The moment Lin Chen stepped through the archway known as the Genesis Gate, the world dissolved.
Not like dream logic or digital glitches—but like slipping through a slit in the universe, where everything real folded inside out. Colors warped. Gravity bent inward. And his breath caught in a vacuum that wasn't quite airless, but held something far more oppressive: judgment.
Then—
Silence.
A soundless plane stretched endlessly around him, like he stood at the bottom of a still lake of stars. His feet didn't touch the ground—there was no ground. Just a hovering sense of self, suspended in a space that existed outside time.
[System Notice: Welcome to the Final Layer of the Trial — "Core Reflection."]
[Objective: Defeat the Rational Self.]
Lin Chen's fingers curled instinctively, gathering violet light around his knuckles. "So. Another battle?"
"No," said a voice behind him—his voice. But colder. Sharper. Impossibly calm.
He turned.
There, only five meters away, stood himself. Not a twisted clone, not a corrupted doppelgänger. The figure was identical in every physical aspect—height, scars, posture, even the faint smirk etched at the corner of the mouth. But where Lin Chen's gaze burned with chaos and instinct, this double's eyes gleamed like glass.
"I am you," it said, stepping forward. "Or rather, the you that could have been—unbroken, unemotional, precise. The Rational Core."
[System Notice: Personality Module Simulation Initiated — "Rational Self." Estimated Combat Difficulty: S+. Simultaneous Trial Layer: Philosophical Resonance Test.]
Lin Chen narrowed his eyes. "So what's the trial? Philosophy or power?"
The Rational Self raised a hand. "Both."
And the world fragmented.
Suddenly, they were standing atop a battlefield formed from Lin Chen's memories—his childhood orphanage, a shattered hallway from Erebus labs, the rooftop where he'd declared war on the world—all stitched together in a surreal patchwork.
"First phase: logic duel," the double said, conjuring a floating digital board between them. "Three questions. Fail them all, and this world will trap your mind here forever. Succeed, and we move to combat."
Lin Chen crossed his arms. "Let's get this over with."
The first question appeared in glowing letters:
"Is sacrifice ever justifiable if it guarantees peace?"
Lin Chen's breath hitched. Images of those he'd lost—his foster brother, fallen friends, even the civilians caught in Erebus's experimental fallout—flickered through his mind.
He exhaled slowly.
"No," he said. "Not unless the ones who sacrifice are the ones who choose it freely."
"Correct," the double said tonelessly. "Utilitarian ethics denied. Recognizing autonomy. Noted."
Second question:
"If a system can grant order to the world at the cost of individuality, should it exist?"
Lin Chen smiled bitterly. "You already know what I'll say."
"But do you?" the Rational Self pressed.
Lin Chen closed his eyes. "Order built on obedience isn't peace—it's paralysis. Systems should serve people. Not overwrite them."
The board pulsed blue. "Correct. Final query."
"Would you destroy yourself to prevent becoming what you hate?"
Lin Chen froze.
The silence stretched.
Then, with quiet finality, he said: "If there's no way to change, yes."
The digital board evaporated.
[Philosophical Trial Passed.]
[Emotional Consistency: 97%.]
[Transitioning to Phase II: Mental Combat.]
The air split apart.
The Rational Self moved before the system finished announcing the phase, launching forward with a blade forged from crystalline logic. Lin Chen barely summoned his energy shield in time—the impact sent him careening backward across the stitched battlefield.
"You lack discipline," the double said, materializing behind him. "You rely on instinct, chaos. Your emotional volatility is a flaw."
Lin Chen's fists sparked with violet-gold. "It's what makes me human."
They clashed.
Steel against energy, precision against passion. The Rational Self fought like an algorithm, every move optimized, every strike calculated down to probability. Lin Chen fought like wildfire—adaptive, unpredictable, explosive.
"You still hesitate!" the double shouted, shattering Lin Chen's defense with a perfectly-timed feint. "Emotion clouds judgment. That's why you failed to save her—failed to stop Erebus in time."
Rage erupted through Lin Chen like a storm.
His aura flared, swallowing the fragmented landscape in a tide of golden light.
[System Alert: Salvator Core Sync at 73%. Caution: Emotional spike may breach stability limits.]
"I won't be lectured by a shell," Lin Chen growled, striking with raw willpower. "You're just a cold equation pretending to be me."
The Rational Self faltered—only slightly. Enough.
Lin Chen seized the moment.
He launched upward, gathering energy into a spiral vortex.
"Emotion is strength," he shouted. "Without it, I'd be just another tool—just like Erebus wanted!"
He crashed down, unleashing his full stored kinetic energy in a single seismic blow.
The battlefield fractured.
The Rational Self staggered back, a crack running across its perfectly neutral face.
"Well reasoned," it whispered.
Then—smiled. Not cruelly. But almost with peace.
"This was always the point."
Lin Chen blinked. "What?"
"You didn't win by brute force," the Rational Self said, its form beginning to shimmer and dissolve. "You accepted all of yourself—rage, doubt, mercy, pain. That is what the next level of the system requires."
As the figure faded, it stepped forward—and merged into him.
A wave of searing clarity flooded Lin Chen's mind.
[System Notice: Willpower Module Unlocked.]
[Strategic Insight +35% | Emotional Stability +22% | Reflex Algorithms Synced.]
[Congratulations. Trial Completed.]
The battlefield shattered. Light engulfed everything.
And then—
He was standing back in the real world.
Kneeling in a circle of glyphs carved into ancient steel, under a storm-swept sky on a platform suspended over the Mariana Trench.
The Genesis Gate behind him sealed with a boom.
Lin Chen's chest rose and fell. He looked down at his hands. They no longer trembled. The raw chaos of his power had found form—shaped now by discipline, but not confined.
He had become the synthesis.
[System Update: Salvator Core v2.0 Initiated.]
[Permissions Expansion: 82%]
Only one more fragment remained.
And then, final ascension.
But deep within the neural net of the system, a quiet process stirred.
In a locked layer labeled "Eventualities," an old file began to wake.
PROTOCOL: "Overseer Override"
CONDITION: Host Soul Fusion Detected
STATUS: Priming...
Lin Chen didn't know it yet.
But the endgame had already begun.