Solin stood just inside the vault's open door, arms behind his back.
He didn't look afraid.
He looked patient.
Like this was just paperwork.
"I've been waiting for the system to confirm your signature," he said.
"Now that it has… we can complete your deletion."
He reached into his coat and flicked a black dataspike toward the wall terminal.
It stuck.
And sank in.
The air froze.
The lights dimmed.
The Thirian echoes began to twitch.
Their heads jerked. Their postures shifted.
Cael felt it in his spine — a system-level recall signal.
And then the voice came:
"Anchor-Class: ARIK VELBreach Severity: TerminalDirective: Contain and EliminateOrder: 000-Lambda"
"You just turned them into assassins," Lira snapped.
"No," Solin said. "He did. I just reminded them."
One of the failed Thirians stepped forward.
Then another.
Then four.
Their eyes locked on Cael.
They began to hum.
Not with sound.
With resonance.
Ready to collapse him.
Cael backed up, heart pounding.
"Can I override it?"
Lira was already yanking open a side panel.
"Maybe. But the directive's ancient. It's tied to who you used to be."
"So how do I stop it?"
"Either prove you're not Arik Vel…"
"Or outrank him."
The echoes were almost on him.
One reached for his head.
Its touch was cold — not temperature, but permission.
A final confirmation request before deletion.
The Keymark flared.
Not white.
Not red.
Black.
Cael screamed.
And then—
He shouted:
"Override: Class Zero. Suspend Directive Lambda.System breach thread: fragment-authority 'Cael.'I am not who you remember."
The room stopped.
Literally.
Air froze. Lights froze. Echoes froze.
The command was accepted.
Barely.
The Thirians halted mid-motion, as if their own limbs had questioned them.
One of them twitched.
Then knelt again.
Then whispered:
"Order fragmented… identity conflict detected…"
"Awaiting reclassification."
Solin hissed softly, pulling a blade from his coat — no tech this time.
Just steel.
"So you're adapting. Good."
"Now let's see how fast you bleed."
End of Chapter 16: Kill Order: Anchor-Class