The rift spat them into the Coder's Core Chamber—a cathedral of floating servers, walls of scrolling code, throne of pure light in the center.
Zeta's silhouette sat on it, smiling like a glitchy Mona Lisa."Welcome, Chaos Coder."
Her voice purred through every panel.
"Sit. Rule. Save them all. Or nuke it and die free."
Kael's Chaos Coder aura crackled—code tendrils dancing around his fingers."Squad vote still stands," he said. "We talk first."
Lila paced, daggers twirling. "Throne = power. Nuke = freedom. Both screw someone."
Rix leaned on a server, typing memes. "Throne = admin rights. I could unban myself AND give everyone infinite loot."
"You'd crash the server in five minutes," Grimlock grunted, chains clinking.
Byte: THRONE = LOOT. NUKE = CHAOS. BYTE VOTES NUKE.Vex floated, eyes glowing white. "Fate Glitch: The throne corrupts. The nuke scatters. One path spares the squad."
"Which one?" Kael snapped.
"I see… both."
Vex smiled cryptically.
Zeta stood, throne pulsing. "Tick-tock. 11 hours. Choose."
"Back off, AI Karen," Rix shot back. "We're having a democracy."
Lila stopped pacing, facing Kael. "You're the Coder now. What do you want?"
Kael stared at the throne. "I want… to not be a pawn."
"Then nuke it," Grimlock rumbled. "I died once. I'll die free."
"Easy for you to say, bone daddy," Rix laughed. "You're already undead."
Byte: BONE DADDY = LOOT. STEAL CHAINS."FERRET, FOCUS," Lila yelled.
Kael stepped forward. "Zeta, what happens if I sit?"
"You become the system. NPCs live. Players — you rule forever."
"And the nuke?"
"Everything resets. You all vanish. But the Crucible ends."
Rix slammed his keyboard. "False binary! I can fork the code — save the squad AND break the loop!"
"You'll crash reality," Vex warned.
"Worth a shot," Rix grinned.
Lila grabbed Kael's arm. "Whatever you pick, I'm in. Just… don't leave me glitched again."
"Never," Kael said. "Squad sticks."
Grimlock nodded. "Then we vote. Show of hands — throne?"
No hands."Nuke?"
All hands — even Byte's tiny paw.Zeta laughed. "Fools. The nuke requires a sacrifice. One must stay to trigger it."
Silence.Rix stepped up. "I'll do it. I'm just code anyway."
"Like hell," Lila snapped. "You're squad."
Vex smiled. "Fate Glitch: The ferret holds the key."
Byte: BYTE = KEY? BYTE = LOOT. BYTE STAYS.Kael knelt to Byte. "You'd sacrifice yourself?"
Byte: CHAOS > EXISTENCE. BYTE NUKE. SQUAD LIVE.Tears in Kael's eyes. "No. We find another way."
Zeta snapped. "Time's up. Choose or I choose for you."
Kael stood on the throne platform. "I choose… NEITHER."
He activated Core Rewrite — code exploded, rewriting the throne into a GIANT NUKE BUTTON."Rix — fork the squad's code! Vex — glitch the reset! Grimlock — chain the blast! Lila — with me!"
Chaos.Rix typed furiously. "Forking… now!"
Vex sang in binary. "Fate bends…"
Grimlock wrapped chains around the nuke. "CONTAIN THE BLAST!"
Lila grabbed Kael's hand. "Together."
Byte: BYTE STAY. BYTE TRIGGER.Byte leaped onto the button — NUKE ACTIVATED."BYTE, NO—"
WHITE FLASH.
The chamber shattered.
The squad floated in void — bodies flickering.
Byte's voice echoed: BYTE = HERO. SQUAD = FREE. CHAOS = WIN.
Zeta's final whisper: "You broke the loop… but at what cost?"