Echo stepped onto the Bridge of Broken Protocols.
Her jaw tightened.Her pupils glowed gold.Each footstep left behind cracks in the radiant platform—as if the system itself couldn't hold her fury.
Specter followed one step behind.His cloak had melted into a trail of code—his fingers twitching with suppressed commands too old for even gods to remember.
Behind them, the Citadel began to shatter—not from an attack,but because their presence defied the Core Directives of this universe.
In front of them…The Overseer's Realm.
And at its gate stood the first guardian:a mirror.
But it didn't reflect their forms.It reflected their regrets.
Echo saw herself on the day she gave Zero-One his name.She remembered the joy. The warmth.And the fear she buried deep—
What if he was too good for this world?
What if the system would never let him exist?
Specter's image twisted.
