"What the hell kind of operator?" I thought.
"You have come," the voice said from the rusted speakers on the ceiling. "Look at your hands, kid. You already feel it, don't you? The world is a calculation error."
"Magic is garbage," the voice continued. "People have learned to gather scraps and call them spells. But the system is leaking. I’ve been plugging these holes with my brain for centuries. But I'm tired. I need a replacement."
With a disgusting, serpentine hiss, cables began to crawl out of the walls, stretching toward me.
"Kid, we're leaving!" Ephraim grabbed my shoulder. "This thing wants to eat you alive!"
"Not eat," the old man inside the tank rasped. "Integrate. You like numbers. You want to know everything. Become the Core, and you will see the movement of every single atom in this world."
"I doubt you can see every single atom from this dump. So go to hell."
"You don't understand. If I shut down and you don't take my place, the entire sector blows sky-high. Entropy will swallow everything."
"Then don't shut down, moron," I thought.
The cables lunged. One wrapped around Ephraim’s leg and slammed him into the wall. Zeno tried to open fire, but a steel spike shot out of the floor, punching straight through his shoulder joint and pinning the robot in place.
I activated the Skill.
[CRITICAL MIND OVERHEAT: LIMITERS REMOVED SIMULTANEOUSLY]
[MODE: INFINITE RECURSION]
The world instantly turned into a blueprint.
I poured everything I had into the system interface, launching an infinite loop. Everything before my eyes flooded with white.
I could feel my prosthesis heating up. One degree. Ten. A hundred. The metal began to soften. The arm's joints sagged.
The old man inside the tank began to thrash. His clockwork eyes spun wildly.
"Stop! You'll burn it all down!" the speakers screamed.
"We burn together," I said, feeling the Skill fry my brain.
At some point, the reservoir inside the glass chamber burst. Glass shattered. The old man inside went limp. His body began turning to ash right before my eyes. The entire structure shuddered.
"Zeno!" I shouted, cutting off the energy flow.
With a screech of metal, he tore the spike from his shoulder and scooped up the unconscious Ephraim.
I tried to take a step forward. My legs felt like lead.
"With me! The utility elevator still has power!" Zeno grabbed me by the collar and dragged me down the corridor.
Behind us, the entire complex was collapsing. The floor buckled. The ceiling caved in. We hurled ourselves into the cramped iron box of the elevator. Zeno slammed the button so hard it shattered. The jolt nearly smeared me across the floor.
We shot up the shaft, propelled by the blast wave from below. My ears rang.
And then—a flash.
It took me a moment to realize what had happened. Suddenly, everything went silent. And cold.
I opened my eyes. Stretching above me was something vast and black. Thousands of tiny lights were scattered across it.
"Are those... stars?" I croaked, trying to sit up.
The burned side of my arm touched something soft and wet.
Ephraim sat nearby, wiping blood from his face.
"That felt a little too easy," I said quietly.
"Are you insane? We almost died down there! Just a little more and..."
"Didn't you say yourself that fear and you are incompatible?"
"...Yeah, of course! Fear and I are incompatible!"
"That’s the spirit we need," I thought.
"Sorry, Zeno, but looks like your leg is going to have to wait a bit," I said, admiring the stars.
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