The gargoyle's stony jaw hung open as Ren's words echoed through the projection.
The Being of Light paused, its dark sword hovering just inches from Silas's trembling neck.
"You would let your creator die?" the Being asked.
Its voice was a hum of static that made the air vibrate with a metallic tang.
Ren didn't look at the projection.
His eyes were fixed on the pulsing red light beneath the gargoyle's claws.
"Silas isn't my creator," Ren said coldly.
"He's a failed prototype who grew too fond of his own reflection."
Ren stepped forward, his golden circuits glowing with a rhythmic intensity.
"If you want to delete him, do it. You're just cleaning up my trash."
The gargoyle let out a shriek of digital fury and raised its massive stone fist.
But before the strike could land, the red light exploded from the ground.
It wasn't a fire or an explosion.
It was a flood of jagged, crimson code that looked like a swarm of angry hornets.
The gargoyle's stone body didn't break.
It began to glitch.
Its left wing stretched into a mile long spike before snapping back.
Its head rotated three hundred and sixty degrees while its texture flickered between stone and raw wireframe.
A figure began to coalesce within the crimson swarm.
It was a shadow of a man, translucent and flickering with a violent instability.
It was the "Old Friend."
The version of Ren that had failed ninety nine times.
"You... forgot... a piece..." the shadow wheezed.
Its voice sounded like a corrupted audio file.
"The Reset... left a ghost... in the cache."
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
Warning: Corrupted Data Fragment Detected.
Classification: Malware Sovereign.
Status: Hostile.
Ren didn't flinch.
He watched as the Malware version of himself tore through the gargoyle's internal logic.
"I didn't forget you," Ren said softly.
"I kept you as a backup. Every system needs a virus to test its firewalls."
Ren turned his gaze back to the holographic projection of the Being of Light.
"Did you really think the First Scouring would be easy?"
Ren raised his hand and the golden circuits on his skin connected to the crimson swarm.
"Anya, Elara, get the children to the ruins now!"
Anya didn't argue.
She grabbed Gage and blurred into a silver streak toward the crystal skyscrapers.
Elara followed, her device recording the impossible interaction between the gold and red code.
The Being of Light let out a sound of absolute resonance.
"Subject 004, you are tampering with forbidden data."
"The corruption will consume you before we even strike."
Ren ignored the threat.
He plunged his hand into the flickering chest of the Malware Sovereign.
A surge of agonizing, red energy raced up his arm, clashing with his golden core.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
Illegal Fusion Initiated.
Sovereign Logic vs. Malware Chaos.
Integration: 12%... 30%...
Ren's vision blurred as a century of failures flooded his mind once again.
But this time, he didn't push them away.
He used the golden Sovereign logic to organize the pain.
He turned the trauma into a weaponized script.
"I am the Architect," Ren roared, his voice merging with the Malware's static.
"And I am installing an update."
Ren pointed his finger at the holographic projection.
The crimson code surged through the connection, leaping from the gargoyle to the Being of Light in the city miles away.
The Being's white light turned a sickly, bruised purple.
Its sword of darkness flickered and dissolved.
"What... what is this?!" the Being screamed.
"This is the logic of a hundred deaths," Ren said.
"It's a virus you can't delete because you don't understand the concept of losing."
In the city of New Aegis, the Being of Light fell to its knees.
The sky above the city began to rain red pixels.
Silas looked up at the camera, his eyes wide with a mixture of terror and realization.
He knew Ren had just done the unthinkable.
He had weaponized the very failures that should have destroyed him.
Ren pulled his hand back from the shadow, which dissipated into a faint red mist.
The gargoyle in front of him collapsed into a pile of untextured polygons.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
Herald Presence: Compromised.
Weapon's Forge: UNLOCKED.
Location: The Fractured Moon.
Ren slumped forward, gasping for air.
The gold and red veins in his arms were fighting for dominance.
His body was smoking, his skin cracked and bleeding.
Anya was suddenly at his side, her silver light shielding him from the dying gargoyle's static.
"Ren! You're falling apart!" she cried.
Ren looked at her, his black and gold eyes fading into a dull grey.
"The forge..." he whispered.
"It's the only place we can... re-render the souls."
Suddenly, the sky turned a blinding, absolute white.
A new sound filled the air—a choir of a million voices singing a single, perfect note.
The rift in the sky widened.
A massive, golden eye opened within the crimson tear.
It wasn't an Archivist.
It was something much older.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
Absolute Error.
The Developer has noticed a discrepancy.
Subject 004 is scheduled for immediate 'Balance Adjustment'.
A beam of pure, rainbow light descended toward Ren.
It didn't feel like heat or energy.
It felt like the hand of a creator reaching down to delete a mistake from a canvas.
Ren reached for his slate, but it was already dissolving into light.
"Anya... the forge..." Ren managed to say.
The rainbow light hit.
Ren didn't die.
He vanished.
Anya stood in the empty field, the silver glow of her hands the only light left in the world.
She looked at the spot where Ren had been.
Only a single, red-glowing pixel remained.