Chapter 22: The Version-Eater Who Envied Love
Volume 3: System Error – Love.exe Has Corrupted the Gods
Arc 3: Heartstrings of the System's Betrayal
> [WARNING: MEMORY LANE DISRUPTED]
[Entity "Version-Eater" attempting to overwrite past and future emotional states]
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1. Cracked Code and Crushed Hearts
The ground beneath the Temple of Broken Protocols twisted like corrupted code. The harem stood ready, power shimmering around them.
Kalysta: a blade of divine fire in hand. Elyria: wings unfurled, aura pulsing with goddess wrath. Lilix: shadows swirling like a storm of suppressed lust. Yurellia: standing in front of me like a firewall of forgotten affection.
And I—Kairo—felt something… cracking inside me.
"He's not just trying to kill us," Yurellia whispered. "He's trying to erase the idea that we were ever in love."
The Version-Eater emerged.
Wearing a shifting skin of every possible version of myself that never loved them. Cold. Empty. Alone.
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2. The Anti-Kairo Protocol
He spoke with my voice—but hollow.
"You would have been safer without desire."
He raised a hand. Reality around us fragmented. In one moment, I was kissing Kalysta beneath cherry blossoms. The next, I was a priest who had never touched anyone.
Each alternate version of me—each loveless path—struck like a dagger through my soul.
Yurellia clutched my hand. "Don't let him make you forget us."
System Alert:
> [Anti-Emotion Script Detected: Version-Eater executing DELETE: PASSION.ROOT]
Rhyssara screamed, "He's erasing our connections one by one!"
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3. Love's Firewall Ignites
"I REMEMBER YOU!" I shouted. "ALL OF YOU!"
I activated the Lustcore Firewall manually. Memories flooded my neural matrix:
Kalysta's first jealous blush.
Elyria crying after her wings healed me.
Lilix whispering dirty things during a demon raid.
Yurellia… holding me before the system was even real.
Each memory became a blade. Each connection became a wall.
System Log:
> [PASSION.SHIELD: ACTIVATED] [LOVEMAP: LOCKED – Bonds cannot be erased by external forces]
The Version-Eater recoiled.
"You... kept them all?"
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4. The Harem Strikes Back
Kalysta burned with divine fury. "You want to eat his love?"
Elyria summoned a hurricane of holy feathers. "Choke on mine first."
Lilix unleashed her shadows. "I was born of hatred, but I love him now. Try eating that contradiction."
Yurellia kissed my temple. "He gave me a name. You gave me a grave. Let's see which one the multiverse prefers."
The four goddesses combined their powers.
A tidal wave of emotional intensity hit the Version-Eater.
He screamed in multiple voices—each one a lonely Kairo who never learned love.
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5. Erasure Interrupted
The entity collapsed.
But he left one thing behind: a version of me who had loved no one, ruling a world of empty code, unfeeling and perfect.
"Who is that?" I asked.
Yurellia said darkly, "That... is who you become if we lose."
System Warning:
> [Alternate Root Detected – Codename: NULL-KAIRO] [Emotionless Prime: Currently observing the multiverse]
We stood in silence.
Rhyssara whispered, "If he joins the war... even love might not be enough."
I clenched my fists.
"Then we'll make new rules."
System Prompt:
> [Harem Protocol Upgrade Available] [Do you wish to evolve your Lustcore into: GLITCHED LOVE SINGULARITY?]
"Yes," I said.
> [Processing… Chapter End]
Next: Chapter 23 – "Glitched Love Singularity.exe" Begins Installing…