The rain hadn't stopped for two days.Thunder rolled across the Paris skyline like the growl of something ancient, restless beneath the surface.
Adrian sat at the edge of a half-collapsed metro tunnel, staring at the flickering blue flames that danced across his fingers. The wounds from the Purge Division fight were already gone—healed by the strange energy that now pulsed quietly through his veins.
[Synchronization: 35.4%][Anomaly Status: Stable]
He exhaled slowly, watching his breath vanish into the cold air.His reflection in a puddle below wavered—a face that looked almost unfamiliar.
"Thirty-five percent," he muttered. "And already, I can feel it changing me."
Lucien's ghostly form appeared behind him, arms crossed, expression as unreadable as ever.
"You're still fighting it."
Adrian didn't answer immediately."I don't know if I'm fighting it," he said. "Or if it's fighting me."
"You've been hearing them, haven't you?" Lucien asked quietly. "The whispers."
Adrian froze.Yes—the whispers had grown stronger since the last battle. Voices of heroes, villains, and something else entirely.
He rubbed his temple. "They talk about the Core. Something beneath the city. The place where it all began."
"Then that's where we go," Lucien said simply.
Scene Shift — Citadel of Light
Clara awoke in the infirmary.Her body ached, wrapped in resonance-infused bandages that glowed faintly under the sterile white lights.
Her mind replayed the battle over and over—the way Adrian had moved, the sorrow in his voice when he said:
'Then maybe you never knew me at all.'
The door slid open with a hiss. Miriel entered, her white robes trailing like smoke.
"You should be dead," Miriel said softly. "Half your team was nearly erased by that energy surge."
Clara tried to sit up but winced. "He held back."
Miriel's brow furrowed. "Held back?"
Clara nodded. "If he'd wanted to kill us, we'd be gone. He's not what you think."
Miriel's eyes turned cold. "What I think doesn't matter. What the System records does."
She turned to leave, but Clara spoke again, voice strained."Then maybe the System's wrong."
That stopped her.
Miriel turned slowly, her expression unreadable. "Careful, Captain. Doubt is the first step toward corruption."
But Clara didn't flinch."I used to believe we were saving people. Now, I'm not sure we even remember what we're saving them from."
Miriel said nothing. She only walked away, the door closing behind her with a whisper.
Clara stared at the ceiling, the hum of the medical equipment filling the silence.For the first time in years, she felt afraid—not of Adrian, but of the truth he might represent.
Scene Shift — The Catacombs
Beneath Paris lay another city—ancient, endless, and forgotten.Adrian moved through the catacombs with a single flickering torch of spectral flame. The walls were lined with bones, millions of skulls staring blankly into the dark.
[Warning: Unknown resonance detected.][Location: Restricted Zone — Tier 0 Access Required.]
He ignored the alert and pressed forward.The deeper he went, the louder the whispers became—overlapping voices, both male and female, crying, laughing, whispering in languages he didn't know.
At the end of a narrow passage, the tunnel opened into a massive underground chamber.At its center stood a stone monolith covered in runes that pulsed with faint blue light.
[Analyzing…][Artifact Identified: HEROIC CORE FRAGMENT #1 — "The Echo Chamber."]
Adrian stepped closer. The whispers turned into words.
"Welcome back, anomaly…""The cycle repeats…""You wear his face…"
The air grew heavy. The ground vibrated.For a moment, the chamber shimmered—and the world changed.
Adrian blinked. He was standing in the same chamber, but it was alive, bright, filled with armored figures and banners of the Heroic Order.A woman in gold armor stood in the center, holding a sword of pure light. Her voice was calm but heavy with command.
"All systems stable. The Core is complete. The world will never fall again."
Lucien appeared beside him, his translucent form flickering. "What is this?"
Adrian whispered, "A memory. The first activation of the Heroic System."
The woman continued, turning to face an assembly of figures—scientists, soldiers, mages.
"To protect mankind, we must bind ourselves to the Code of Heroes. Emotion will be refined. Judgment automated. Sacrifice… necessary."
Then she looked up—directly at Adrian.Her eyes met his, even across centuries.
"You should not be here."
The illusion shattered.Adrian fell to his knees, gasping, the chamber returning to its lifeless state.
[Warning: Neural feedback overload detected.][Resonance Signature Updated: "System Interference – Level 1"]
He clenched his fists, staring at the stone."What the hell are you hiding…?"
Lucien looked uneasy. "That wasn't a memory—it was a recording. The system itself remembered her."
Adrian's voice was low, trembling with a mix of awe and fury. "Then that means… it's not just code. It's alive."
Scene Shift — Citadel Archives
Clara walked through the dimly lit archives, her armor still damaged.She had deactivated her comm signal—if the Council found her here, she'd be charged with treason.
She opened a classified vault marked Project H.E.R.O.S., scrolling through decades of files.The more she read, the colder her blood ran.
"Subject A-01: Designation 'Laurent, Adrian.' Result: synchronization successful, emotional stability compromised.""System prototype extracted — Heroic Core initialized using Subject A-01's resonance."
Her hands trembled."He… was the first test."
Suddenly, a hand grabbed her shoulder. She turned, drawing her blade—only to find Miriel standing there, eyes glowing faintly.
"I told you," Miriel said softly. "Doubt leads to corruption."
Clara stepped back, her pulse pounding. "What did you do to him?!"
Miriel sighed. "What we had to. The Heroic System runs on human will, Clara. Someone had to be the foundation."
Clara's eyes widened. "You used him—you turned a person into the Core."
Miriel's voice hardened. "He volunteered."
"That's a lie," Clara whispered.
Miriel didn't deny it.Instead, she raised her hand, and the air filled with light. "You've seen too much."
Back to the Catacombs
The monolith began to pulse faster, reacting to something above.Adrian's system flashed warnings.
[Warning: Heroic Signal Detected][Incoming Resonance Flare — Class Alpha]
He turned toward the tunnel just as a surge of light exploded through it, forming a pillar that cracked the ceiling.Through the glow stepped Miriel herself, her robes torn by teleportation burn.
Adrian's eyes narrowed. "You finally decided to come down from your tower."
Miriel smiled faintly. "I see you've found your grave."
He raised his hand, summoning violet energy. "You built this grave, remember?"
The Core pulsed between them—blue and violet light intertwining, vibrating in harmony.
Miriel frowned. "Impossible… The Core is responding to you?"
Adrian's eyes glowed. "Because it remembers who it was built from."
The walls shook violently. Runes ignited.Miriel's power clashed with Adrian's, their energy colliding in a storm of light and shadow.
Every blow tore through stone, every pulse cracked the ground.
Lucien shouted, "Adrian, stop—if you push further, the Core will—"
But it was too late.The Core erupted, sending a wave of pure energy through the catacombs and up into the city.
Above ground, every hero within the Citadel froze—their systems flickered, status windows flashing uncontrollably.
[System Error: Foundational Protocol Breach Detected.][Origin: Subject A-01 — "Adrian Laurent."]
When the light faded, the chamber was silent.Miriel was gone. The Core was cracked, still pulsing faintly.
Adrian lay on the ground, breathing heavily, his arm glowing faintly with lines of blue light.
[New Resonance Achieved: Hybrid Synchronization – Level 1][Skill Acquired: "System Override"]
He sat up slowly, his reflection shimmering faintly in the fractured Core.
Lucien looked down at him. "You've crossed the line now. There's no going back."
Adrian smiled faintly, eyes burning with quiet defiance."I was never planning to."