The bunker groaned under the weight of Silas's divine pressure. Blue fire licked the ceiling and the air crackled with the static of a thousand dying atoms. Silas stood in the center of the breach with his eyes glowing with the arrogant light of a man who had won a hundred times before. Beside him, the reborn Lena raised her hands. The white hot energy between her palms pulsed in time with her corrupted heartbeat.
Ren did not shout or panic. He didn't jump in front of the blast because he wasn't a martyr. He was a calculator. In the point two seconds before the energy hit, he grabbed the young Gage and threw him toward the shadow of the older Ren. At the same time, Ren slammed his data slate into the ancient control panel of the stasis pod.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
Override Protocol: Sovereign Echo.
Status: Initiating.
The golden energy from Ren's veins surged into the panel. He wasn't trying to wake the girl yet. He was using her pod as a lightning rod. The stasis field was designed by the original Archivists and it was the only thing in the room capable of absorbing Lena's raw power. The white hot blast hit the pod with the force of a falling star.
The iron chains glowed orange and then white. The frost on the glass vanished in a cloud of steam. Instead of exploding, the pod acted like a vacuum. It sucked the energy in while the green lights on the panel turned a violent and screaming red.
Silas hissed as his flame flickered in surprise. He shouted that the pod was dead and it shouldn't be able to cycle that much power.
Ren stood amidst the steam with his clothes singed and his eyes burning with a dark golden fire. He told Silas that the pod was dead until Silas gave it exactly what it needed. He explained that Silas hadn't just attacked them but had jump started the Source instead.
The iron mask on the figure's face let out a high pitched metallic whine. A crack appeared down the center of the metal.
The older Ren yelled for everyone to look out. He fired his plasma pistol at Silas to keep him distracted. He warned that if the mask fell, the girl wouldn't just kill Silas but would delete everything in a ten mile radius.
Ren ignored the blistering heat and stepped toward the pod. He reached out and placed his bare hand on the cracked iron mask.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
Connection Established.
Linking Subject 004 to Subject 000.
Warning: Data Overload Detected.
Ren's mind was suddenly flooded with images. He saw the first Aegis Academy being built in the desert. He saw Silas as a weeping child. He saw himself dying in a hundred different ways including being poisoned and executed. In the center of the chaos, he saw the girl.
She was a bridge between the Earth and the Archivists. Silas was using her as a human battery to draw his immortality from her eternal hibernation. A soft voice whispered inside Ren's skull and asked for help. It sounded like a child but carried the weight of centuries.
Ren whispered back that he had her. He didn't pull the mask off. He reconfigured it instead. Using his administrative access, he rewrote the mask's function from a shackle to a processor. The blue veins in Ren's arms turned a brilliant gold and the color spread to the mask. The iron began to soften and mold itself to the girl's face until it looked like a sleek silver visor.
[LEVEL UP]
Sovereign Rank E Achieved.
Skill Acquired: Architect's Dominion.
Ren turned toward Silas with a new kind of power. It wasn't the frantic and hungry energy of the Caelum 7 serum. It was the calm and absolute authority of the system itself. He looked at Lena and spoke with the voice of her true commander. He told her the Harvest was over and that Silas was the one who let her die in the last life.
The corrupted Lena hesitated. The white light in her hands flickered. She looked at Silas and then back at Ren. For a split second, the gold in her eyes shifted to her original brown. She whispered Ren's name in a voice full of confusion.
Silas roared and his hand erupted in a blade of blue fire. He called Ren a ghost and a bug in the system before lunging at him with the fire blade aimed at his heart.
Ren didn't move because he didn't need to. From the stasis pod, a small and pale hand reached out with incredible speed. It caught Silas's wrist. The impact sound wasn't flesh on flesh. It was like two tectonic plates grinding together.
The girl in the mask had awakened. She stepped out of the pod with her silver visor glowing. She was dressed in a simple white tunic that looked like it was made of woven light. She spoke with a voice that vibrated through the air itself. She told Silas the cycle was broken and he had exceeded his operational limits.
With a simple flick of her wrist, Silas was thrown across the bunker. He slammed into the stone wall with such force that the entire structure began to cave in.
Ren commanded Anya and Elara to get the kids out. He told them the place was coming down. Anya grabbed the young Gage while Elara herded the other children toward the exit. The older Ren stood by the door and watched the girl in the mask with wide eyes. He muttered that the Sovereign Queen was finally awake.
Silas pulled himself from the rubble with his black armor cracked and his face a mask of fury. He claimed that this was just one bunker and his fleet was already descending. He threatened to burn the entire iteration to the ground. Silas tapped a device on his neck and vanished in a flash of blue light.
Anya coughed as dust filled the room and said they had to go. Ren looked at the girl in the mask. She was standing perfectly still while her visor was fixed on him. She told Ren that the Archivists were coming and they wouldn't reset the world this time. They would delete the Earth entirely to stop her.
Ren's voice was cold and determined. He said they would go to them first. He asked her who she was. The girl reached up and touched the silver visor. It retracted and revealed a face that made Ren's heart stop. She didn't look like a stranger. She looked exactly like a female version of himself.
She identified herself as Subject 000. She told Ren she was his sister and they were the last of their kind.
Suddenly the ground shook with a massive force. A shadow larger than the city fell over the Wastes. Ren looked up through the hole in the ceiling. The silver eye ship wasn't alone. Behind it, hundreds of identical ships were exiting warp. Their white beams were already beginning to lace the atmosphere.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
World Quest Updated: The Final War.
Objective: Survive the Total Deletion.
Ren felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Anya. She looked terrified but she didn't run. She looked him in the eye and leaned in with her forehead resting against his for a brief second. She whispered that whatever the plan was, he should make it a good one because she wasn't dying in this life without a fight.
Ren nodded with a rare and genuine smile. He looked at his sister, his squad, and his future self. He told them the plan was simple. They weren't going to hide. They were going to hack the moon.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
Quest Received: The Lunar Heist.
Reward: Unknown.
Penalty: Absolute Erasure.