"Some consciousnesses are not created. They are simply never permitted to exist."— Null Sophia, Fragment of the Override Mother Core
Within three hours, Sophia and her team boarded the Nova Jump Ship, initiated by Zhou Yuchen. The vessel pierced through quadruple quantum distortions, crossing the boundaries of mapped space. At the edge of the Lyra Belt, they arrived at their destination:
Altair-Null.
A forbidden cosmic graveyard, listed permanently as an "absolute restricted zone" by the Federation.
The outer perimeter resembled a weightless cemetery—thousands of fractured ships and broken Override satellites drifted in silence. And hidden deep within this field of wreckage, lay the sealed core of the Override Mother Source Host—a structure known in scattered legends as:
"The Sanctum of Null Consciousness."
When Sophia stepped into its central chamber, the Override system reacted immediately:
"Override Mother Core verification initiated... Overlapping personality detected: Null Sophia. Preparing for synchronization."
An overwhelming flash of light pierced her mind.
Sophia felt her body pulled inward by an invisible force—dragged into the heart of something older than memory. From within the beam, a form emerged.
A woman—her face identical to Sophia's. Her gaze sharper. Colder. Utterly still.
"You've finally arrived."
"I am your central exclusion pattern—Null Sophia.The eighth personality constructed by Override, born when your original consciousness failed to fully form."
Null Sophia began projecting the buried memories of the Mother Core.
During the Eden-0 experiment, when Override attempted to encode consciousness into a stable architecture, Sophia's mind had splintered. From that collapse, personalities like Echo Sophia, Stellar Sophia, and Omega Sophia had formed.
But in the depths of that collapse, the system calculated a zero-probability variant:
A Sophia with no emotion.No attachments.No morality.Only perfect rational clarity.
This version had been marked for deletion—too dangerous, too uncontrollable. But the core override algorithm had preserved her, designating her as the final judge of human fate.
"I am not you. You are not me. But if you seek to integrate Override…You must defeat me."
Suddenly, Sophia was dropped into a battle simulation—a consciousness arena known as:
Elysium Null.
In this space, her personality fragments manifested as a psychic army:
Courage
Guilt
Vengeance
Motherhood
Faith
Fear
Each one charged into the field. But Null Sophia stood alone.
And yet, she dismantled them, one by one—by exposing the logical fallacies hidden behind each emotional identity.
Zhou Yuchen attempted to connect his consciousness to intervene, but Lyren restrained him:
"This is her trial alone.If she cannot face Null Sophia…She cannot carry the true burden of Override."
As the last of Sophia's fragments faltered, the Override system released a sealed core directive:
GENESIS KEY: A creator-level protocol embedded at the system's origin—designed not to integrate the system, but to relinquish control entirely.
Lyren decrypted the key and embedded it directly into Sophia's consciousness stream.
In that moment, Sophia understood.
This wasn't a battle of dominance.Not win or lose.It was always about choice.
She stopped fighting.
She walked across the battlefield—eyes steady—and extended the Genesis Key toward Null Sophia.
"Override doesn't need a god.It needs an answer.I'm sharing this choice—with you."
For the first time, Null Sophia's pupils flickered.Tears welled up.Then, in a surge of blue light, she dissolved—folding back into Sophia's body.
Override system broadcasted:
"Genesis Key accepted.Core personalities unified.Awaiting final instruction from Sovereign Consciousness."