Ethan felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
For a brief second, he stood frozen in place, unable to breathe. Adrian Cross's empty smile, his calm voice, and the horrifying way he had denied his own sister all kept replaying in Ethan's mind. It was wrong. Completely wrong. That was not peace. That was not healing. That was not freedom.
That was theft.
That was destruction.
The next second, Ethan pushed back his chair so hard that it nearly toppled over and ran straight toward the Buddha Hall.
He moved like a madman, his heart pounding wildly against his ribs. The wind whipped against his face as he rushed through the temple grounds, not caring who saw him. Along the way, monks with black cybernetic eyes stopped whatever they were doing and turned to look at him. Some were sweeping the courtyard. Some were carrying water. Some were standing beneath the trees in silent prayer.
All of them watched him.
Yet strangely, none of them looked surprised.
No one asked what had happened. No one tried to stop him. No one even whispered to the person beside them.
They simply looked.
And that silent attention only made Ethan's skin crawl.
By the time he reached the Buddha Hall, his breathing had become rough and sharp. The heavy doors were tightly shut, and in front of them stood a thin monk with a stiff posture. Five black cybernetic eyes were set across the monk's face, making him look more like a machine than a human being.
Ethan recognized him at once.
This was the Cyber monk who had been taking care of Adrian Cross.
A Chinese name had once belonged to him, but here he would be called Brother Elias.
"Where is Master Rowan?" Ethan demanded. His voice was low and dangerous, and for the first time since coming to the Nine Lotus Temple, there was not a trace of respect in it. "I want to see him. Right now."
Brother Elias folded his hands in front of his chest. His expression remained peaceful, almost unnaturally so.
"Amitabha. Ethan, please calm yourself. Master Rowan is meditating. He cannot be disturbed."
"Move."
Ethan stepped closer, his eyes hard as stone.
"I said I need an explanation from him."
Brother Elias slowly lifted his gaze and looked straight at Ethan. There was no fear in his face. No anger either. Just that same calm, flat expression Ethan had started seeing everywhere.
"I know why you are angry," Brother Elias said. "You believe we deceived you about removing Johnny Silverhand."
Ethan stared at him, and his voice turned colder.
"The method you talked about… is that what this is? Erasing the memory of the people I care about most? Making me forget my own family?" He took another step forward. "Just like what you did to Adrian Cross?"
There was not even the slightest reaction on Brother Elias's face when Ethan mentioned Adrian's name.
"After Adrian Cross embraced the teachings," Brother Elias said evenly, "did you not see the change in him? He is no longer trapped by suffering. His mind is calm. His body is healthier. His face is free from pain."
"Yes," Ethan snapped, "and he also lost the memory of the person who mattered most to him!"
Brother Elias suddenly raised his voice and spoke the Buddha's name with force.
"Amitabha!"
His tone echoed in the courtyard.
"Ethan, do you still not understand? Of all the blades in this world, the past is the sharpest. It cuts deeper than iron. It wounds more cruelly than fire. If a person wishes to escape pain, then he must step beyond attachment. Only by forgetting the past can one reach true purity. Only then can one transcend suffering and approach Buddhahood."
Those words hit Ethan like poison.
His anger exploded.
"Stop feeding me that garbage!" he shouted, his eyes turning red. "You lied to me from the very beginning! You hid everything! You never told me what this so-called treatment really meant!"
He jabbed a finger toward the hall behind Brother Elias.
"You're not trying to help me. You want something. So tell me what it is."
His breathing grew heavier. His voice grew more vicious.
"Get out of my way. I want answers from Master Rowan."
But Brother Elias did not move.
He stood there like a statue carved from cold stone. A faint red light flashed across his cybernetic eyes.
"Ethan," he said quietly, "please calm down."
Ethan's face darkened.
"Then die."
In one smooth motion, he pulled out the black Crusher shotgun and pressed the muzzle directly against Brother Elias's forehead.
The metal clicked into place.
The air in the courtyard turned freezing cold.
Faced with the dark barrel of the shotgun, Brother Elias finally became solemn, but even then he did not retreat. He folded his hands again.
"Amitabha. Ethan, set down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha instantly."
He spoke as if he were giving a lecture, not standing at the edge of death.
"Anger will only awaken Johnny Silverhand further. It will strengthen what is inside you. Have you forgotten the teachings against rage?"
"Enough." Ethan shoved the muzzle harder against his head. "Move, or I blow your brains out."
Brother Elias lowered his eyes slightly.
"If this can ease your anger, then do it. Once, the Buddha offered his own flesh to feed a starving tiger. If sacrificing this impure body can save you, what does it matter?"
His voice was so calm that it almost sounded sincere.
That made Ethan hate him even more.
Then—
From behind him came the sound of footsteps.
Soft. Uniform. Countless.
Ethan knew that sound very well. It was the sound of monk shoes brushing against the stone paths of the temple.
He turned sharply.
And his face sank.
Monks were approaching from every direction.
They surrounded him in a widening circle, closing off every path.
Some had two cybernetic eyes. Some had three. Some had five. But the most terrifying part was not their appearance.
It was their movements.
Every single one of them walked in perfect sync.
The same pace.
The same posture.
The same lifeless expression.
They did not look like men.
They looked like puppets.
Not one of them spoke. Even Brother Elias, who had been preaching endlessly just seconds ago, now fell silent.
The entire courtyard became eerily still. Only the wind moving through the leaves could be heard.
Then the chanting began.
Not from their mouths.
Their mouths remained tightly shut.
The sound came from somewhere inside them, like speakers hidden in flesh.
"Namo Ratnatrayaya…"
"Namo Ratnatrayaya…"
"Namo Arya…"
"Namo Arya…"
"Avalokitesvaraya…"
"Avalokitesvaraya…"
The chant rose from every direction at once, deep and heavy and impossible to block out. It did not sound holy. It sounded mechanical. Inhuman. It wrapped around Ethan from all sides like invisible chains.
He spun, aiming the Crusher at the advancing monks.
They did not stop.
They did not even react.
Step by slow step, they kept coming.
The chanting grew louder.
Closer.
Closer.
Ethan's jaw tightened.
He had expected resistance, but not this. If this had only been Brother Elias or a few high-ranking Cyber monks, he would not have cared. With the Crusher, his blade, and everything Night City had taught him, he could have forced his way out.
But this was different.
There were too many of them.
And worse, they were all hackers.
If a real fight started, things could turn against him fast.
Retreat first, he told himself.
Just as he shifted his weight to move—
The tightly shut doors of the Buddha Hall behind him suddenly burst open.
A violent sound of wooden fish drumming exploded from inside.
Dong!
In an instant, Ethan lost everything.
Sight.
Sound.
Touch.
Taste.
Smell.
The world collapsed into darkness.
He could not see. He could not hear. He could not speak. Even his thoughts became muddy and weak, like ink dissolving in dirty water. His mind drifted in a black abyss with nothing to hold onto.
Then the chanting returned.
Only now it was twisted.
Broken.
Warped.
"Namo… Ratna… die…"
"Avalokitesvara… hahahaha…"
"Everything is emptiness… emptiness… emptiness…"
"Existence… nonexistence…"
It sounded like countless mad voices had been crushed together. There was laughter in it. Screaming in it. Mockery in it. Prayer stripped of all meaning and turned into something foul.
The sound scraped against Ethan's mind until even his sense of self began to blur.
Who was he?
Where was he?
Was any of this real?
Then suddenly, he felt himself falling.
Falling from a great height.
A moment later, he slammed hard into the ground.
Pain shot through his body—and that pain brought him back.
Ethan groaned, pushed himself upright, and opened his eyes.
He found himself standing in a wasteland.
Broken walls lay everywhere. Torn battle banners flapped weakly in the wind. Rusted weapons were buried in the earth like grave markers. The ground was cracked and dry, littered with shattered bones, ruined armor, and blackened bloodstains that had long since dried.
Above him, the sky was blood-red.
The air reeked of rot and death.
It looked like an ancient battlefield abandoned by time itself.
"Where… am I?"
His voice sounded small in that endless ruin.
A second ago, he had been in the Nine Lotus Temple. He had been facing down monks in a courtyard.
So what was this?
A trap?
A hallucination?
Another illusion?
"Brother?"
A child's voice sounded beside him.
Ethan turned sharply.
At his feet stood a little girl of four or five, looking exactly like the image he had held in his heart for so long.
His sister.
Not the real one—but the AI version.
The one they had used before.
At once, understanding hit him.
This was not an ancient battlefield.
This was the third Braindance simulation.
The chanting returned, booming across the world like the voice of gods.
Ethan slowly lifted his head.
And what he saw made his blood run cold.
In the far distance stood a colossal golden Buddha, so enormous that its head touched the sky and its feet seemed rooted in the earth. Its beard was long and white, moving in the wind like flowing silk. Its face radiated overwhelming majesty.
And on that face were seven black cybernetic eyes.
Its features were unmistakable.
It was Master Rowan.
Beside him, more giant figures rose one after another, each one shaped like a god or demon from some nightmare scripture. They were the other Cyber monks of the Nine Lotus Temple, each wearing their five cybernetic eyes and chanting without pause.
Compared to them, Ethan was less than an ant.
Master Rowan lifted one massive hand and pointed.
From the empty air, black beasts burst forth.
They were hideous things—part flesh, part shadow, with huge maws lined with teeth like knives. They roared and lunged straight at Ethan.
Ethan's eyes sharpened.
His Kerenzikov reflexes kicked in automatically. He twisted aside at the very last moment, the beast missing him by inches. In the same motion, he drew his alloy battle blade and swung with all his strength.
The blade cut clean through the creature.
Its body split into two pieces, foul blood and rotten filth splashing across Ethan's face.
The giant monks watched without expression.
Ethan raised the blade and pointed it at them.
"Come on, then!"
Master Rowan's vast voice rolled across the battlefield like thunder.
"Amitabha. Ethan, surrender. Your resistance is meaningless."
Then his tone turned colder.
"Do you understand what will happen if the AI version of your sister dies here? Every memory of your real sister will fade from your mind. You will not only forget her face. You will lose her completely. Your heart will empty. Your mind will be cleaned out. You will become obedient. Peaceful. A puppet."
From the side, Brother Elias's giant form added, "Just like Adrian Cross."
Ethan said nothing.
He only stared.
Then, not far away, a golden magic circle appeared on the ground.
The AI girl was suddenly moved into it. She could not move. Countless streams of scripture ran across her body like chains made of light.
"Step into the circle," Master Rowan said. "Join your consciousness with hers. It is the best outcome available to you."
Ethan laughed coldly.
"You want me to walk into my own cage? Not happening."
Master Rowan actually put on a compassionate look.
"Excellent. Excellent. Must you force me to break my vow against violence?"
As he spoke, two lines of tears flowed down his giant face.
Ethan felt nothing but disgust.
"Go."
At Master Rowan's command, two even larger six-armed beasts burst from the void and charged at Ethan like lightning.
They were faster. Stronger. More terrifying than the first one.
The first beast reached him in an instant.
Ethan met it head-on and cut it down in a single exchange.
But this time, the beast did not vanish after dying.
Its six arms locked around his alloy blade, trapping it.
At that same moment, Ethan smelled the rotten breath of the second beast right behind him.
He let go of the sword instantly, ducked low, and pulled the Crusher shotgun.
A claw ripped across his back, leaving a burning trail of pain.
He fired.
Bang!
The shotgun roared.
Flames burst from the muzzle.
The second beast exploded into pieces.
Ethan staggered, breathing hard, pain burning through his back.
At his feet lay the broken remains of both monsters.
High above him, Master Rowan smiled.
It was not a holy smile.
It was the smile of a man who already thought he had won.
Then, around Ethan, ten more beasts began to form.
His face darkened at once.
Two had already nearly wounded him badly.
Ten would be far worse.
Master Rowan looked down at him and said, almost kindly, "There is no limit to how many we can create. The longer you resist, the more pain you invite."
Then he pointed toward the trapped AI girl.
"Perhaps this will help you understand."
The light in the little girl's eyes vanished.
She stepped out of the circle like a puppet and began walking toward Ethan with an unsteady, unnatural gait.
When she spoke, it was no longer her voice.
It was Master Rowan's.
"How does it feel," he mocked, "to fight against your sister's body?"
The little girl's face twisted into an ugly smile.
"Can you do it, Ethan? Can you strike your own sister?"
He had stopped calling him gently now.
No more "Bai."
No more fake warmth.
Now the mask had fallen away.
"You can't even save yourself," the voice sneered through the child's mouth. "And you thought you could save someone else? Overconfident fool. You walked into every trap the Nine Lotus Temple laid for you."
That was enough.
The moment they used his sister against him, something inside Ethan snapped.
His fury exploded.
He no longer cared about reason. He no longer cared about consequences. He no longer cared what came after this.
He only wanted one thing.
To kill.
Sandevistan activated.
Time slowed to a crawl.
The world fell silent.
The unfinished words on the AI girl's lips stretched into meaningless fragments. The charging beasts became statues. The giant Buddhas looked like frozen clay idols.
Ethan's eyes turned blood-red.
He ripped his battle blade free, lowered his body, and shot forward like a bullet.
His target was not the beasts.
Not the puppet.
Not the circle.
It was the nearest giant Buddha.
With every ounce of strength in his body, Ethan leaped forward and swung his blade straight at its head.
The strike carried all of his rage.
All of his fear.
All of his refusal to lose his sister.
And in that slowed, silent world—
Ethan cut down at the Buddha with everything he had.