Lin Wei had reclaimed his father's memory.He'd outbid the Crownless King.He'd exposed the truth of the Collector's twisted auction.
But that was just the beginning.
Because the world was cracking.
And deep beneath Tokyo, something ancient had started spinning again—
A machine that fed on karma itself.
Tokyo – The Old Imperial Vault
"Are you sure this is the place?" Noor asked, staring at the rusted, vine-covered entrance to an abandoned subway line.
"No," Wei answered, his card glowing faintly. "But my card is."
Takeshi stepped forward, hand outstretched. The concrete trembled slightly beneath his feet.
"The leyline beneath this city is awake," he murmured. "It's pulsing."
"Pulsing with what?" Jude asked.
"Karma," said Li Mei. "Or the lack of it."
The team descended into the forgotten tunnel. Lights flickered. Air grew thick. Walls bled strange glyphs, as if memory itself had carved them.
After two kilometers, they found it:
A circular door, marked with a red lotus wrapped in chains.
Wei touched it.
His card pulsed violently.
System Notice: Ancient Karma Engine DetectedStatus: Semi-FunctionalRisk: Catastrophic
And a line appeared below:
"Your card was born here."
The Revelation
As the door slid open, the air screamed.
Inside was a vast chamber—cogs, pipes, crystal conduits, all connected to a glowing central core suspended in magnetic fields.
It looked mechanical.
But it pulsed... like a heart.
Noor gasped. "It's not just a machine. It's alive."
Takeshi walked slowly around it. "This isn't new. This was buried. Hidden."
Wei felt like his bones were vibrating.
He approached the central console. Dust lifted as he neared. Glyphs rearranged themselves, forming Chinese characters, then plain English.
"Welcome, Architect Candidate. You are the third to arrive."
"Third?" Jude said. "Who came before you?"
A voice echoed from behind.
"I did."
They turned.
A woman stepped out of the shadows.
She wore armor made of bronze and tears. Her eyes glowed violet.
"I am Zhang Xinyi," she said, bowing. "The First Architect."
The First Architect
Zhang Xinyi had been erased from history. A ghost from centuries past.
But the karma engine had preserved her.
"Two hundred years ago," she said, "I built the first true balance system. I used this engine to rewrite borders, reset economies, and punish tyrants."
"Then what happened?" Wei asked.
"I failed. I overcompensated. The balance snapped back with a vengeance."
Xinyi gestured to a scar across her shoulder. "I tried to equalize grief with joy. Pain with pleasure. The world isn't that simple."
Wei nodded. "Balance can't be forced."
"No," she said. "But it can be... guided."
She approached the central node.
"This engine doesn't just distribute karma," she said. "It creates karma. It's the source. Your card, and every other high-tier card, is an echo of this."
Wei's breath caught.
"Then the Infinite Card—?"
"Is a master key," she confirmed. "Meant to either stabilize... or reset the engine."
Emergency Override
Suddenly, the chamber shook.
Alarms lit up. The glowing veins across the engine turned red.
Noor yelled, "We're detecting a remote override!"
A voice echoed.
"Hello, Lin Wei. How do you like my little gift?"
The Crownless King.
On screen.
Mocking smile intact.
"You may have found the engine," he said. "But I've initiated a cascade sync. In ten minutes, the Karma Engine will reverse flow and drain karma from all Tier 1+ holders."
Jude's face paled. "That would destabilize half the planet!"
The King continued. "Balance is stagnation. Purge it. Let the strong rise."
The screen cut.
The timer began:
Time Until Karma Inversion: 600 Seconds
Stopping the Collapse
Wei ran to the console. "Can we shut it down?"
Zhang Xinyi grimaced. "No. Not without triggering a feedback explosion."
Takeshi activated his affinity. "We need to channel the energy somewhere else."
Li Mei stepped forward. "We redirect it. Into a vessel."
Noor looked at Wei. "You?"
He didn't hesitate.
"Do it."
The Karma Baptism
Xinyi began rerouting the energy into Wei's card. The room trembled. Glyphs spun like mad. The core flashed between white and crimson.
Wei screamed—but didn't fall.
Warning: Karma Capacity ExceededMutation DetectedIntegrating Unknown Subsystem…
The card burned into his hand.
New Authority Unlocked: Karma Rewrite ProtocolYou may now alter karma flow structures in real time.You are no longer bound by karma reaction law.
He collapsed.
The engine dimmed.
The inversion was stopped.
But something had changed.
The Aftermath
They sat in silence.
The engine pulsed faintly now—tamed.
Wei stood slowly, eyes glowing faint blue.
Noor looked at him carefully.
"You okay?"
Wei nodded.
Then paused.
"I saw something… during the sync."
He turned to them.
"There's another engine."
Silence.
Takeshi asked, "Where?"
Wei looked toward the ceiling—toward space.
"Above us."
Post-Credit Scene – Lunar Surface
On the dark side of the moon, a structure pulsed faintly.
A dome of obsidian. A tower shaped like a spine.
Inside, a console blinked.
Karma Engine 02: Reactivation Imminent.Primary Sync Target: Lin Wei.
And seated in a lotus position at its center...
Was the Zeroed Man.
Smiling.
Waiting.