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Scene 1: The School Returns, But Reality Doesn't
Valeiris High reopens after a mysterious week-long shutdown. The students return—but something feels wrong. Everyone walks the same. Talks the same. Laughs the same.
Aeyon steps through the school gates and immediately senses it.
> "They're testing something here... on us."
On the walls: new posters.
> "Mental Synchronization Exams – Mandatory for Graduation"
He clenches his fist.
> "They're turning school into a testing ground for mind compliance."
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Scene 2: The First Exam – "Truth Without Words"
Inside Room 413, students sit in exam chairs locked with pulse coils. A black-suited Null Proctor enters. His face is hidden by a hologram of shifting thoughts.
He speaks: "This is not a written exam. This is a neuro-cognition filter test. Think a lie, and the system punishes you."
The question appears in every student's mind:
> "Have you ever betrayed someone you loved?"
One girl tries to block the question. Her chair snaps. Her scream echoes across the halls.
Aeyon answers in silence. He thinks of Reva. He thinks of letting her shatter in Chapter 8. He thinks:
> "Yes. And I'd do it again if it meant I win the war."
The coil releases him.
He passed.
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Scene 3: Second Exam – "The Labyrinth Within"
Students are sent into isolated simulation chambers. Each is faced with illusions designed to crack their identity.
Aeyon walks into his. A classroom appears. He sees his younger self being bullied. A voice whispers:
> "You were always powerless. Always pretending to be smart. You're nothing."
Suddenly, the bullies become Null soldiers. They pull Elura out and shoot her in front of him.
> "SAVE HER!"
But Aeyon stands still. Breathes. Smiles.
> "Not real. And not clever. Try harder."
The illusion fades. He sees the real code beneath: a flaw in the simulation. He hacks it with a blink—injects a whisper phrase:
> "Sleep, but awaken."
The room melts. He exits first. Everyone else is still screaming inside.
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Scene 4: The Arena of Sync
Unexpectedly, the final round is public. The top 6 students are dragged to an arena built into the school gym.
Floating above: a psychic web pulsing with commands.
> "Only one will pass. The rest, erased."
Opponent 1: Elaren Dusk – mind mimicker. Copies thoughts in real time. Opponent 2: Vira Cess – emotion siphon. Feeds on fear. Opponent 3: Reyan Volt – logic bender. Turns patterns into illusions.
Aeyon stands among them. He whispers: "I'm not here to win. I'm here to crash the system."
The match begins.
Elaren mimics Aeyon's thoughts. But Aeyon turns his own brain into a recursive loop—thoughts that think about themselves until they burn out. Elaren screams and collapses.
Vira targets Aeyon with a fear spike. He flips the memory of Reva's betrayal, turns it into power. Walks through the spike like it's mist.
> "Your weapon was pain. Mine is the memory of surviving it."
Reyan traps Aeyon in an illusion maze. Aeyon sends fake data back into the illusion. Reyan thinks he won. Celebrates.
> "Checkmate," he grins.
Then his own brain snaps—his belief in false victory breaks his neural lock. He drops.
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Scene 5: The System Breaks
Everyone stares at Aeyon. Even the Null Proctors are silent.
Aeyon steps forward.
> "You want to test minds? Then bring one that wasn't manufactured." "Your system runs on patterns. I run on defiance."
He uploads a Whisper Code virus into the arena's psychic net. The sync nodes start shaking. The audience begins to wake up.
Some cry. Some scream. Some fall to their knees.
> "Where... am I?"
The school collapses into chaos.
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Scene 6: The New Enemy Reveals Himself
From the shadows walks Headmaster Sylven Dorr. Once thought to be a regular school director. But now, his eyes glow with purple threading.
> "Very clever, Aeyon. But you're not the only defiance this system produced."
Behind him— A new figure steps out. A teenage girl. Calm. Pale. No visible emotion. Her name appears on the hovering Null feed:
Subject ID: VNTH-09 Alias: Mirra. Function: Anti-Mind.
Elura gasps. "She's immune to manipulation. Even yours."
Aeyon grins.
> "Then let's see what happens when the unstoppable meets the unprogrammable."
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TO BE CONTINUED...