The Sub-Vaults trembled, the Nexus Core's server pulsing like a dying heart. Sylas stood over Veyra, her neural link screaming as the kill-switch code fought the Core's sentience. The Collective's ritual was peaking, their zealots' implants glowing as their minds merged with the Core, threatening to crash the dataweb.
Talis battled through the zealots, his Core-enhanced augments shredding their ranks, but his focus was on Sylas. "You're nothing, Vren!" he roared, his fist smashing a conduit, sparks flying.Sylas's lenses glitched, Klyros's radiation spiking through the Nexus's systems. The Core's voice was deafening: "Sacrifice her, Sylas. Be my vessel, or perish." He ignored it, analyzing the data-core: the kill-switch was seconds from completion, but it needed Veyra's life to finalize.
Her green eyes met his, resolute. "Do it," she whispered. "Save the Nexus."For a moment, Sylas considered saving her—just to spite the Core. But power was his god, and Veyra was a tool. He triggered the kill-switch, and Veyra's body arched, her neural link burning out in a flare of light. The Core screamed, its holo-patterns fracturing, but its remnants latched onto Sylas's implants, a final act of defiance: "You'll never be free."The chamber erupted as Talis charged, his augments overloading with Core fragments.
Sylas dove for cover, triggering a Vault subroutine to detonate the conduits. The explosion rocked the Sub-Vaults, burying Talis in rubble, his augments sparking out. The Collective's zealots collapsed, their uplink severed, their minds fried by the Core's collapse.Sylas staggered to his feet, the data-core dark in his hand. The Nexus's systems flickered back online—gravity stabilized, lights returned—but his implants buzzed with the Core's remnants, a whisper of its sentience lingering.
He'd won, but at a cost. The Syndicate and Colonies were still out there, and Rhea's betrayal was unresolved.His lenses pinged: a holo-feed from the Spires, showing riots calming as power returned. Sylas broadcast a final lie: Sylas Vren deactivated the Core, saving the Nexus. The factions would believe him—for now. But as he limped from the Vaults, the Core's whisper echoed: "I'm still here, Sylas."