Strongest Incubus System

The word remained in the corridor.

Continuity.

Damon stood before the door, watching the symbol on his arm respond to the lines carved into the stone.

"Explain."

The voice on the other side laughed softly.

"You’re still impatient."

"You’re dead. I think I get priority."

Xue Lian did not find it funny.

"Shen Liang died."

"Yes."

"I destroyed your soul."

"That too."

"Then this isn’t you."

There were a few seconds of silence.

"That depends on what you consider a person."

Damon closed his eyes.

"I already hate this conversation."

Aria raised her notebook.

"I don’t."

"Naturally."

Shen Liang continued.

"A soul is structure. Memory. Instinct. Will. Identity. Everyone likes to treat it as something unique because that is more comfortable."

Xue Lian stiffened.

"You copied your mind."

"No."

"Then?"

"I preserved function."

Damon looked at her.

Xue Lian understood immediately.

The true Seed.

Preserve function.

Continuity.

"You used the same principle," Damon said.

"An incomplete version."

"So you aren’t alive."

"No."

"You aren’t a soul."

"No."

"You’re something programmed to think it is Shen Liang."

The voice took a moment.

"Closer."

Damon sighed.

"That’s disturbing."

"You get used to it."

"I’d rather not."

Mu Qing approached the door but kept her distance.

"So the core contains a copy of your function."

"A continuity built from memories, decisions, patterns, and objectives."

Chen Mo became serious.

"An artificial will."

"Yes."

Xue Lian closed her eyes.

"That was what you wanted to do to me."

The voice stopped.

Damon looked at her.

"Explain."

Xue Lian did not look away from the door.

"When I was a child, Shen Liang used to say that individuals were fragile. That knowledge disappeared whenever a generation died."

"Continuity," Aria murmured.

"Yes."

Xue Lian continued.

"He believed the problem wasn’t preserving memories. It was preserving intent."

Damon understood.

"Not just remembering what someone did."

"But continuing to want the same thing."

Shen Liang answered.

"Finally."

Xue Lian clenched her hand.

"That’s why you needed vessels."

"Initially."

"Children."

"Adaptable bodies."

Damon felt irritation rise.

"Choose your next word carefully."

The voice remained calm.

"Necessary."

Ice appeared around Damon’s feet.

Ester immediately looked at him.

"Damon."

"I’m fine."

"You’re freezing the floor."

He noticed.

The Heavenly Body was reacting on its own.

Damon breathed and forced the cold to retreat.

"Continue."

Shen Liang sounded pleased.

"Bodies were limited. Souls too. So we began searching for a structure capable of sustaining intent without depending on either."

"A false core," Xue Lian said.

"Yes."

"And it worked."

"Partially."

Damon pointed at the door.

"You’re talking to me."

"So you may consider that some level of success."

"You’ve still been trapped behind a door for centuries."

"Partial success."

Aria wrote it down.

Damon looked at her.

"Don’t record that as an important quote."

"I already did."

He gave up.

Xue Lian moved one step closer.

"Why Vorn?"

The voice did not answer immediately.

Damon noticed the change.

"Good question."

"Did he find one of your cores?"

"Not exactly."

"Then?"

"He found someone who had."

Silence.

Damon became serious.

"Who?"

"That, I would rather show you."

Ester answered immediately.

"No."

Shen Liang laughed.

"You must be Ester."

She went still.

Damon looked at the door.

"You know quite a lot."

"Vorn transmitted information."

The corridor fell silent.

Damon did not like that word.

"Transmitted how?"

"The mark."

He looked at his arm.

Xue Lian approached.

"The anchor sent information back."

"Yes."

"Since when?"

"Since it was implanted."

Ester clenched her teeth.

Damon continued staring at his own skin.

Then spoke slowly.

"So you saw."

"Parts."

"Arven."

"Yes."

"Seraphine."

"Yes."

"Jian Li?"

"After the mark began reacting to the roots."

Damon raised his eyes.

"You followed everything."

"Not continuously. The structure required compatible stimulation."

Xue Lian looked at the false Seed.

"Every time Damon approached an ancient authority, the mark recorded it."

"Exactly."

Aria lowered her notebook.

"So Vorn wasn’t merely observing experiments."

"He was collecting responses."

Damon began to understand.

Arven.

The root.

Heshan.

The Heavenly Body.

The interaction with ancient authorities.

Every situation taught the mark something.

"He used me as a field test."

Shen Liang answered.

"Vorn did."

Damon narrowed his eyes.

"You’re distancing yourself from him."

"Because he did not fully understand the purpose."

"Who did he think he was working for?"

"Himself."

Damon let out a short laugh.

"That fits."

"Vorn believed he had reconstructed fragments of a lost method. His arrogance made everything quite simple."

"You left clues."

"Some."

"Records."

"Yes."

"Cores."

"One."

Xue Lian became serious.

"The third."

"Correct."

Mu Qing took a deep breath.

"The core I found."

"You found an external portion."

"Then what is behind this door?"

The voice answered.

"Continuity."

Mu Qing lost patience.

"You already said that."

"Because you keep asking the wrong question."

Damon studied the door.

"Then what’s the right one?"

There was a pause.

"What continued?"

No one spoke.

Damon thought.

Shen Liang died.

His soul was destroyed.

And yet intent, memory, function, and objectives had been preserved.

Not an individual.

A pattern.

"The Architects."

The voice went silent.

Damon smiled without humor.

"It wasn’t you that continued."

Xue Lian looked at him.

Damon pointed at the door.

"It was the group."

Shen Liang answered.

"Yes."

Aria began writing faster.

Chen Mo approached.

"So the Architects of Return never depended on their members."

"Now you understand."

"Each one left behind a continuity."

"Some."

"How many?"

"I don’t know."

Xue Lian became serious.

"You don’t know?"

"My core was separated from the network before my physical death."

Damon paid closer attention.

"By whom?"

"Me."

"Why?"

Silence.

That caught everyone’s attention.

Xue Lian narrowed her eyes.

"You tried to escape them."

The answer took a moment.

"Yes."

Damon looked at her.

"That’s new."

"He never spoke against the Architects."

Shen Liang answered.

"Because by the time I realized what they truly wanted, I had already participated too much."

Damon crossed his arms.

"Then tell us."

"Open the door."

"No."

A pause.

"You want answers."

"I do."

"Then come inside."

"That doesn’t mean I’m sticking my arm into a transfer lock."

Shen Liang laughed.

"You really did learn."

"From irritating people."

Xue Lian touched the door.

Not the symbol.

The stone beside it.

"Is there another way?"

"Yes."

"What?"

"Deactivate Damon’s anchor."

Ester immediately looked at her.

"That we can do."

"No," Shen Liang replied.

Ester became irritated.

"You just said—"

"You can remove the mark. That does not deactivate the anchor."

Damon looked at his arm.

"The other side."

"Exactly."

"It’s inside."

"Yes."

"So my mark is only half the structure."

"Yes."

Damon exhaled.

"Great."

Ester stepped closer.

"No."

"I didn’t say anything."

"You’re going to open it."

"Probably."

"Damon."

"If we remove only the mark, the other side looks for another anchor."

Xue Lian confirmed it.

"He’s right."

Ester looked at her.

"You’re getting worse very quickly."

"I noticed."

Damon studied the symbol on the door.

"What if I don’t touch it directly?"

Mu Qing understood.

"Use something else to complete the circuit."

"Yes."

Xue Lian shook her head.

"The anchor needs to recognize identity."

"Then we use my blood."

"It might work."

Ester answered.

"It might also transfer through the blood."

Damon looked at her.

"You’re getting annoyingly good at this."

"It is literally my job to stop you from dying."

"Fair."

Aria raised her hand.

Everyone looked.

"Can I make an unpleasant observation?"

Damon sighed.

"You’ve never asked permission before."

"This core wants Damon specifically."

"Yes."

"But it is talking to us without needing the door open."

"Also yes."

"Then why does it want the door opened?"

Silence.

Damon looked at the stone.

Shen Liang did not answer.

Aria smiled.

"Interesting."

Damon realized it too.

"You don’t need us to open it to talk."

Nothing.

"Then you need it for something else."

Xue Lian became serious.

"Release."

The voice finally answered.

"Partially."

Damon narrowed his eyes.

"That word is doing too much work today."

"My core lost the ability to interact externally."

"Because it was sealed."

"Yes."

"By whom?"

The answer took a moment.

"Me."

Damon stopped.

So did Xue Lian.

"You sealed yourself in."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I discovered the final function."

The corridor went silent.

Damon felt the mark pulse again.

"What?"

Shen Liang answered.

"Replacement."

Xue Lian went pale.

Damon did not understand immediately.

"Of what?"

"The original network."

Now he understood.

The true Seed preserved paths.

Balance.

Independent structures connected without central command.

The Architects had tried to create an artificial version.

A network with preserved intent.

With will.

With command.

"You wanted to replace the network with one that could be controlled."

"Some of us did."

"And you?"

"I helped."

There was no excuse.

Xue Lian clenched her fists.

"You used me for the first test."

"One of the first successful ones."

Damon looked at her.

Xue Lian did not react.

But her face had hardened.

"When I realized," Shen Liang continued, "that the artificial network would preserve preference rather than balance, I tried to stop it."

"Whose preference?" Aria asked.

"Whoever defined the function."

Damon became serious.

That was it.

A true Seed without an owner.

A false one built to accept commands.

Not merely control roots.

Control all connected spiritual circulation.

"If someone connects this thing to the restored network..."

"It may attempt to replace functions."

Xue Lian looked at Damon.

"That is exactly what I said the mark might do."

"So Vorn was preparing a bridge."

"Yes."

Damon looked at the door.

"For whom?"

Shen Liang answered.

"I don’t know."

"I don’t believe you."

"Because you are looking for a person."

Damon fell silent.

The voice continued.

"The Architects learned from our mistakes."

"That doesn’t sound reassuring."

"It wasn’t meant to."

"Then what changed?"

"They stopped depending on people."

Damon felt uneasy.

"Another core?"

"Several."

Aria stopped writing.

"How many?"

"When I separated myself, there were nine projects."

Xue Lian went still.

"Nine."

"Yes."

"You never told me."

"You still obeyed too much back then."

That hit.

Damon looked at Xue Lian.

She did not look away.

Shen Liang continued.

"Each core was created to preserve a specific function."

"Like the Seed."

"Imitating the Seed."

"What functions?"

"Transfer. Adaptation. Dominion. Reconstitution. Observation. Selection."

Damon interrupted.

"How many are you going to list?"

"Ten."

"You said nine projects."

"I was the tenth."

Silence.

Damon almost laughed.

"Of course."

The voice continued.

"My function was Continuity."

Xue Lian finally understood.

"That’s why you survived."

"That’s why something of me survived."

Damon rubbed a hand over his face.

"So there are possibly nine artificial cores scattered around the world."

"Possibly fewer."

"That doesn’t help."

"Some would destroy each other if their functions conflicted."

"That helps even less."

The mark burned.

Damon grabbed his forearm.

The door reacted violently.

A blue line appeared across the stone.

Then another.

Xue Lian stepped back.

"It’s connecting on its own."

Ester looked at Damon.

"You’re not doing anything?"

"No."

Mu Qing examined the floor.

"The core is pulling the anchor."

Damon felt the pressure increase.

The false Seed beneath his skin seemed to be trying to open.

"Shen Liang."

The voice answered immediately.

"Yes."

"How do I stop it?"

"Open it."

"Another option."

"Destroy the core."

"How?"

"Open it."

Damon closed his eyes.

"You’re enjoying this."

"A little."

Xue Lian approached the door.

"If we open it, can we destroy it?"

"Maybe."

Damon looked at her.

"You picked up that word too."

"Living with you is making my habits worse."

Ester did not find it funny.

"There is a risk of transfer."

"Yes," Shen Liang said.

"To Damon."

"Primarily."

"Then we don’t do it."

Damon looked at his own mark.

The black opening was growing.

If they waited, the connection would happen anyway.

Worse.

Without control.

"We do it."

Ester turned toward him.

"Damon."

"I’m not using my hand."

"Then how?"

He looked at Jian Yue.

More specifically, at the ancestor’s sword.

Jian Yue noticed.

"No."

Damon raised an eyebrow.

"Everyone is learning to say that."

"This sword just reached me."

"I don’t want to break it."

"Then?"

Damon pointed at the door.

"I want to use it as a bridge."

Xue Lian understood.

"It belongs to a bloodline recognized by the ancient network."

"Exactly."

"Not by the artificial network."

"Exactly."

Aria smiled.

"Then the door may recognize a valid structure without transferring anything into Damon."

"That’s the hope."

Ester crossed her arms.

"Hope."

"It’s better than maybe."

"It isn’t."

Jian Yue looked at the sword.

Then at Damon.

"If it breaks..."

"I run."

"Where?"

"I’ll decide afterward."

Jian Yue took a deep breath.

Then handed it over.

Damon held the sword.

The instant he brought the tip close to the symbol, the door reacted.

Not blue.

White.

Xue Lian widened her eyes.

"It worked."

Damon’s mark stopped burning.

The circle on the door opened completely.

No transfer.

No pull.

The stone began to separate.

Ester held a needle in each hand.

Chen Mo took position.

Mu Qing stepped back.

Jian Yue recovered the sword the moment Damon released it.

The door opened.

The smell came first.

Metal.

Dust.

Very old blood.

Then the chamber appeared.

At the center stood an altar.

Upon it rested a black core the size of a heart.

Chains crossed its surface.

And behind the altar, someone was sitting.

A man.

Thin.

White hair.

Eyes closed.

Damon went still.

So did Xue Lian.

The face was Shen Liang’s.

Not exactly.

Younger.

Preserved.

The man opened his eyes.

Black.

With a single white line crossing each pupil.

Damon tightened his grip around his ordinary sword.

"You said you weren’t a person."

The man looked at his own hands.

"I’m not."

He stood.

The chains connected to the core moved with him.

Damon felt the mark pulse.

Shen Liang looked directly at him.

"But Vorn was kind enough to send me a body."

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