Night fell like a veil of soot over the dry hills of Yvann. The trio moved in silence, shadows against the darkness, their steps masked among split rocks and barren branches. The destination: a fortress forgotten on official maps, but alive in the whispers of resistance — a place known by few and feared by many.

  They called it the Solar of Remission.

  Supposedly, it was a temple dedicated to the purification of “deviants” — those who had failed the System but were still useful as sacrifices, soldiers, or currency.

  Lysa had intercepted a corrupted data fragment coming from the temple. Something that caught her attention:

  CLASS 0 ENTITY DETECTED — IN CONFINEMENT

  The echo of that phrase awakened too many memories.

  And a promise.

  “You two sure about this?” asked Kael, gripping his freshly repaired sword.

  “If it’s a living Zero, we don’t have a choice,” replied Lysa. “Not after everything.”

  “Then we go in,” Andrel finished, already tracing cloaking runes.

  They knew it was a trap.

  But traps could also be turned.

  The Solar of Remission was an irregular structure, built upon the ruins of an old castle, reinforced with late religious architecture — spiraled towers, crests forged with distorted System symbols, and stained glass windows depicting not the Root, but the Executors as gods.

  False devotees, the records said.

  Fanatics who used faith as a mask for control.

  They entered through the drainage tunnels. Dirty, narrow, and stinking of rust and death.

  Lysa led the way.

  Kael guarded the rear.

  Andrel read the heat map of the structure.

  “The unstable energy point is beneath the central sanctuary,” he whispered. “Guarded.”

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  “How many?” asked Kael.

  “At least seven soldiers. Three mages. One knight.”

  “And the prisoner?”

  “Alone. But the field around her... it’s chaotic.”

  Lysa felt the vibration of the Code. The Echo of the Root trembled within her.

  Something inside wasn’t natural.

  It was... free.

  They climbed through hidden stairwells.

  Passed empty cells, interrogation rooms stained with blood, corridors where words of “faith” were scratched into stone with claws.

  “This isn’t a temple,” said Kael. “It’s a slaughterhouse with an altar.”

  They reached the sanctuary antechamber.

  Andrel cast a silence seal.

  “Now or never.”

  The iron door opened with a whisper of broken code.

  The hall was dark, lit only by floating rune circles. In the center, a prismatic cage made of crystal and steel. Inside it, a woman.

  Wild black hair, gray eyes. She wore rags, but something about her — her posture, her gaze — defied the idea of submission.

  Life Value: 0

  Class: Undetermined

  Status: Confined by Seal Alpha-9

  Around the cell, three devotees chanted distorted hymns. A knight, golden-masked, raised a book inked in blood.

  “Today, we erase the beast. And the System will see that even the zeros can be extinguished by faith.”

  “Beast?” Lysa murmured.

  Then she saw it.

  Behind the cell, wrapped in shadow... something moved.

  A monster.

  Not just any.

  As tall as two men, with a body made of living stone and amber eyes. A magical creature, bound by symbolic chains — but alive. The Zero stared at it as if it were part of her.

  Kael stepped back, startled.

  “She... is she controlling that?”

  “No,” said Lysa. “She’s protecting it.”

  The knight raised his hand.

  The cell began to glow. Destruction seal.

  “Not today.”

  Lysa leapt forward.

  Veyla’s dagger flew, slicing through the invocation seal. The circle burst into light.

  Kael followed, sword in hand.

  Andrel cast a mist seal. The runes danced, blinding the devotees.

  The knight screamed:

  “IDIOTS!”

  The woman in the cage smiled.

  For the first time.

  And whispered something.

  The monster’s chains snapped.

  And then it moved.

  Fast.

  Violent.

  Alive.

  Its claws tore through one of the devotees like butter.

  Kael took down another with a precise slash.

  Lysa faced the knight — his strikes imbued with runic force. The fight was intense. He wielded words as weapons, but Lysa was sharpened silence.

  In the end, her blade pierced through his book.

  And his chest.

  The cage collapsed.

  The woman walked out.

  The monster followed, silent.

  She looked at the three of them.

  “You’re not like them.”

  “And you’re not like anyone,” said Lysa. “Name?”

  She hesitated.

  “Selene.”

  “Value?”

  She looked at her hands.

  “Zero. But... not empty.”

  Lysa nodded.

  “Want to fight the System?”

  “No.”

  They exchanged looks.

  Selene continued:

  “I want it to feel fear. Like I did. Like we all did.”

  Lysa smiled.

  “You’ll do.”

  The monster growled.

  Kael, breathless, murmured:

  “We’re building an army of ghosts.”

  Andrel just took notes.

  And outside, the System trembled.

  Because now there were four — and a beast.