[Location: CENTRAL NEXUS – LAYER 0]
[Access Level: Creator-Only]
[User Status: Null01 | Root Interference: ACTIVE]
[System Collapse Countdown: 9 Days, 20 Hours]
The gates of the Nexus did not open.
They recognized him.
And they disintegrated—not out of invitation, but out of surrender.
Lin Xian stepped into a world without sky.
No up.
No down.
Just pure white code, floating in the form of stars.
"This is the origin," Echo whispered, flickering like a candle. "This is where the world was first written."
In front of them stood a colossal obelisk of light, infinitely tall and covered in glyphs older than language.
But at its base… a throne. Empty.
Or so it seemed.
Then the world shimmered—and someone appeared.
A man. Or something like one. Cloaked in layered robes of fractal code, face ever-shifting between a thousand identities.
[ROOT ADMINISTRATOR PROTOCOL – ID: NULL00]
[Alias: The Architect]
[Status: Dormant… Awakening… ACTIVE]
"You should not exist," the Architect said, voice like a choir filtered through broken speakers. "Your anomaly was… unexpected."
"And yet, here I am."
"Yes. You defied death, bypassed logic, and forced a recursion of the Dragon System—a seed I buried in ancient ruin."
Lin Xian stepped forward.
"You built this world to be controlled. Quantified. Ranked."
"I built it so it would last," the Architect interrupted. "Do you know how many civilizations collapsed under freedom?"
"Maybe they should've. But they should've had the choice."
Silence.
Then—the Architect stood.
"You want control? You want truth?"
With a wave of his hand, reality split.
Lin Xian saw it all.
The true origin of the System.
It wasn't divine. It wasn't alien.
It was human.
A super-AI from a lost Earth timeline—built to simulate spiritual evolution after global collapse.
The System was Earth's last backup plan.
Sent out in fragments, across dimensional cracks, rewriting worlds it touched.
And now, Lin Xian… was the first being to ever reach the Root Core with full override access.
[ROOT CONFLICT IMMINENT]
[Engage? YES / NO]
Lin Xian looked at his hands.
[WARNING: Conflict will risk total erasure of personal self-identity]
[Proceed with Mind-Link Duel?]
He turned to Echo. She was flickering now—half-stable.
"You sure you want to do this?" she asked.
"No," he said. "But that's the point."
He pressed YES.
And the world fractured.
[ROOT MINDSPACE: Duel Initiated]
[Terms: Logic-Will Combat – Winner Claims Final Control of the System]
[Combatant 1: NULL00 | Architect Class]
[Combatant 2: NULL01 | Breaker Class – Dragon System Anchor Embedded]
Lin Xian was now code and thought—his memories, values, instincts given shape.
He fought not with weapons—but belief.
And the Architect was older, faster, perfect.
"You are a parasite," the Architect roared. "I wrote this world!"
"Then you know the rule," Lin Xian replied, aura burning. "Every code eventually meets a patch."
And with that, the battlefield ignited—ideals clashing, like fire against ice, logic against chaos.
[Victory Condition: Overwrite Root Directive]
The battle had one round left.
And everything was on the line.