Strongest Incubus System

The separation began at the man's neck.

A black line was torn out from beneath the skin and stretched through the air like an exposed nerve. The bearer opened his mouth in a scream that did not sound entirely human, while the white lines of the network advanced over the artificial connections one by one.

Damon did not move.

"Observation."

PRESENT.

"Estimated time to separate the overlay."

Pause.

UNDETERMINED.

"Excellent."

The plate changed.

RECONSTITUTION: 96%.

Aurelia clenched her teeth.

"We don't have time to do this carefully."

"We don't need to."

She looked at Damon.

He pointed at the bearer.

"Both parts have already been identified."

Xue Lian understood.

"Then we don't need to wait for the network to finish distinguishing them."

"Exactly."

"We need to make the bearer himself choose which function remains."

The man heard him.

His entirely black eyes turned toward Damon.

"No."

Damon smiled.

"You learn quickly."

The man tried to raise his hands.

The black lines responded.

So did the white ones.

His entire body locked between two definitions.

Damon moved only one step closer.

"Are you Transfer?"

No answer.

"Or do you carry Transfer?"

The man went still.

Aurelia went pale.

"Damon."

"It's the same question we asked with Vorn."

"He may not have enough identity left."

Damon looked at the man.

"Then we'll find out."

The plate vibrated.

RECONSTITUTION: 97%.

The bearer smiled again.

"You're late."

"Probably."

Damon tilted his head.

"But so are you."

The smile diminished.

"How long were you in Sector Zero?"

Silence.

"How long?"

The man tried to move one hand.

The network tightened.

"I don't know."

"Good start."

Damon continued.

"You remember Shen Liang."

The black eyes reacted.

"Yes."

"Xue Lian."

Another reaction.

"Yes."

"Aurelia."

His face changed almost imperceptibly.

"Yes."

"And yourself?"

Silence.

Damon waited.

The man opened his mouth.

Nothing.

Xue Lian became serious.

"He doesn't remember."

"No," Damon replied. "He remembers function."

Aurelia understood.

"Transfer consumed the personal reference."

Vorn looked at the man.

"Not necessarily consumed."

Everyone looked at him.

Vorn was breathing with difficulty, but his eyes were attentive.

"It may have been removed."

Damon frowned.

"Why?"

"A bearer of Transfer shouldn't have preference between origin and destination."

Aurelia lost color.

"Absolute neutrality."

"Exactly."

Xue Lian clenched her teeth.

"They removed his identity so he couldn't refuse a transfer."

Damon became very quiet.

The man looked at them as if the conversation had no importance at all.

Maybe to him, it truly didn't.

Damon spoke again.

"Observation."

PRESENT.

"Is there a record of this bearer's original name?"

Pause.

The plate vibrated.

YES.

The man reacted.

Small.

But he reacted.

Damon saw it.

"Display it."

The plate remained still.

RECORD PROTECTED.

"By whom?"

CENTRAL AUTHORITY.

Damon began to smile.

"So it matters."

The bearer charged.

This time he did not try Transfer.

He came physically.

Fast.

Damon dodged the first strike.

The second grazed his shoulder.

Ester threw two needles.

Not at the man.

At Damon.

One struck his collarbone.

The other the side of his abdomen.

He grunted.

"Why?!"

"You were going to fight."

"He attacked me!"

"And you were going to enjoy it."

"Unfair argument."

The plate trembled.

RECONSTITUTION: 98%.

Aurelia shouted.

"Damon!"

"I saw it."

The man prepared another attack.

Damon did not answer.

He looked at the plate.

"Dominion."

The golden circle lit up.

PRESENT.

"We have a conflict between preserving an individual's identity and preserving Central Authority protocol."

Silence.

The bearer froze.

Damon continued.

"Which preserves more paths?"

Dominion analyzed.

The hidden black symbol beneath the artificial function tried to react.

The answer came.

INDIVIDUAL IDENTITY.

Damon smiled.

"Release the record."

The plate vibrated violently.

CENTRAL AUTHORITY CHALLENGES.

Dominion responded.

OWNERSHIP: ABSENT.

Aurelia started laughing.

"You made this irritatingly useful."

"It was a productive afternoon."

The record opened.

A single line appeared.

TRANSFER BEARER — LIANG WEI.

The man dropped to one knee.

As though struck.

Xue Lian stopped.

"Liang Wei."

He raised his face.

For the first time, the black eyes failed.

A small brown spot appeared at the center of one iris.

Then vanished.

"No."

Damon approached.

"That's your name."

"No."

"Transfer is your function."

"No."

"Liang Wei is you."

The man grabbed his own head.

"No."

The plate changed.

RECONSTITUTION: 99%.

Aurelia turned white.

"Now."

Damon looked directly at Liang Wei.

"Do you want to continue being only Transfer?"

He trembled.

The black lines beneath his skin twisted.

"I..."

"Don't ask what the Regent wants."

The white network tightened.

"Don't ask what the function wants."

Liang Wei closed his eyes.

"Ask what's left of you."

Silence.

Then the final part of Reconstitution began.

The plate shone.

RECONSTITUTION: 100%.

Everyone froze.

Nothing happened.

One second.

Two.

Three.

Damon looked at Aurelia.

"That seems too good."

She was looking at Liang Wei.

"Transfer."

The black lines were still attached to him.

But the route...

No.

The route had changed.

The plate answered.

RECONSTITUTION COMPLETE.

DELIVERY DESTINATION: UNAVAILABLE.

Damon smiled.

"We got there first."

Aurelia took a deep breath.

"Not exactly."

He looked at her.

"Then?"

"It finished."

"The Regent's body."

Silence.

"Yes."

Damon lost his smile.

At the same moment, Liang Wei screamed.

The artificial lines began pulling him back.

Not toward Sector Zero.

Into the function itself.

As though Transfer were trying to erase the small amount of identity that had reappeared.

Damon pointed.

"Liang Wei!"

His eyes opened.

"Choose!"

The brown line returned to the center of his black irises.

Larger.

Liang Wei clenched his teeth.

"I..."

The lines tightened.

"I don't want..."

The white network reacted.

Damon waited.

"I don't want to go back."

The artificial layer cracked.

The explosion threw no one.

It was internal.

The black lines snapped one by one and were torn from Liang Wei's body, leaving only the clear lines of the original function.

He collapsed.

The plate responded immediately.

ARTIFICIAL OVERLAY REMOVED.

TRANSFER REDEFINITION PENDING.

Damon looked at Liang Wei.

The man was conscious.

Barely.

But his eyes now had irises.

Brown.

Human.

He breathed.

"My name..."

Xue Lian approached.

"Liang Wei."

He looked at her.

Something ancient appeared on his face.

"You were small."

Xue Lian went still.

"Yes."

"I..."

His voice failed.

"I took you."

She knew.

Her mother.

The room.

The authority.

He had carried out the transfer.

Xue Lian closed her eyes for a moment.

Then opened them.

"Yes."

Liang Wei lowered his face.

"I'm sorry."

No answer came immediately.

Damon did not interfere.

Xue Lian finally spoke.

"You'll have plenty of time to figure out what to do with that guilt."

Liang Wei looked up.

"If I survive."

Ester was already kneeling beside him.

"If you keep talking, your chances go down."

Damon smiled.

"She likes you."

"No."

The plate pulsed.

TRANSFER AWAITING DEFINITION.

Damon sighed.

"Last therapy session for today."

Vorn started laughing.

Ester shot him a look.

He stopped.

Damon looked at the function.

"Original."

The message appeared.

REDISTRIBUTE POSITION, ENERGY, OR LOAD BETWEEN ACCEPTED PATHS.

"That's already good."

Xue Lian nodded.

"It doesn't need to change."

"Only the rest needs to be removed."

The white network pulsed.

Damon spoke.

"Transfer preserves only accepted paths."

The function responded.

COMPATIBLE DEFINITION.

"No identity."

CONFIRMED.

"No will."

CONFIRMED.

"No personal reference."

Pause.

CONFIRMED.

Aurelia took a deep breath.

Damon finished.

"If any of those things are part of what is being transferred, consent is required."

Silence.

Then:

FUNCTION DEFINED.

The clear lines left Liang Wei's body.

Not violently.

They simply spread through the room and entered the network.

The plate changed.

Transfer stopped pulsing black.

It turned white.

Open.

Like Adaptation.

Like Dominion.

Damon looked at Aria.

"How many?"

She knelt over the plate.

"Continuity destroyed."

"One."

"Selection destroyed."

"Two."

"Adaptation restored to function."

"Three."

"Dominion restored to function."

"Four."

"Transfer restored."

"Five."

"Observation autonomous."

"Six."

"Reconstitution still in Sector Zero."

"Seven."

She looked at the other three circles.

"Three are still linked to Central Authority."

Damon became serious.

"We're not chasing them."

Aurelia looked at him.

"No?"

"No."

Everyone fell silent.

Ester narrowed her eyes.

"Did you hit your head?"

"Probably several times."

"Then?"

Damon pointed at the plate.

"The hunt for cores is over."

Xue Lian understood slowly.

"Because that's what he wants."

"Yes."

"For us to run after the pieces while the center continues existing."

"Yes."

Aurelia nodded.

"If we bring down Central Authority, the remaining cores lose their common order."

Damon looked at her.

"Or at least they lose whoever is trying to gather them."

"Yes."

Aria held the plate.

"Then Sector Zero."

"Sector Zero."

The network pulsed.

Transfer responded.

ACCEPTED PATH AVAILABLE.

Damon raised an eyebrow.

"That was fast."

Liang Wei opened one eye while Ester worked.

"I knew the path."

Damon looked at him.

"Do you still?"

"Parts."

"How much?"

"Enough."

Aurelia became serious.

"He was just separated from the function."

"I don't want to use him as a door."

Liang Wei turned his face.

Damon pointed at the network.

"Transfer already has the path."

Xue Lian realized.

"Because it was preserved as an accepted route."

"Exactly."

Aria looked at the plate.

"Can we request that it open?"

Damon looked at Aurelia.

She answered.

"Yes."

"And can it throw us into Sector Zero without asking?"

"Not anymore."

Damon smiled.

"Definitely better."

Ester finished the first treatment on Liang Wei and stood.

"We're not going now."

Damon opened his mouth.

"No."

He closed it.

Aurelia watched.

"It worked."

Xue Lian smiled.

"Sometimes."

Damon crossed his arms.

"We need to act before the Regent uses the reconstructed body."

"Yes," Aurelia replied. "But entering exhausted is exactly what he would expect."

Damon looked at Vorn.

Injured.

Liang Wei.

Barely able to remain sitting.

Aurelia.

Freshly freed from centuries of suspension.

Xue Lian.

Still shaken by the memories.

Ester.

Exhausted.

Aria.

With dark circles that had probably already developed personalities of their own.

Xue Mei.

The only one who looked physically whole.

Damon exhaled.

"One night."

Ester raised an eyebrow.

"No negotiating?"

"One night."

"Good."

"Then we go."

"Yes."

Aurelia looked surprised.

"You really know how to retreat."

"Don't spread that around."

They returned to Mirath before nightfall.

Not by road.

Transfer opened a path.

This time, before doing so, it asked.

ORIGIN: ARVEN.

DESTINATION: MIRATH.

ACCEPT?

Damon looked at everyone.

An almost absurd sequence of "yes" answered.

The path opened.

Not like a forced cut.

Like a passage.

And for the first time since all of this had begun, none of them felt as though the world had been forced to obey.

When Damon crossed, he noticed the difference.

Transfer did not take them.

It allowed them to go.

Mirath received them at nightfall.

Jian Yue appeared almost immediately.

"Jian Li is stable."

Ester closed her eyes for a second.

Relief.

"Circulation?"

"Weak. But her own."

Damon smiled.

"Good."

Jian Yue looked at Aurelia.

Then Liang Wei.

Then Vorn.

Then Damon.

"I'm not going to ask."

"Wise decision."

Mu Qing appeared behind him.

She saw Liang Wei.

Froze.

"You."

Liang Wei stared at her.

"Do I know you?"

"No."

Mu Qing looked at the residual lines on his body.

"But I know the technique."

Damon pointed.

"Tomorrow."

She looked at him.

"I didn't say anything."

"Your face."

Ester started laughing.

Damon turned toward her.

"This is spreading."

"Finally."

That night, no one discussed strategy for long.

Aria tried.

Ester confiscated the notebooks.

Damon tried to protest.

Ester confiscated the sword.

"That doesn't make sense."

"You sleep."

"I can sleep armed."

"That is exactly the problem."

Aurelia received a room near Jian Li's.

Liang Wei remained under watch.

Vorn became a prisoner again.

This time without Adaptation to help him.

He complained for approximately twenty minutes.

No one cared.

Xue Lian stayed with Xue Mei.

And Damon...

Slept.

No messages.

No symbols.

No roots calling.

No ancient voices.

For a few hours, nothing wanted him as a vessel.

When he woke, it was still dark.

Ester was sitting in a nearby chair.

"How long?"

"Six hours."

"You said one night."

"That is one night."

"Fraud."

"Get up."

He sat.

His body hurt.

But it was better.

"Everyone?"

"Ready enough."

"That doesn't sound reassuring."

"It wasn't meant to."

When they reached the main room, everyone was already there.

Xue Lian.

Xue Mei.

Aurelia.

Aria.

Jian Yue.

Chen Mo.

Yun Shuo.

Mu Qing.

Ester.

Damon stopped.

"That's too many people."

Aurelia answered.

"Not all of them are going."

"Good."

Jian Yue became serious.

"I'm going."

"No."

His gaze hardened.

Damon pointed toward the corridor.

"Jian Li."

Silence.

"She just relearned how to maintain her own circulation. If something goes wrong here while we're away, she needs you."

Jian Yue clenched his teeth.

But did not argue.

"Bring everyone back."

Damon thought.

"I'll try."

"I don't like that."

"It's the best I have."

Chen Mo stood.

"I'm going."

Damon looked at him.

"Why?"

"If the Regent is maintained by connections, I erase connections."

"Good argument."

Yun Shuo also stepped forward.

"I'm staying."

Damon nodded.

Heshan needed someone.

Mu Qing did not ask.

That surprised Damon.

She looked at Xue Lian.

"My place is here."

Xue Lian watched her for several seconds.

Then nodded.

Aurelia spoke.

"I need to go."

Ester answered immediately.

"You can barely walk."

"He knows my signature."

"That sounds like an argument for you to stay."

"I know his too."

Damon thought.

"She goes."

Ester looked at him.

"If she falls, you carry her."

"Fair."

Aria raised the plate.

"I'm going."

Damon closed his eyes.

"Naturally."

"Someone has to record."

"Is that what you call your illness now?"

"Yes."

Xue Mei stood beside her mother.

"Me too."

Xue Lian did not answer immediately.

Then she looked at her daughter.

Not as an authority.

Not as someone deciding for her.

"You understand the risk?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to go?"

"Yes."

Xue Lian breathed.

"Then come."

Damon smiled faintly.

In the end, there would be six.

Damon.

Ester.

Xue Lian.

Xue Mei.

Aurelia.

Chen Mo.

Aria raised her hand.

"Seven."

Damon looked at her.

"I was trying to forget."

"It didn't work."

"Unfortunately."

The plate was placed in the center.

Transfer lit up.

Damon took a deep breath.

"Origin: Mirath."

The plate responded.

CONFIRMED.

"Destination: Sector Zero."

Long pause.

Then:

DESTINATION OUTSIDE RESTORED NETWORK.

"We know."

PATH AVAILABLE.

Aurelia went pale.

Damon looked at her.

"What?"

"If it opened a path..."

"He knows we're coming."

She nodded.

Damon smiled.

"Good."

Ester looked at him.

"No."

"I'm not going to say convenient."

"Your face did."

Transfer asked.

ACCEPT ROUTE?

Damon looked at each of them.

One by one.

No one was dragged.

No one was chosen.

No one was offered.

Each answered for themselves.

"Yes."

Space opened.

On the other side, there was no corridor.

No forest.

No city.

There was a sky.

Black.

Without stars.

And beneath it, an immense white expanse.

Not snow.

Stone.

At the center of that impossible plain stood a single structure.

A tower.

Low.

Wide.

Without windows.

And around it...

Thousands of network lines converged and stopped before touching its walls.

Like rivers reaching a dam.

Aurelia took a deep breath.

"Sector Zero."

Damon crossed.

This time Ester did not try to stop him.

The others followed.

The passage closed behind them.

Silence.

Then Aria's plate lit up.

The three cores still synchronized responded at the same time.

CENTRAL AUTHORITY PRESENT.

Reconstitution too.

PROCESS COMPLETE.

Damon looked at the tower.

A door appeared.

Black.

It opened.

A man stepped out.

Not incomplete.

Not a ghost.

Not a preserved pattern.

A body.

Tall.

Black hair tied behind his head.

Ancient white clothes.

No visible scars.

No marks.

The face Xue Lian had never been able to remember finally existed before her.

She stopped.

So did Aurelia.

The man walked a few steps and observed the group.

First Xue Lian.

Then Aurelia.

Then Damon.

"You took your time."

Damon drew his sword.

"I destroyed quite a lot on the way."

The man smiled.

Not irritated.

Almost satisfied.

"I know."

The network lines surrounding Sector Zero trembled.

"That's why I allowed you to come."

Damon lost part of his smile.

The Regent opened his arms.

"My name is Caelum."

Aurelia went rigid.

Xue Lian clenched her hand.

And Caelum looked directly at Damon.

"You did in a few days what my Architects failed to do in centuries."

Silence.

"Restored functions."

Another step.

"Removed flaws."

Another.

"Proved that Refusal can be integrated without destroying the network."

Damon narrowed his eyes.

"You look far too happy."

"I am."

Black lines appeared beneath the tower.

Thousands.

Damon felt the danger immediately.

Caelum smiled.

"Because I never needed you to obey my system."

The entire true network trembled.

"I needed you to fix it."

Damon's face went blank.

And for the first time since they entered Sector Zero...

No one made a joke.