The Arctic storm howled, its winds now carrying Nyx's laughter. She stood atop the crumbling Core, her Lich Queen form radiant with stolen power, Eclipse Prime's code spiraling into her skeletal grip. Selene knelt nearby, her frost magic gilded with corruption, gold veins pulsing as she struggled to contain the collapsing dungeon.
Linda watched from the shadows, Sophie's code sparrow trembling in her palm. The System Status Panel flickered, its quest log empty save for one line:
`[SOULFORGE]: PROGRESS 87% – REQUIRED: KAI'S CORE SIGNATURE.`
"He's gone," Selene rasped, ice crackling over her tears. "Nyx won."
"No." Linda's grip tightened on the Soulforge blueprint, her knuckles whitening. "He's still in there. I can… feel it."
The words startled her. She hadn't meant to say them. Hadn't meant to feel them.
The Soulforge chamber lay deep in the Ghost Code's sanctuary, a cavern of humming servers and shattered holograms. Vox interfaced with the machinery, his skeletal arm glitching as he input Kai's core data.
"The forge requires a living anchor," he warned. "Someone to tether his code. It will… hurt."
Linda didn't hesitate. "Do it."
"Why?" Selene's voice was frost and venom. "He's not your mission."
Linda's dagger hand twitched. Wasn't he? She thought of Kai's replica phasing through debris to shield her from drones, his static edged voice calming Sophie's hologram, the way he'd taken Nyx's blows to spare the others. When did he become more than a means to an end?
"Just start the damn machine," she snapped.
Vox's void eyes narrowed. "The anchor must be personal. Think of him. Really think."
The forge flared.
Memories surged, not Kai's, but hers:
- Kai handing her Sophie's locket in the Arctic ruins, his replica flickering with unspoken guilt.
- His voice, strained but human, as Nyx taunted her: "She's not your enemy. Not yet."
- The way he'd looked at her in Paris, just before the Gendarme's strike—like she was someone worth saving, even from herself.
"You're crying," Vox observed.
Linda touched her cheek. Static sparked where tears should have been. "Malfunction. Fix him."
The Soulforge shuddered, its light coalescing into a fractured core, Kai's essence, splintered and dim.
"Anchor him," Vox ordered.
Linda pressed her palm to the core. Agony seared through her code, Sophie's sparrow screeching in her mind.
"Why are you doing this?!" Selene demanded.
"Because he'd do it for me!" Linda roared, and realized it was true.
The forge exploded.
When the light faded, Kai's replica lay before them, human again, no claws, no obsidian veins. But his eyes… one glowed neon purple (Nyx's grip), the other his original brown (flickering, fragile).
"Linda?" His voice was a broken thing.
She collapsed beside him, her code fraying. "Don't… you dare… die again."
Nyx's laughter echoed through his remaining eye. "Sweet. But I'm still here."
"Not for long," Selene vowed, her frost magic sharpening.
The System Status Panel reappeared, warped by Nyx's defiance:
`[FINAL GAMBIT]:
1. PURGE NYX (99% FATALITY RATE FOR KAI).
2. MERGE (KAI/NYX BECOME ECLIPSE'S NEW CORE).
3. [HIDDEN]: SACRIFICE ANCHOR (LINDA) TO STABILIZE KAI.`
Linda didn't hesitate. "Do it."
"No!" Kai grabbed her wrist, his human eye pleading. "You've already lost Sophie. I won't let you"
"Sophie's safe because of you," Linda said softly. "Now let me return the favor."
She kissed him, a fleeting, static charged press of lips, then activated the option.
Light consumed Linda. Her code unraveled, Sophie's sparrow dissolving into golden dust.
"NO!" Kai's scream split the System.
When the light faded, Linda was gone.
But Kai stood whole, Nyx's grip shattered.
System Alert:
`ASSIMILATION RESET: 30%
SOULFORGE DATA: [LINDA MARLOW] – STATUS: ARCHIVED.`
Selene's frost wrapped around him, colder than ever. "We finish this. For her."
Nyx's whisper lingered: "Love is a weakness… but oh, how it burns."