The door to the hidden floor emerged not from a wall, but from within the air a shimmering fracture that pulsed like a heartbeat. System messages danced across the void as Kai and Lira approached, still catching their breath.
Access Granted: Hidden Floor – Archive of Lost Names
Note: Entry will be recorded in Tower Nexus Memory. All truths revealed here are irreversible.
"Lovely," Kai muttered. "Nothing like irreversible truths."
Lira gave a dry laugh, though her eyes were still distant from losing the projection of her mother.
They stepped through.
The Archive was... limitless. No walls. No ceiling. Just rows and rows of translucent, floating names stretching in all directions across a sky of swirling stars. Some names glowed. Others flickered. Some were dark lost.
Each name bore a tag:
REMEMBERED
FORGOTTEN
REWRITTEN
CORRUPTED
Hovering interfaces emerged when Kai touched one. It detailed events, choices, relationships... even deaths. These were not just records. They were the soul-threads of those who had climbed, fallen, or been erased by the system.
"Look at this," Lira said, pointing at a flickering name: Elias Thorn – her brother.
Status: CORRUPTED
System Note: Consciousness fragmented during Floor 42 Rebirth Trial. Awaiting Reinstatement Protocol.
Her face fell. "I thought he was dead."
Kai didn't speak. He was tracing another name one he didn't remember placing here.
Kai Altheris
But his tag read:
Status: REWRITTEN
Original Name: Kairo Vellan
Origin: Exiled Administrative Prototype – Project Genesis
"What?" he whispered.
A surge of data filled his vision fragmented memories sealed by system overwrite protocols. He saw glimpses of a facility, experiments, a woman with silver eyes whispering, "You'll wake up where reality bends."
Lira grabbed his arm. "What's wrong?"
He turned to her slowly. "I think I'm not... who I thought I was. Not fully."
Just then, the Archive shuddered.
A ripple moved through the names. One vanished. Not faded ripped away.
A laugh echoed through the void. Cold. Mocking.
"Ah. So you've found your way here too."
A figure emerged cloaked in data-scrambled robes, his face pixelated and constantly shifting.
Kai's system pinged a name:
> ??? – Designation: Nameless Herald
Role: Keeper of Erased Histories | Power: ADMIN-Locked
"You carry stolen memories, Kai. Do you think the system will let you keep them?"
Kai squared his shoulders. "I don't care what it lets me do. I'll fight to own them."
The Herald laughed again. "Very well. You may try. Let this Archive judge you."
With a wave of his hand, the space shifted.
Combat Arena Initiated: Archive Trial – Duel of Identity
Opponent: Fragment of the Nameless Herald (Level 75, ??? Class)
Modifiers Active: Truth Unbound, Memory Recoil, No Escape
Kai's interface flared as locked skills activated:
ADMIN ECHO – Fragmented Override
Reality Thread – Phase Pulse
His body shifted. Lines of data ran along his arms like veins of code. Something inside him awoke a whisper of control, old as the system itself.
Lira backed away, eyes wide. "Kai... your aura it's not normal."
He didn't answer. Couldn't.
The Herald launched forward, blade made of shredded names in his grasp.
Kai met him, not with fear but with power that should not have existed.
The Duel of Identity
The battlefield formed from the Archive's own essence shimmering pathways of memory and shards of forgotten pasts looping infinitely into the void. As Kai faced the Nameless Herald, every breath felt heavy, charged with the weight of forgotten souls.
[System Alert: Archive Protocols Engaged]
Objective: Defeat the Fragment of the Nameless Herald
Warning: Memory Recoil may cause irreversible changes to identity
The Herald moved first blinking forward with impossible speed, his blade forged from severed names slicing horizontally. Kai barely blocked with his arm, his interface flaring as his new abilities surged.
[Reality Thread – Phase Pulse Activated]
Time bent. The strike passed through him. Not dodged phased out of reality for a second. Kai countered with a pulse of raw Admin energy that tore across the battlefield.
The Herald staggered, mask glitching.
"Impressive," the Herald hissed. "You wield forbidden threads without training. The chaos inside you will devour you."
Kai narrowed his eyes. "Maybe. But first, it'll devour you."
He activated another skill one the system hadn't revealed until now.
[Admin Echo – Override: Name Lock Detected]
Override Success. Accessing True Identity of Opponent…
The Herald froze. For a moment, his name flickered above his head.
"C—l E--n—r"
Former Tower Creator
Kai's breath caught. "You're not just a Herald... you're one of the original architects."
The Herald's form flickered violently. "Names are lies. Power is truth. I buried mine for a reason."
With a roar, he summoned chains of corrupted data snaking through the air to bind Kai's limbs. But Kai reached deeper into the system, tapping something dormant.
A hidden node. A memory from his overwritten self Kairo Vellan.
He spoke one word, in a tongue the system didn't recognize.
"Vathrel."
Reality trembled. A backlash of power burst from his chest, shattering the chains and blasting the Herald back.
[Hidden Skill Unlocked: System Reclaimer – Stage One]
Passive: Can reclaim corrupted nodes
Active: Rewrite localized memory threads (Cooldown: 3 hours)
Status: Prototype – Evolution Pending
Kai stepped forward, his aura no longer purely blue, but streaked with golden static and crimson code. His voice trembled slightly not with fear, but raw power barely contained.
"You erased my name to control me. You wrote a system that manipulates identity and memory."
"And I'd do it again," the Herald rasped, struggling to rise. "Your kind is too dangerous."
"I am the danger," Kai whispered.
He raised his hand and activated the skill.
The void split. A beam of shimmering memory-thread light engulfed the Herald.
The figure let out a distorted scream as data unraveled from his form, pixel by pixel, revealing a human face for a brief instant gaunt, sorrowful, afraid. "Forgive me... I tried to save us from the chaos…"
And then he was gone.
Silence returned.
Trial Complete: Victory Achieved
Fragment Purged. Memory Integrity Stabilized.
Reward Unlocked: Class Upgrade Opportunity – Choose One
1. Reality Forger (Rare+)
2. System Reclaimer (Mythic – Evolving)
3. Nameless Echo (Legendary – Unstable)
Kai stared at the options, heart pounding. "What the hell have I become…?"
Lira stepped beside him, her expression unreadable. "The system didn't just build this Tower. It broke people to make it. Your name... my brother's fate… We need to dig deeper."
Kai nodded. "No more illusions. We break through, floor by floor until the truth can't hide anymore."
As they turned toward the stairwell leading out of the Archive, the path lit by awakened memory threads, a new message appeared:
Next Floor: Nexus Spiral – Origin of Code