The morning light slanted through the window, soft and golden. But there was nothing peaceful about the air in Elias's room. The four girls—Aya, Lilith, Mira, and Seris—sat in silence, nursing the aftershock of the battle in the corrupted coliseum.
Elias paced.
Barefoot. Shirtless. The Soul Echo Blade now sealed inside a shimmering mark on his forearm.
Something had changed.
Aya finally spoke up. "You said... we're rewriting the rules?"
Elias stopped and turned toward them. "Yeah. I'm done being their puppet. This system—whoever built it—it thinks it owns me. Owns you. It manipulates our bonds, controls when we feel desire, even punishes me for caring."
Lilith crossed her arms, eyeing him. "So what's the plan, Lord Rebellion?"
He smirked. "We hijack the system."
Mira blinked. "That's not possible. System code is untraceable. Hidden behind endless encryption. We're not even allowed to see beyond the surface interface."