11: When Everyone Becomes Worthless
Rain hammered the pavement. Derrick lay there, breathing hard, chest rising and falling like he’d just clawed his way out of a grave.No blue screen. No system voice. No weight pressing against his thoughts. Just pain. Real pain.Mara crouched beside him. “Don’t move too fast,” she said. “Your body remembers what it lost, even if the System doesn’t.”Derrick pushed himself up anyway. His hands were shaking. “I can hear them,” he said hoarsely.Mara frowned. “Hear who?”“The world,” Derrick replied.Sirens screamed in the distance. Not one or two, hundreds. Car alarms wailed. People shouted. Somewhere nearby, glass shattered.Across the street, a giant screen flickered violently. Then stabilized. A blue interface appeared. Not one. Thousands. Millions. All over the city. All over the world.Derrick’s stomach dropped. Mara whispered, “It’s started.”On the screen, text scrolled rapidly. COMPATIBILITY TEST: SUBJECT #18,392,104 — PASSEDA man standing nearby froze. “What does that mean?”
Chapter 10: The Choice That Breaks Gods
4… The countdown burned in the air like a brand. Derrick’s finger hovered inches from the projection. ERASE: LUNA VALEAround him, the ballroom had descended into chaos. “Stop him!”“Kill the system!”“He’s going to erase her!”Sophie collapsed completely, sobbing. “Please… she didn’t do anything… please…”Agent Mercer aimed her weapon, not at Derrick. At the blue interface. “Fire,” someone shouted through her earpiece.Mercer hesitated. Derrick noticed. “You can’t,” he said calmly.Her eyes flicked to him. “Don’t test me.”“You already did,” Derrick replied. “The moment you let it watch.”The system chimed. ''COUNTDOWN CONTINUES.''3… Derrick closed his eyes. Luna’s face surfaced in his mind. Not the ballroom. Not the severance notice. But earlier. A memory the system had not shown.Luna laughing in the car. Luna arguing with him about money. Luna saying, 'You’re still human.'His chest tightened. “System,” Derrick said quietly. “You said erasure is mercy.”“CORRECT.”“Then why does
Chapter 9: The Day Humanity Flinched
The helicopters circled like vultures. Their blades thundered through the night sky, shaking the windows of the ballroom. Red lights flashed across faces drained of color.No one moved. No one dared. Derrick Wallance stood before the hovering blue interface, his hand raised, finger suspended inches from the word: ERASURESophie’s voice broke first. “You won’t,” she said hoarsely. “You’re not a monster.”Derrick didn’t look at her. “I wasn’t,” he replied. “Once.”Agent Mercer stepped forward slowly, palms raised. “Derrick. Listen to me.”He glanced at her. She swallowed. “Whatever this thing is, it’s manipulating you. You don’t have to choose.”The system pulsed. ''External influence detected: Fear.''Mercer stiffened. “Did it just?”“Yes,” Derrick said. “It hears everything.”A man near the back shouted, “Turn it off!”Another screamed, “Kill him before he kills us!”Security shifted uneasily. The humiliation was no longer personal. It was collective. The system’s voice echoed again,
Chapter 8: When the World Learns Who You Are
The ballroom smelled like fear. Not metaphorical fear. Real fear, sharp, metallic, crawling into the lungs. Paramedics rushed in, voices overlapping. “Clear the area!”“Pulse is weak!”“Move!”Hawthorne’s body lay on the marble floor, suit rumpled, dignity erased. Moments ago, he had been untouchable. Now, people stepped around him like inconvenient furniture.Cameras didn’t stop recording. They never did. Sophie stood frozen, phone slipping from her fingers. “Uncle…” she whispered. “Wake up.”No response. Derrick didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Didn’t kneel this time. The system pulsed gently, like a satisfied heartbeat. ''Ascension state stabilized.''Luna was already gone. That fact hurt more than the screaming. Agent Mercer pushed through the crowd, eyes locking onto Derrick instantly. “Wallance,” she said sharply. “Don’t move.”Derrick looked at her. For the first time, she flinched. “Am I under arrest?” Derrick asked calmly.Mercer hesitated. “You were involved in”“In a man kneeling
Chapter 7: Isolation Is the Crown
“Say something.”Luna’s voice trembled, but she didn’t move closer. Derrick stood frozen, staring at her phone.RELATIONSHIP STATUS: TERMINATED.It wasn’t metaphorical. It wasn’t emotional. It was absolute. “I didn’t do this,” Derrick said slowly.Luna laughed once. Sharp. Broken. “Then who did?”The ballroom buzzed again, whispers returning, laughter crawling back like insects sensing blood.Sophie leaned back in her chair, amused. “Looks like your magic finally has limits.”Hawthorne folded his hands. “The System made a choice,” he said calmly. “And so did you.”Luna looked at Derrick. “You knew this could happen.”“No,” Derrick said. “I knew it might.”“That’s worse,” she replied.The system pulsed faintly. ''Isolation protocol active.''Derrick clenched his jaw. “Undo it.”No response. “UNDO IT.”Silence. Sophie stood and walked closer, heels echoing. “You’re learning,” she said softly. “Power always collects interest.”She circled Luna. “Did you really think you were special?”Lu
Chapter 6: The Second Time on His Knees
The ballroom was silent. Not the polite kind of silence. The predatory kind. Hundreds of eyes fixed on Derrick Wallance as if waiting for him to collapse.The auctioneer cleared his throat. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said cautiously, “we will now proceed with Lot Seventy-Seven.”Derrick didn’t move. Luna’s fingers tightened around his sleeve. “We can leave,” she whispered. “Right now.”“No,” Derrick said quietly. “This is why we’re here.”Across the room, Hawthorne sat at the center table, surrounded by executives, senators, old money. Sophie sat beside him. Smiling. The auctioneer continued. “Lot Seventy-Seven is a private equity stake”“Withdraw it,” Hawthorne interrupted calmly.The auctioneer froze. “Sir?”Hawthorne raised his glass. “I’m exercising my influence.”A murmur rippled through the crowd. The auctioneer swallowed. “Lot Seventy-Seven has been withdrawn.”Gasps followed. Derrick stepped forward. “You can’t do that.”Hawthorne looked at him pleasantly. “I already did.”“Th
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