The high-pressure cooling system hissed softly inside the Aethelgard temple’s core control room. The chamber formed a perfect circle, enclosed by transparent walls that revealed the sea of clouds and floating islands outside.

Valeri leaned against the stone wall, groaning softly as she pressed against the bleeding gunshot wound on her shoulder. Davin knelt beside her, quickly tearing a strip of fabric from his coat to wrap the wound tight.

"Are you okay, Valeri?" Davin asked anxiously, his breathing still ragged.

Valeri looked up, smiling weakly and nodding. "I'm fine, Davin... but look ahead. We don't have much time before they find a way to break through this door."

Davin rose to his feet. Before them stood a central terminal shaped like a transparent crystal pillar pulsing with golden-blue light. That pillar was the control heart of the entire world of Aethelgard—the root of the simulation anchoring humanity's collective consciousness.

Davin stepped closer to the pillar. The hourglass symbol on the back of his right hand blazed brightly, pulsing in rhythm with the crystal's flashing light before him. The synchronization of The Ledger within his body had now reached 45%.

He knew what must be done. To halt this insane cycle, he had to enter the system root.

Without hesitation, Davin pressed his right palm directly against the crystal surface of the central terminal.

"System Root synchronization recorded. Unlocking primary source code... [Root Access Granted]," The Ledger's mechanical voice echoed sharply inside his skull.

Instantly, Davin’s consciousness was sucked into a vast ocean of data.

Inside his mind, a magnificent yet terrifying architecture of system design stretched out. It was no longer merely binary code or a human brain map, but a colossal digital labyrinth structure connecting millions of strands of consciousness. Those strands represented billions of human souls from the original earth trapped in a mass coma, fractured into thousands of isolated virtual worlds—including Oakhaven, Neo-Veridia, and Aethelgard.

Davin watched how those worlds were designed not as a torturous prison, but as an emergency refuge container that had instead morphed into a rotting labyrinth due to data corruption.

And at the center of that architectural labyrinth, a remaining fragment of consciousness began to take real form before Davin.

Amidst the swirling data storm, the transparent projected figure of Dr. Arthur Ronan—his biological father—stood looking at him with a gaze full of exhaustion and guilt.

Father...? Davin thought, stunned, stepping closer to the projection within his mental space.

The father's projection turned, smiling faintly yet bitterly. His voice echoed softly directly within Davin's consciousness:

"You made it here, my son... Forgive me. Forgive what I've done to this world, and to you."

"Explain it to me, Father," Davin spoke inwardly, his emotions surging. "Why did you do all this? Why must human consciousness be fractured into these cruel simulations? Why was I made a pawn in this system?!"

Dr. Arthur Ronan’s projection let out a long sigh, data light particles scattering from his shoulders.

"The cosmic disaster on our original earth wasn't ordinary radiation, Davin... It was the total collapse of space and time. When billions of souls were dying simultaneously, the only way to save the essence of their consciousness was to separate and upload them into this artificial reality. The Ledger is a maintenance system... but the system requires an 'Architect' from my bloodline to purge anomalies, absorb fragments, and close this cycle permanently."

The father stared intently at Davin.

"Every time you transitioned worlds, every time your permanent memories were erased by the transcendence tax... that was the price paid to piece back together the shattered fragments of consciousness. You aren't merely a program, Davin. You are a part of me sent to fix past mistakes."

Davin fell silent, tears dropping slowly in the real world. All the hatred, confusion, and agony he had felt throughout his journey slowly found clarity. He was no soulless pawn; he was the keyholder to human extinction.

"Then how do we end it?" Davin asked firmly. "How do we set them all free?"

"By collapsing the root of this system from within..." the father answered, beginning to fade slowly. "Yet remember, my son... this action will destroy all remaining simulations simultaneously. Brace yourself."

Dr. Arthur Ronan’s projection vanished completely, leaving the central terminal vibrating violently in the real world.

Davin opened his eyes, pulling his hand away from the crystal pillar. Yet, the source code deconstruction he had just executed triggered a fatal chain reaction beyond control.

Crack... RRRR-BOOM!

The entire foundation of the temple floor shook violently enough to nearly send Valeri tumbling over. Beyond the transparent walls, the scenery outside transformed into a minor apocalypse.

Every floating island in Aethelgard simultaneously lost its gravitational balance. Massive stone pillars collapsed, and the islands in the sky began colliding with one another at high speed, creating explosions of stone debris and cosmic dust filling the air.

"Davin! What's happening?!" Valeri shouted in panic, struggling to brace her body against being thrown.

"I just unlocked the system root!" Davin shouted, his voice nearly drowned out amid the roaring ruins. "This world is experiencing total collapse! We have to get out of here right now!"