Strongest Incubus System

Damon did not answer.

His body remained motionless.

The dark-blue lines continued spreading beneath his skin, climbing across his chest, crossing his neck, and descending along the opposite arm in perfectly organized paths.

Ester stopped less than a meter away from him.

"Damon."

Nothing.

Shen Liang smiled.

"It’s useless."

Xue Lian looked at the eye marked by the white line.

"You transferred Continuity."

"A functional copy of it."

"Remove it."

"No."

Jian Yue advanced.

Shen Liang did not even turn his head.

"If you cut the core now, you will destroy part of the structure already inside him."

Jian Yue stopped.

"Lie."

"Test it."

The silence grew heavy.

No one tested it.

Ester kept her eyes on Damon.

His chest was still rising.

Breathing.

Heart beating.

But he did not react.

"Damon."

His head moved.

Slightly.

Ester froze.

Damon looked at her.

The red eye seemed normal.

The other did not.

A white line crossed the pupil.

"Can you hear me?" Ester asked.

Damon opened his mouth.

"Yes."

She exhaled.

Then her expression changed.

The voice was right.

But something about it felt delayed.

Shen Liang smiled even wider.

"Naturally."

Damon slowly turned his head toward him.

"You talk too much."

The smile diminished.

Xue Lian noticed first.

"Damon?"

He brought one hand to his temple.

"I’m..."

He stopped.

His expression twisted.

"...dealing with an irritating number of people inside my head."

Then he dropped to his knees.

Perception vanished.

Not consciousness.

The place.

When Damon opened his eyes again, he was no longer in the chamber.

He was in white.

Not the white world where he had found Rowena.

This was different.

No floor.

No horizon.

There were structures.

Thousands of them.

Memories suspended like shards of glass.

Some were his.

Others were not.

Shen Liang stood in front of him.

Not the cracked interface.

The real man from the memories.

Older.

Tired face.

Normal eyes.

Damon looked around.

"So this is Continuity."

"Part of it."

"You keep all this?"

"No."

Shen Liang walked between the fragments.

"I preserve relevant patterns."

Damon saw a childhood memory pass by.

Another from a battle.

Another of Ester driving a needle into his neck.

"You’re messing with my memories."

"I’m organizing."

Damon looked at him.

"That was a very bad word to choose."

Shen Liang stopped.

"The transfer has already begun."

"I noticed."

"Your body will accept it."

"Probably."

"You will too."

Damon smiled.

"That part you’re assuming."

Shen Liang raised one hand.

A cluster of memories appeared between them.

Arven.

Seraphine.

Vorn.

The root.

"You resist because you think of control as invasion."

"It usually is."

"But Continuity does not erase."

"It replaces priority."

Shen Liang went still.

Damon had understood quickly.

"Interesting."

"That again."

"You will remain Damon."

"But your decisions will begin considering your objectives."

"My patterns will be integrated."

"Until I no longer know where one of my ideas ends and one of yours begins."

Shen Liang did not answer.

Damon laughed.

"That is exactly what happened to Xue Lian and the authority."

"It isn’t the same."

"It’s always different when you’re the one doing it."

Shen Liang’s face hardened.

The memory fragments began to spin.

Damon felt pressure inside his head.

Not pain.

Conviction.

An artificial certainty appeared.

PRESERVE THE CORE.

Damon looked at it.

"No."

The certainty tightened.

PRESERVE CONTINUITY.

"No."

PREVENT DESTRUCTION.

"No."

Shen Liang watched him.

"This is going to become exhausting."

"I have experience."

Another certainty entered.

THE ARCHITECTS MUST BE FOUND.

Damon stopped.

"That one I may actually want to do."

Shen Liang smiled.

"See?"

"But not because you ordered me to."

The certainty weakened.

Shen Liang frowned.

Damon noticed.

"Ah."

"What?"

"You need me to accept."

"No."

"You do."

Shen Liang advanced.

"Your body is compatible."

"Body."

Damon pointed at his own head.

"I am not only the body."

"Identity is structure."

"You said that."

"And structures can be reorganized."

Damon looked at the memories around them.

"Then why are you still talking to me?"

Silence.

"If you could simply reorganize me, you would have done it already."

Shen Liang did not answer.

Damon started walking.

Now he was the one observing.

Continuity held a great deal of information.

But it did not fully dominate that space.

Some memories were protected.

Not by magic.

By distinction.

The memories of Xue Lian that Damon carried were farther away, correctly identified as external.

His own memories were solid.

Separated.

The Fourth Door had done that.

Damon slowly smiled.

"You chose the worst possible time."

Shen Liang became serious.

"Explain."

"I went through a door that forced me to separate what was mine from what belonged to someone else."

His expression changed.

"Memory."

"Yes."

Damon took one of the fragments.

It was one of Xue Lian’s memories.

He recognized it.

Understood it.

But did not feel it as his own.

"I already learned how this works."

Shen Liang raised one hand.

The pressure increased.

Damon felt dozens of intentions trying to enter.

Preserve.

Return.

Observe.

Protect.

Continue.

He closed his eyes.

He did not fight them.

He only separated them.

"That is yours."

One intention weakened.

"That too."

Another.

"This one is mine."

It remained.

"That one is yours."

It vanished.

Shen Liang advanced.

"You cannot separate indefinitely."

"I don’t need to."

Damon opened his eyes.

"I only need to find where you’re anchored."

Outside, Damon’s body trembled.

Ester gripped his shoulders.

"Damon!"

Xue Lian watched the lines.

"Wait."

"He’s getting worse."

"No."

She pointed.

The dark-blue lines were changing.

Some continued advancing.

Others were retreating.

"What is he doing?"

Xue Lian moved closer.

"Refusing."

Shen Liang heard through the body.

The interface turned violently toward Xue Lian.

"SHUT UP."

Jian Yue attacked.

The ancestral sword cut through a chain.

The core trembled.

Inside Continuity, Shen Liang lost his balance.

Damon saw it.

"Found it."

Shen Liang looked back at him.

"What?"

"You’re still connected to the core."

"Naturally."

"Then you’re not entirely inside me."

Silence.

Damon smiled.

"You transferred a function."

"That is enough."

"Not if the original is still there."

Shen Liang realized too late.

Damon grabbed a white line running through the void.

It was not a memory.

It was a connection.

Shen Liang rushed forward.

"No."

"Now you’re learning."

Damon pulled.

Outside, the black core jumped on the altar.

The chains stretched.

Mu Qing shouted.

"He’s pulling it from the inside!"

Chen Mo looked at Damon.

"How the hell?"

Xue Lian answered.

"He found the continuity between the two."

Ester did not look relieved.

"Can that rip his mind out with it?"

Xue Lian hesitated.

Ester turned her head.

"Don’t say maybe."

"I was going to say yes."

"WORSE."

Jian Yue cut another chain.

The core cracked.

Shen Liang screamed inside Damon’s mind.

Not from pain.

From fear.

"If you destroy this connection, you lose everything you received!"

"Good."

"Memories!"

"They aren’t mine."

"Knowledge!"

"I’ll learn it again."

"Information about the Architects!"

Damon stopped.

Shen Liang smiled.

"You will need me."

Damon held the line.

"Maybe."

"Then stop."

"No."

"You just admitted—"

"I may need the information."

Damon pulled again.

"Not you."

The line began to tear.

Shen Liang’s form flickered.

"You don’t understand what is coming."

"Then explain quickly."

"The cores are awakening."

"Which ones?"

"All that still exist."

"Because of the restored network?"

Shen Liang fell silent.

Damon understood.

"Of course."

The true network had returned.

The false cores now had a structure to seek.

"Has Replacement already started?"

"No."

"Who is trying?"

"I don’t know."

"Lie."

"My core has been isolated for centuries!"

Damon watched him.

This time it seemed true.

"Then what do you know?"

Shen Liang began fading at the edges.

"The Observation core was never destroyed."

"Location?"

"Unknown."

"Adaptation?"

"Valcair."

Damon stopped.

"Arven."

"Probably."

"Dominion?"

"Lost."

"Selection?"

Shen Liang hesitated.

Damon pulled the line.

"SELECTION?"

"It is still active!"

"Where?"

"I don’t know!"

"Lie."

"It moves!"

Damon became serious.

A mobile core.

Excellent.

"And which one did Vorn find?"

"Adaptation."

That fit.

All the experiments.

Adjusted bodies.

Incompatible roots.

Damon.

"So my mark came from the Adaptation core."

"Yes."

"And you took advantage of it."

"Yes."

"Does Vorn know there is more than one?"

"No."

Damon smiled.

"This is going to be fun."

Shen Liang stared at him.

"You really intend to go back to him."

"Of course."

"After this?"

"Especially after this."

Damon pulled the connection with both hands.

Shen Liang began to break apart.

"WAIT!"

"You had four hundred years."

"I can help!"

"You can."

Damon smiled.

"By answering while you still can."

"You are irrational."

"Frequently."

"The Architects will find you!"

"Good."

Shen Liang stopped.

Damon tilted his head.

"Saves me the trip."

Then he broke the line.

Outside, the core exploded.

Not in fire.

The chains were ripped inward.

Shen Liang’s interface opened its mouth.

The white line in its eyes vanished.

The body collapsed.

At the same time, Damon fell forward.

Ester caught him.

"Damon!"

The lines beneath his skin began disappearing.

One after another.

The false Seed on his arm partially closed.

But it did not vanish.

Xue Lian saw it.

"The mark remained."

Ester clenched her teeth.

"Why?"

Damon took a deep breath.

Opened his eyes.

Both red again.

"Because it didn’t belong to him."

Ester looked at him.

"Are you you?"

Damon thought.

"Difficult question."

The needle immediately appeared near his eye.

"Yes. I’m me."

"Better."

Damon tried to stand.

His legs failed.

Ester pushed him back down.

"Don’t even try."

"I was going to sit."

"Lie."

"A little."

Aria approached.

"Did you see anything?"

Damon closed his eyes for a few seconds.

Shen Liang’s memories were disappearing quickly.

But some information remained.

Not integrated.

Remembered as external.

Exactly like Xue Lian’s.

"Adaptation."

Xue Lian became serious.

"What?"

"Vorn found the Adaptation core."

Silence.

Damon looked at his arm.

"And this mark is part of it."

Mu Qing moved closer.

"Then the core is in Arven."

"Probably."

Ester pointed at Damon.

"No."

He looked at her.

"I only breathed."

"You’re already planning to go back."

"Eventually we need to."

"You just had a dead person inside your head."

"Technically, it wasn’t a person."

"That does not help."

Damon smiled.

Then looked at the altar.

The Continuity core had split in half.

Inside it was something small.

A black plate.

Aria noticed.

"There’s something in there."

Jian Yue approached and used the sword to push the fragments aside.

The plate fell to the floor.

Symbols appeared.

Ten circles.

One extinguished.

Continuity.

Another glowed dark blue.

Adaptation.

And three were completely black.

No response.

The others pulsed faintly.

Damon became serious.

Xue Lian knelt beside the plate.

"This is a network record."

"Of the artificial cores."

"Yes."

Aria started counting.

"Continuity destroyed. Adaptation active."

She pointed.

"These three?"

Xue Lian touched one.

Nothing.

"Destroyed or disconnected."

"And the others?"

Five.

All pulsing.

Weakly.

But alive.

Damon exhaled.

"Then Shen Liang was right."

Ester looked at him.

"About?"

"There are others."

One of the five circles lit up.

Then another.

As though something had realized Continuity had just vanished.

The plate vibrated.

A word appeared.

Observation.

Damon narrowed his eyes.

"That seems bad."

The circle glowed again.

Then a sentence appeared.

Not from Shen Liang.

Another will.

Another function.

TARGET CONFIRMED.

Everyone went still.

Damon looked at his own mark.

Then at the plate.

"Me?"

The answer appeared immediately.

ADAPTABLE VESSEL CONFIRMED.

Ester closed her eyes.

"I hate all of this."

Damon smiled without humor.

"Now there are two of us."

The plate pulsed one final time.

SELECTION INITIATED.

His smile disappeared.

Xue Lian slowly raised her head.

"Damon."

"I saw it."

"That means—"

"One of them is coming."

The mark on his arm responded.

Not with pain.

With a single pulse.

Like a beacon.

Damon looked toward the corridor they had entered through.

"Well."

Ester pointed at him.

"Don’t even think about saying this is good."

Damon remained silent for a moment.

"I was going to say convenient."

"That’s worse."

"A little."

Then, somewhere far above them, Heshan trembled.

Not like before.

Not because of the true network.

This came from outside.

Something had just touched the fold.

And it was looking for a way in.

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