The Hollow Kin circled around Yuto, their expressions unreadable. Some were amused. Some wary. One licked its own shoulder blade in anticipation.
"You passed the Trial," said the spider-eyed Trickster. "But trials only prove pain."
"If you want to stay, you prove use."
Yuto exhaled. "What do you want me to do?"
"Something suicidal."
A projection shimmered in the air: a dark, tower-like monolith embedded in a shattered mountain range.
[Spiral Watchtower: Node 34-B — Core Monitoring & Execution Division]
"That place contains a dormant Sovereign Core, harvested from a failed godling like you," the Kin hissed.
"They're studying it. Dissecting it."
"We want you to steal it."
Nyx's voice was calm, but tight.
[Target confirmed. High-risk. System integrity in that region is exceptionally dense.]
[Threat Level: Extreme. Escape Probability: <3%]
"Great odds," Yuto muttered.
"Why me?"
"Because you're still new. The System doesn't recognize your pattern yet," said another Kin, its voice like knives.
"You're a wild thread. They won't notice until it's too late."
Preparation began.
They injected Yuto with thread-stabilizers and blanked his ID signature. He was fitted with a stolen fragment of a Null Cloak—woven from the skin of a forgotten administrator.
[Temporary Passive: "Blind Spot" – Immune to System scan for 10 seconds during initiation.]
[Cooldown: 2 hours]
Inside, Yuto trembled.
Not from fear—
But from the clarity of it all.
"If I die… it's permanent, right?"
[Yes.]
[But if you succeed, you'll hold the spark of godhood in your jaws.]
"Then let's go thieving."
The tower loomed.
Like a blade jammed through space itself.
At its top, watchers flickered—beings of perfect code and no mercy.
Yuto slipped inside during a shift cycle glitch.
[Activating "Patchwork Persona" – Mimicking Class: Data Warden]
He moved through corridors of light and cold logic.
Rooms pulsed with thought-screens and suspended specimens—monsters dissected mid-scream.
The core was at the bottom, locked behind three system walls.
Yuto cracked the first using Edit Glitch—convinced the door it had already opened yesterday.
The second required a voiceprint—so he impersonated a Warden and looped its security logs.
Then came the third:
Threadlock Seal: Requires Sovereign Recognition.
Nyx whispered.
[You are one now. Say it.]
Yuto stepped forward, despite the shiver of doubt in his soul.
"I am Yuto.
Threadborn Trickster.
Final Boss, currently under construction."
The door clicked open.
Inside hovered a Sovereign Core.
It pulsed like a heart made of galaxies.
And it was crying.
"You… still feel?" Yuto whispered.
[It was never dead. Just… paused.]
He reached out—wrapped his thread-limbs around it.
[Sovereign Core Secured.]
[Initiating Emergency Lockdown!]
Alarms shattered silence. Light bled from every wall.
"Time to run."
He dove through the corridor, flickering between forms—trickster to beast to shadow—dodging skillfire and system beams.
One Warden hit him.
A hole opened in his back.
But he held on.
He escaped.
Back at the Hollow Kin vault, he collapsed.
The Core pulsed faintly in his hands.
The others gathered in stunned silence.
"He did it."
"He really stole a piece of the Spiral."
The stitched-skin Kin knelt beside Yuto and grinned.
"Welcome to the war."