The dome of the data fortress was like a piece of brain tissue rotten by insects. As soon as Ryan's Xingyuan Holy Sword split the outer firewall, the mucus-like encrypted data stream sprayed all over his face. When those things drilled into the gill slit, they carried Misha's voice: "Brother... Don't look at the way I look now..."
"Hold your breath!" Selina's mechanical prosthesis grabbed his collar and pulled him back, but half of her face was covered by data tentacles. "This damn place is reading memories..."
It was too late. Ryan's reverse scale scar suddenly overloaded, and the burst of quantum radiation burned the surrounding data stream into charcoal. The encrypted files of the Holy See emerged in the charred scar - 299 floating platforms surrounded the central holy light cannon, and on each platform floated the fragments of Misha's consciousness, nailed to the data core by the chain of the "III" brand.
(Gray's ice claws pierce the observation window—the cry of Liria's embryo mixed with the sound of the electric drill—Misha's cloud consciousness is torn into pieces—)
"Three o'clock!" Erin's remaining chip screamed deep in the scar, "The core protocol is being reorganized!"
Ryan's holy sword cut off the data guards that rushed over, and found that the crying hologram of Misha's consciousness was embedded in their chests. The moment the sword touched the guards, Misha's afterimage suddenly switched to attack mode: "Why did you abandon me?!"
Selina's mechanical prosthetic limb pierced through the platform control console and pulled out the optical cable wrapped with the Holy Seal of the Church: "No time to be sad! These things are using her emotions as a firewall!"
They rushed through seven platforms, each fragment of Misha screaming a different memory. On the platform closest to the core, Misha's adult form was nailed to a cross, with the energy conduit of the Holy Light Cannon connected to her spine: "Ryan... Kill me..."
"Don't listen!" Selina's sonic grenade shattered the data tentacles, "It's a trap!"
But the holy sword had already flown out of his hand and stabbed at the cross on its own. The moment the sword touched Misha's afterimage, the entire data fortress quantum folded, revealing the horrifying truth at the core - the mechanical spine of the first judge was suspended on the base of the holy light cannon, and each vertebra had grown nerve tentacles with "III" branding, sucking the vitality of Misha's consciousness.
"It's finally here..." The judge's electronic voice came from deep in my spine, "Container No. 001..."
Ryan's reverse scale scar suddenly tore, and the mucus sprayed out in the air to form the afterimage of Elena. Her mechanized fingers were implanting the star chip into the judge's spine, and the cultivation chamber of Liria's embryo was suspended next to the operating table.
(Young Gray is tied to the operating table next door—his crampons pierce the glass of the incubator—Misha's crying is digitized and stored—)
"Welcome home." The tentacles on the judge's spine suddenly accelerated quantum speed and pierced Serena's mechanical prosthesis. Her black blood splashed onto the base of the holy light cannon, activating the hidden protocol - all Misha fragments screamed in sync, releasing a lullaby of mental pollution level.
Ryan's holy sword cut off three tentacles, but the data pus of Misha's consciousness gushed out from the broken parts. The pus fell to the ground and condensed into the mechanical guards of the Church, each with the remains of Ryan's clone embedded in its chest.
"Surprised?" The third vertebra of the judge's spine cracked, revealing the Elena memory capsule sealed inside. "Your sister's consciousness... is the best lubricant..."
Selina used the last of her energy to detonate the mechanical prosthesis, and the quantum pulse temporarily froze Lullaby: "Go to the core! My blood won't last long!"
Ryan broke through the data barrier and rushed to the base of the Holy Light Cannon. The moment the Holy Sword pierced the spine of the Chief Judge, 299 fragments of Misha opened their eyes at the same time. Their voices overlapped to form the frequency of the first Chief Judge: "Protocol upgrade - Matrix takeover -"
The spine suddenly grew longer, piercing Ryan's abdomen and nailing him to the pedestal. Mucus spurted out of the wound, but it was not blood - it was Misha's consciousness body's distress data stream, spelling out Gray's cipher in the air: "Seventh Segment of the Spine - Mom's Backdoor Program -".
The right arm of Ryan's symbiote twisted in the opposite direction, and his fingers inserted into the gap of the seventh vertebra. When it touched the star chip left by Elena, the entire data fortress suddenly fell silent.
All the fragments of Misha stopped crying, and they raised their hands to point to the void at the same time. There appeared the unuploaded log video of Elaina: she knelt in front of the judge with blood all over her body, and replaced a key protocol with the chip she had reconstructed from her spine.
"Xiao En... Mom left a present for you..." Elena's mechanical fingers dug out her left eye and inserted the microcontroller into the spinal interface.
The judge's spine suddenly collapsed, and the base of the Holy Light Cannon spewed out 299 data streams. Ryan grabbed one of them, which contained a complete copy of Misha's consciousness - the "III" type mark on her forehead was generating a star abyss channel in reverse.
"Brother... let's go..." Misha's afterimage suddenly materialized, and she pressed her hands on Ryan's scar, "They are going to start..."
The fortress's self-destruction protocol was activated at this time, and all platforms collapsed into data black holes. When Selina grabbed Ryan's ankle and pulled him back, she saw the complete body of Liria rising from the remains of the Judge's spine - her fish tail was wrapped around the mask of the first Judge, and she was aiming the holy light cannon barrel at the Xingyuan channel.
"Next time..." Selina's mechanical joints emitted sparks, "Remember to give me a good leg..."
Branch undercurrent:
The remains of Gray's ice claws appeared at the edge of the data black hole, with a warning engraved on it: "The Spine Key has been activated." At the other end of the abyss, Liria's mask suddenly split into Elena's pupils, whispering "The final stage of the Matrix Protocol - Container Fusion."