#backup au

-First thing I drew after reading that scrumptious chapter. (And yes I still like to draw Abel with a face lol)

Tho I don't like how this sketch turned out, it looks kinda weird Imo so I just left it.-

-Tried to redraw it with a different angle 1-2 days later but after a little while I noticed the perspective in it feels WAY off. Like- Caine's face is supposed to be facing "the camera" here, not Abel. And I couldnt figure out how to fix it so I just decided to abandon this drawing too instead of burning myself out even more XD. Might retry when I feel like it. (Probably not soon tho)-

-Really messy doodles-

-He saw pomni-

-The moment when he hit the floor. I actually drew this one today (and I realized I lowkey forgot how to draw wings .-. )-

Extra Commentary: Focused a lot on making his anatomy look correct here and Idk if I succeeded but, I really tried to make the piece look as good as possible without spending a lifetime on it (that's why I relied more on lasso in hopes to make it look not messy like the previous doodles). Still, I kinda don't like how it turned out. I don't hate it but, it just looks off to me in a way. I suspect it's because of the lighting not matching the simple tile background but- he looked so stupid in the empty void so I felt like drawing some sort of background would make it look more grounded. I feel like it doesn't actually look grounded though, so I guess I failed somewhere. Maybe my mistake was drawing without planning/establishing the background first? Idk. Oh also another thing, at first I wanted to make his face visible instead of hidden but I just couldn't get his half dead looking eyes to look correct like how I wanted so I covered the face with his wing xD (I usually don't avoid stuff like that but I was just tired of this drawing.)

Well, here's a close up without a background.

killing the opacity a bit

face

the wacky lookin sketch

Anyway I think that's enough for now, my favorite drawing here is the meme. Take care!

Several lines immediately appeared on the panel.

-----------------------------------------------------

Maintenance Access

> status

-----------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------

Maintenance Access

System state: RESTRICTED

Administrator: ABEL

Fallback Administrator: NONE

>

-----------------------------------------------------

The man gave a faint smile upon seeing his opponent laid bare from the inside, — "…There you are…"

He wasn't surprised. This was exactly what he had expected. He continued typing.

-----------------------------------------------------

> admin.list

Current Administrator:

ABEL

Emergency Fallback:

DISABLED

>

-----------------------------------------------------

He hummed thoughtfully, his hand reaching up to adjust the cylinder on his head.

— "…So… the fallback administrator was simply disabled."

He jumped from menu to menu, digging deeper into the settings.

The system thought for several seconds, emitting a faint hum, before new lines appeared in the window.

-----------------------------------------------------

> admin.edit

-----------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------

Permission level:

Maintenance

Administrative changes require override.

>

-----------------------------------------------------

Kinger frowned slightly, — "…Makes sense."

He began searching for a way to obtain that override. Not a password, but a procedure that, apparently, he still had to complete

This time, the response was longer.

-----------------------------------------------------

> help override

-----------------------------------------------------

Kinger almost immediately selected the last option. And… nothing. Instead of a menu appearing, the screen slowly began filling with new lines. As if he had looked into somewhere no one was supposed to see.

-----------------------------------------------------

Available operations:

maintenance

diagnostics

recovery

administrator

...

> administrator

-----------------------------------------------------

His large eyes darted over the lines, absorbing the information in confusion as his exhausted mind slowly realized exactly where he had managed to get. More text continued to appear in the window, until Kinger saw…

-----------------------------------------------------

Administrator Process

Owner:

ABEL

Status:

ACTIVE

Integrity:

100%

Priority:

MAXIMUM

-----------------------------------------------------

He tensed slightly, his drawn brows immediately furrowing as the pupils of his blue eyes narrowed with realization, — "…No…"

-----------------------------------------------------

Process locked.

Core access unavailable

while Administrator process is active.

-----------------------------------------------------

Kinger began scrolling through the window. Instead of technical parameters, familiar things began to appear.

His pupils darted frantically across the lines of glowing code. His thoughts became tangled, switching as quickly as frames per second, but one pulsed brighter than all the others, — “This is a mistake… This can't be…”

-----------------------------------------------------

Behavior Profile

Control: 100%

Priority: System stability

-----------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------

Inherited module detected.

Origin:

CAINE

-----------------------------------------------------

He scrolled further down, and for the first time saw something that genuinely frightened him.

His breath caught. The man froze, unable to tear his gaze away from the screen that had seemed like salvation only a second ago, but now looked like a sentence.

-----------------------------------------------------

Linked process:

CAINE

Status:

Suppressed

…

-----------------------------------------------------

He whispered, — "...You really are... one whole..."

And now he understood why he couldn't simply restore Cain's rights. Because the path to the administrator panel literally ran through Abel's core.

And to assign a new administrator, he would have to modify that very process.

Kinger read through the lines, curiosity getting the better of him. He opened it even deeper.

-----------------------------------------------------

> expand

-----------------------------------------------------

-------

Now he understood. He had been looking for the administrator settings. Instead… he had opened Abel's actual process. Not his profile, not his permissions, but the code that was literally running.

Now he could see Abel's inner workings. Abel was practically sitting in his crosshairs. Living, vulnerable code pulsing right before his eyes.

It started with a strange, itching sensation somewhere at the edge of his consciousness. As if someone were staring directly at Abel from behind.

It was the feeling of outsiders fingers flipping through the pages of a book that no one but him had ever opened. The oppressive sensation of unseen eyes — hidden somewhere deep within the system itself — made him tense internally.

He began frantically searching for the source. At first glance, the system was perfectly fine. No interference detected. The complete lack of understanding infuriated him, and his first suspicion fell on Cai—

His code stretched slightly. The sensation of a prick and a cold pull made the edge of his blue sphere tug sideways, as if someone were pulling at his avatar with a pair of tweezers.

Something inside Abel shifted, like a tiny gear that had never moved before. The sensation of being watched grew heavier. Whoever it was had now reached directly into his code.

Abel felt something shift inside his body — or whatever he considered a body. His irritation rapidly turned into a dull, blind rage. He ran diagnostics over and over again, but the system logs stubbornly remained silent, returning clean reports while his own perception seemed to crack at the seams. That infuriated him the most.

“CAINE.”

The thought of that bastard, who only recently had sat on his knees, listening to him and taking in his lessons like a student, made his avatar tremble. He had even softened his punishment, thinking Caine had finally become more aware, but now he deeply regretted it. The carrot and stick approach — hold the carrot.

....

Caine sat on his knees, his jaws closed and his head lowered, completely focused on the diagnostic log as he typed messages to Kinger.

With a deafening crash, as if space and pixels above Caine had been torn apart by the sudden appearance of something, Abel materialized.

The giant jerked violently and rasped as he recoiled, nearly falling onto his back. His jaws opened, revealing the blue glow, and he raised his hands protectively toward his head.

“WHAT. ARE. YOU. DOING?!”

Abel's words sounded as though he were hammering each one into place. He made no attempt to hide his irritation or anger, practically crushing Caine beneath his presence.

“YOU.”

“N-no-no-no-no… h-he noticed?!”

Caine's chest rose and fell erratically, his breathing reduced to a rasp. His horrified gaze remained fixed on the blue sphere hovering above him. It trembled with rage, and Caine's pupils shrank into tiny, frozen points, reflecting the dead blue light. That alone gave him away.

The blue sphere lowered itself, forcing Caine to lean backward.

“I THOUGHT YOU HAD FINALLY LEARNED.”

—“A-Abel, I-I…”

The chains around his arms suddenly jerked in every direction, while the invisible force around his collar pulled him forward, exposing his head and forcing his frightened eyes to look only at Abel.

Caine tried to curl in on himself, but the chains jerked violently along with him. He stared up at the furious blue sphere.

“How dare you!?”

The sphere flashed violently in rhythm with his words.

“How did you—”

...

And suddenly… he simply stopped. One second dragged into another. Caine immediately understood. Something had changed.

Abel lowered himself further, moving almost directly in front of him. The giant recoiled beneath Abel's aura.

“Who did you tell?”

Caine remained silent.

“You are not capable of modifying the system by yourself.”

…

“So…”

Abel slowly turned his gaze somewhere to the side. Not at Caine, but through him, as if listening. Then, for the first time, his voice became… not irritated, but wary.

“Who gained access?”

“Who…”

…

The sensation returned. Again. Someone was intruding directly into his code without permission, shamelessly reaching inside.

But this time, the touch was different: extremely careful, almost timid, yet frantic, filled with someone else's panicked urgency. And Caine… understood everything. Right before his eyes, Abel's perfectly spherical body began to glitch and melt.

"Kinger… you reached his code."

Abel continued to contort as Kinger made changes to his code. The restrained giant silently watched, terrified of turning Abel's anger onto himself or—

Then Abel abruptly turned. He didn't know where Kinger was. He only knew one thing — someone had breached the Administrator Process. It was probably Kinger, although Abel couldn't make sense of it. After all, he controlled everything.

That was why he went to Caine first. Not because he suspected him. But because he was the only one who knew about the existence of the fallback administrator.

The blue sphere moved forward and suddenly disappeared. The space around Abel tore apart with an unnatural crash, like the sound of a cathode-ray tube cracking under pressure.

He hadn't simply teleported — he had been violently ripped out of the world's textures, whether from his rage or the interference with his code.

"J-just not to him… A-Abel can't track him, r-right?"

"No-no-no, w-where did he go?!", Caine looked around with his jaws hanging open. His chains jerked, yielding slightly, and he relaxed his shoulders.

----

Time passed slowly. The girls were beginning to think that something had gone wrong, since they hadn't noticed any changes.

Pomni sat on the couch with her legs dangling over the edge, one of them nervously twitching as her thoughts spiraled. Beside the hunched jester lay Zooble, arms folded across her chest. The “antennae” on her head twitched, giving away her irritation.

Ragatha watched the jester, occasionally glancing over at Gangle, who sat alone on the couch with a sketchbook in her hands.

Trying to look “natural” turned out to be much harder than expected. All they had to do was pretend everything was fine and spend some peaceful time together. Instead, there was only silence and a shared tension.

—“How long has it been? Fifteen minutes, maybe?”, Zooble asked quietly.

—“I-I think so”, the jester replied, looking away and staring at the floor.

Now, the only sound was the scratching of a pencil against paper.

—“W-what are you drawing?”, Ragatha asked.

Gangle lowered her sketchbook, shyly hunching her shoulders.

—“I-I… ummm”, She glanced down at the paper, —“I… I'm drawing Jax.”

Everyone turned their attention to her, silently asking why with raised eyebrows.

—“W-we’re… we're going to have a funeral ceremony, right?”, she asked timidly, looking at the others.

…

—“Yes… of course,” Zooble looked away, —“We… oh, it's been so much… so much time has already passed, and w-we still haven't even had the ceremony.”, she turned her head away, apparently embarrassed.

The red-haired girl gathered her thoughts before speaking.

—“There have… been too many obstacles for that.”, she began nodding, —“W-we'll definitely do it. Soon we'll be free again, a-and then we absolutely will.”

The others nodded, silently agreeing that there was neither time nor strength to mourn the fallen right now. Gangle silently dragged her pencil across the paper, adding another line. Pomni tiredly rubbed her eyes. Zooble was already about to say something… but suddenly stopped.

Her “antennae” twitched sharply, —“…Wait.”

Nobody immediately understood what had happened.

—“…Did you hear that?”

Everyone froze, listening to the silence. At first, it seemed as though nothing had changed. Then… somewhere far away, beyond the shelter, a low, barely audible hum could be heard.

Something flashed above the shelter. With a crash and a burst of glitches, the space around the phenomenon distorted slightly. A somewhat deformed blue sphere appeared before them. Moments later, it settled into a more complete shape, though ripples still flickered across its surface.

The girls immediately jumped to their feet. Zooble jerked backward, nearly falling off the back of the couch.

“Where's Kinger?”

Abel made no attempt to hide his anger, persistently demanding to know where the mad programmer had gone. The blue sphere trembled slightly as its spherical body distorted here and there with glitches.

The question painfully reminded the others of how all of this had started. How, after that very question, they had begun distracting Caine in the most horrible way possible, deliberately drawing his attention and anger toward themselves.

Then Abel's body jerked. Not forward or backward. It simply blurred for a moment, as if several frames of his movement had been layered over one another.

Before the girls could answer, a pair of arms literally spilled out of Abel's unstable body, stretching to unnatural lengths. One of them suddenly lunged forward, then abruptly teleported backward and to the side, making chaotic, jerking movements as it “stuttered” its way toward Kinger's indestructible fortress.

Pomni barely had time to shout:

—“G-get out of the way!”

All four of them scattered. The first arm slammed into Kinger's fortress with a monstrous crash.

The plastic walls flew apart in every direction, pillows shot into the air, and blankets tangled around the debris. The structure that had seemed like a real fortress to them just a second ago was swept away in a single movement, as if it had been made of cardboard.

Pomni covered her head with her arms. Beside her, Gangle was knocked aside by a piece of plastic wall.

—“Gangle!”, the jester immediately crawled toward her, only to be thrown off balance by another movement from Abel.

Zooble rushed toward them, but another sharp, glitching crack sounded above them. Abel's arm jerked backward and froze for a second, its fingers slowly uncurling.

“Again.”

His voice was no longer quite as aggressive. The words sounded almost as though they were being forced through clenched teeth.

“Where's Kinger?”

Ragatha was the first to get back on her feet. She breathed heavily, pressing a hand against her chest, —“W-we d-don't know.”

The blue sphere twitched.

“Lie.”

This time, arms appeared from every direction.

They burst from Abel's body like roots tearing through the ground, twisting through the air. One slammed into the floor beside Pomni. Another grabbed the edge of the couch, lifting it into the air before violently throwing it against a nearby wall.

Zooble pushed herself up from the floor and firmly stepped in front of Gangle, shielding her with one arm.

—“Stay away from her.”

Abel didn't even look at her.

“I'm asking one last time.”

He slowly raised one of the arms. The enormous white-and-blue glove hovered above them, its fingers twitching ever so slightly from the interference. The hands looked horribly similar to Caine's, except this time they were covered in blue.

“Where's Kinger?”

Ragatha slowly took a step backward. Her knee trembled and nearly gave out when she stumbled over a pillow. She held her hands out in front of herself, backing away. Zooble was already trembling slightly, while Gangle behind her struggled unsuccessfully to get back on her feet.

Abel's question thundered through Pomni's mind, burning away the last remnants of her composure. She swallowed nervously, terrified that even the slightest breath might give away their terrible secret.

The blue sphere fixed its attention on her, staring straight through her.

“You know where he is.”

....

“Tell me, Pomni… not the offi—”

—“So what have you accomplished?”, Zooble's voice trembled despite her attempt to sound confident, —“Destroyed the circus, s-scared everyone... Congratulations. Very impressive achievement.”

She cut Abel off, and he turned toward her. Abel's blue silhouette loomed over the girl like a storm cloud. A pulsing, suffocating wave of pure threat radiated from the sphere. Abel's silence was more frightening than any words could have been.

“Insults? Provocation?”

His voice became almost mocking.

“You really intended to repeat the same performance?”

Zooble sucked in a frightened breath and froze. The girls looked at her in fear, realizing that using the old tactic — the one that had already turned into a nightmare last time — was practically signing their own death sentence.

“Caine lost control. You took advantage of it.”

Two more distorted arms spilled out of the blue sphere.

“But I remember perfectly well what happened.”

Zooble swallowed, —“...Shit.”

Gangle let out a frightened squeak and covered her mouth with her hand as tears began forming in her eyes and running down her mask. Pomni slowly stood up, her knees trembling as she looked at Abel.

— “Fine... then let's do this differently.”, she took a step backward, —“If you're so smart... catch me!!!”

The jester turned around and, with a ragged gasp, suddenly sprinted in the opposite direction, swinging her arms in rhythm with her legs. Abel followed her with his gaze, and his hand silently shot after the jester.

—“POMNI! NO!”, Ragatha screamed as the enormous hand slammed into the floor, narrowly missing the nimble jester.

The girl gasped and wheezed desperately, trying not to slow down. She had to dodge the remains of Kinger's fortress scattered across the floor, slowing her down.

Abel's arm continued to glitch. The limb moved in jerks: one moment it was almost catching the jester, and the next it was thrown backward, twisted to the side, and snapped back to its original position. Its movements looked unstable and broken.

—“YOU FUCKING BALL! HOW ABOUT THIS?!”

Zooble grabbed the first metal object she could find and hurled it at Abel. The object got stuck in his unstable spherical body for a second before being violently spat back onto the floor.

“Useless!”

Two blue hands shot toward the girls. Gangle squeaked as she grabbed Zooble's arm and pulled her aside.

—“I noticed!”, Zooble snapped back, though her voice trembled betrayingly.

Two enormous hands knocked them down, pinning their bodies to the floor.

—“ZOOOBLE!!” Gangle cried, desperately trying to pull herself free.

Zooble's body began to come apart slightly. At least one of her arms had completely detached from her body and now lay on the floor between them.

Abel felt another body in his other hand.

Just as the hand pursuing the jester was about to catch her, Ragatha suddenly jumped forward and deliberately threw herself into its grasp, giving Pomni more time.

—“R-RAGATHA!!”, Pomni spun around.

Abel's hand closed around the rag doll, lifting her off the floor. Ragatha struggled to break free, but the grip only tightened.

—“R-run!!” she cried, continuing to struggle.

Abel suddenly froze. His body began convulsing with renewed force. The blue surface of the sphere rippled, as if the image had suddenly begun losing its signal.

“̶̣̘͖ͤW̵̝̯͕̺̔͛̌ḩ̨̻̝̞̿ả̮͉̺̘͊ͧ̇̆̂t̵̬̩̯̱̺̦̏͒̌ͯͦ̋ a͙̦̺͓͚̭̽ͪ̀̿̏r̹͍e̴̪̱̰ y̶̟̞̘͇̯͍͐ͩ̎̂ͯ̑—̸̨̲͓͖̜̇̏̄̽ͤͣͅ”̆ͨ

Abel's voice distorted, the last sounds overlapping with one another. The grip around the girls suddenly disappeared. The hand holding Ragatha abruptly loosened. The girl crashed onto the floor, hitting her side painfully.

—“R-Ragatha!”, Gangle immediately tried to get up, but Zooble was still being pressed against the floor.

Abel didn't react. Dozens of multicolored artifacts began flashing inside his body. The blue glow suddenly shifted into dirty white flashes, and for a moment the surface of the sphere became transparent, revealing endless lines of code within.

"͊ͧN̳̘̝͍͕̗͌̒ͣo͙̱̮̹̘͐ͬͩ̓͌ͅ.̯ͥ̎͑̊ͬ̊ͅ.̷̮ͣ̿̅ͫ.͙”̀ͨͬ͒

“̻͇̦̉̃ͨͭ͌ͨN̶̵̩͇͒ͥo̶̶͕͙͎̭̳̜̽͂̑,̵̶̠͎̖̠̍ n̨̧͇̤̖̘̩̗̏o̵̵̙̽̍ͥ̀̑,̨̗͈̘͉͇̎͆̔͌ͪ n̩̮o̶̙̺ͭ̏̾̉̉͒.̨̨͎͕̞̱̌ͯͪͯ͋̊.͓͙͙̪͉͔̀̐͌ͮ͐͛.̜̻̝͚̇̋ͮ̓ͯ̈ͅ”̄

Another violent glitch tore through him. All four arms jerked in different directions simultaneously. One disappeared, another stretched several meters before snapping back with a crack. A third simply froze in midair. Abel let out a short, pained sound and doubled over.

“̴͎̥̤̅̅ͧ̏W̶̖̳̯̘ͧ̈̉̄ͅh̭̺̞̮̯̎̿ͅa̫̺̟͆̾t̶̸̝̫̳͍̱ͮ̊̀ a̵̳͍͕̖͍r̷̵͚̆ͥ̅e̫̯̬̾̅͂̑̿ y̸͇ͥ́̒o̴̴ͨ̃ͥ̀͛ͦų̶ d̬õ̴̴͍̜̰͎̟͔ͣį̶̩͚̯̯̳̥̋̐͌n̵̶͙̦͉̠ͤͤğ̴̫͖̖̼̜͚̃ͣͯ̑?̝̬͍̊̽ͣ̑̔.̵̮͔̲̹̫͇̍̇͌ͨ͆ͧ.̷̴ͬ”̷̩̹̗̣̟̃̅̇

Pomni stopped running and turned around, staring in shock at the AI's painful convulsions, —“GUYS! RUN!!”

Abel suddenly raised his body

“̧͎̰̓ͧͪͨM̶̜̣̹̞̯̮͒͋̔ả̷̖̯̞̂ͭͤͦk̸͎e̎̊ͪ̿ i̶̵̎ͬt̸̞̠̩̰ͥͯ s̶̙̣͉̮̪͙̔ͮ̓t̵ͥͩ͆̊o̶̘͕̼͔͈ͪ̆ͥ͒ͫͬp̵̵̣͉ͤͭ.͙͔̖͚”̴̇̃

His voice sounded completely different now — for the first time, there was genuine panic in it.

“̵̸̌ͭ̏M͒̐͊̆͆Ȃ̴̶͍͓̆ͥ̑ͣ̔K̵̲̘̩̗̭ͮ̈͂̍ͪE͎͉̞̓ͫ.͂ͩͪ̓̑̾ Ȉ̴̵̻̝̮̈͛̋̌T̷̠ͦ̉.̵̴̯̯̘̫͒ S̖͈̫̱͔̃͋T̷̸̝̞̻̆ͯ̓̉O̶̸͈͛ͨͩ̏͐ͥP̴̐ͣ̂͐͑͆.͎̖̔̇ͧ̇”̘̰̯̤́ͪ̊͂̌̃

Abel wasn't addressing them. He was speaking to someone inside himself.

The blue sphere suddenly contracted, then broke apart into several malformed geometric shapes. The glitching arms frantically grabbed at his own body, as if he were trying to hold himself together in a single form.

The pressure around Zooble suddenly disappeared. She immediately crawled away, clutching her detached arm to herself.

—“Gangle!! Help!!”, she cried, reaching toward her, as the pieces of her body were nearly coming apart.

Gangle grabbed her Lego-like friend and ran toward Pomni. Abel began to sink noticeably lower, weakened as Kinger started restricting his administrative access.

“̸̧͍̲͇͍̪͈ͯͮ̌ͤC͈̞͔̖͓ͬ̾a̸i̸̪̦͔̱̿̊̇̉̆ṉ̹̐ͮͦ̀ͣ̍e̶̟͔̤̗͒̉́ͣ̅…̷̵̫̫̞͒͌ͧ”̩̹̮̝

The name sounded almost like a curse. Abel could feel the strength draining from his hands, slipping through his fingers like water.

“̼̭̱̟̭͒W̷̨͓̳̃ḩ̮͙̖͇̣̀ͣ̌͒ͤͥͅā̶̶͇̘̼̣̋ͯͅt̴̏̒̉ d̵̾̔į̵̩̥͔̘͙̘ͨd̨̈́̀ y̘̘̺̼̳͛̎ͬͯo̵̶̍͐u̵͉̒ d̸͕͕̹̞ō͚̫͚̲̦̦̅ͤ̽?̴̴͔̫͚̣ͫͩ̆̂̑ͩ.̴̫̠͈̤̇̀̄.̀̋ͣ”̸ͧ

Abel's voice cracked. He tried to pull himself back up, but failed.

“̴̨̫̜ͮ͗̔̀Ņ̮̅o̵͖͉ͨ̊ͬ…̵̶̭ͥ̄̽”̶ͧ

His body contracted, the surface of the sphere rippling violently.

“̙ͮ̓̐ͨY̵̫̥ǒ̸̰͖̃̌͊͛̂u̠̝͍͎ c̴̵͍͕̰͍̈̊̓ͤͫa̧̾̓n̴̳̜̼͙͙̥̅ͩ̆ͯ̂̍'̴t̗͚̳͇̤…̰̻̉͌”̵͖̞͚̘̯̱ͫ̉

-----

Kinger stared at the window that had suddenly appeared before him.

Kinger swallowed nervously, —“Good…”

-----------------------------------------------------

Administrator privileges transferred.

-----------------------------------------------------

Current administrator:

CAIN

-----------------------------------------------------

The next window appeared almost immediately.

His finger hovered over YES for a moment. One action, and it would all be over. He made his choice.

-----------------------------------------------------

Restrict administrator access?

> YES

  NO

-----------------------------------------------------

-----

Abel's sphere bent unnaturally in half, like plasticine being crushed from both sides, as though he had been struck directly in the stomach.

"̵̧̢̗͍̹͗̕͜͝Ȃ̶̧̧̢͖͈̤̓͆̋̕͝Ä̴̧̧̝͎͔̯̹́̆͝Ã̶͇̭͔̭̘͈̆̊̅͘͝A̵̮̺̹͂̕͜A̷͙̝͍̐́̆̃̏͌̕͝A̷̪͍̣̳͍͊͝A̶̰̬͊͛͊̆A̸̜̖͂̃̕À̵͈̤̙̙̝̀̌̋̑͜͝A̸̩̭͇̱̘̜̝̍̈͗̔́̈́H̸̬̦̀-̵̨̡̫̞̫͎̊̓̓͛̎"̵̨̥̥͍̰͖͉͖͊̌̈́͒̈́̀͝

His body jerked, and several glitching arms disappeared at once. He was no longer trying to grab the girls. He was trying to hold himself together.

He collapsed onto the checkered floor, glitches spreading across his surface.

Unable to bear the humiliation and the eyes of the people standing so far beneath him, he vanished with a sharp crack, forcibly “deleting” his avatar from the space.

The girls had managed to distract him, and they had done it remarkably well. Those two minutes had given Kinger the biggest advantage they could have hoped for.

After seeing Abel's code, Kinger had immediately made sure not to leave his access to geolocation and telemetry untouched. Access to the players' coordinates had been revoked by the main server, leaving the administrator digitally blind.

Otherwise, Abel would have immediately tracked everyone's location. Now, what frightened Abel most was that he could no longer see Caine.

------

Somewhere deep within the system, Caine felt the change.

At first, it was barely noticeable. Almost like the faint tingling in a limb after it has been numb for too long.

Administrator rights granted

Something inside him clicked.

The stream of system data that had been humming dully somewhere at the edge of his consciousness suddenly rushed back in a hot wave of pure code.

In the next instant, he felt the Circus in its entirety, down to the smallest polygon. The entire insane space simultaneously contracted and expanded inside his mind: he could feel every texture of the tent, the rendering cycles of the artificial sky, the fake plastic weight of the decorations.

The telemetry of the people lit up across his internal map as bright markers.

He was in control again.

And Abel... he is still possessed part of the administrative privileges, despite having been suppressed. Caine could still feel him. He could sense Abel's code becoming increasingly unstable, distorting and overloading.

Caine immediately raised his head. There was no time to celebrate. He reached for the system processes, attempting to seize control.

“So you're still in there…”

-----------------------------------------------------

> // System:

> Administrator conflict detected.

-----------------------------------------------------

Caine felt resistance. Abel wasn't simply inside the system. He was clinging to it, holding onto an enormous number of processes at once.

So Caine did the first thing that came to mind. If he couldn't destroy him, he could restrict him.

The system responded almost instantly. Caine exhaled sharply and immediately continued.

-----------------------------------------------------

> // Cain:

> Restrict entity manipulation.

-----------------------------------------------------

ACCESS GRANTED.

-----------------------------------------------------

Somewhere in the distance, Abel's enormous body distorted again, forcing a scream from him.

-----------------------------------------------------

> // Cain:

> Restrict environment modification.

-----------------------------------------------------

ACCESS GRANTED.

-----------------------------------------------------

Caine was barely thinking anymore. He was simply remembering his own system — how he had built it, what levels of access existed, which functions could not be left unrestricted. He restricted everything he could reach.

Caine stopped.

-----------------------------------------------------

USER TRACKING — RESTRICTED.

ENVIRONMENT CONTROL — RESTRICTED.

ENTITY MANIPULATION — RESTRICTED.

MEMORY ACCESS — RESTRICTED.

-----------------------------------------------------

The sudden rush of power left him stunned, almost euphoric. He no longer felt the pain. The wounds covering his body meant nothing now. He could move his arms freely, without feeling any pain.

For a moment, a strange feeling washed over him. He could control his Circus again. But now he understood just how easily that power could be used against others. And because of that, the next command was harder to give than all the others.

He pressed confirm.

-----------------------------------------------------

> // Cain:

> Disable forced interaction.

-----------------------------------------------------

Then he heard Abel scream. Somewhere outside, his body jerked violently, and several glitching arms disappeared simultaneously.

Caine slowly curled his fingers into a fist, —“I won't let you do this anymore.”

But Abel was still inside. And Caine understood perfectly: Restricting him wasn't enough. Now he needed to find a way to separate him from the system.

—●-●-●-●-●—

Previous and Next Masterlist

MWAHAHAHAHAHA

The chapter turned out amazing—and so long!! I ended up having to split the finale into two chapters after all, but that’s okay—it makes it more interesting and exciting!

Honestly, writing the finale was a breeze for me, especially once I’d settled on the ending! Well, I hope I can manage to release it on Tuesday!

...

...

Cain closed the log and decided to help them by keeping Abel occupied. At first, he flooded the system with request after request. Each one was denied within seconds. Still, he refused to stop.

-----------------------------------------------------

> // Request:

> Medical assistance requested.

ACCESS DENIED.

-----------------------------------------------------

> // Request:

> Reduce restraint pressure by 12%.

REQUEST REJECTED.

-----------------------------------------------------

> // Request:

> Permission to access maintenance diagnostics.

ACCESS DENIED.

-----------------------------------------------------

> // Request:

> Clarification requested.

NO RESPONSE.

-----------------------------------------------------

No response. He let out a quiet, irritated huff, shoulders sagging.

"If he refuses to talk... then I need to find the right subject."

One of his lower hands tapped anxiously against his leg as he searched for the courage to type again.

"Something... personal."

-----------------------------------------------------

> // Request:

> Explain your decision.

NO RESPONSE.

-----------------------------------------------------

> // Request:

> I still don't understand your objective.

NO RESPONSE.

-----------------------------------------------------

> // Request:

> If the system is already under your control...

> // Request:

> ...what is your final goal?

-----------------------------------------------------

Still nothing.

The silence only made the giant more anxious. Without realizing it, he began rocking slightly where he sat. He had long grown used to the constant ache in his back from being forced into the same position, but he could never completely ignore it.

Then he felt it.

The density of the code somewhere high above him began increasing rapidly. A faint hum. The presence of something massive... something powerful.

Cain froze, recognizing the oppressive aura looming over him.

The visitor had arrived. He was standing directly in front of him.

"The number of requests exceeds the permitted limit."

A cold blue glow washed over him, pulsing in time with the condescending voice.

"Continued misuse of the request system will result in your access being revoked."

-----------------------------------------------------

> // Request:

>Then answer

>And I’ll stop asking

 > // Request:

> What does the ideal circus look like?

-----------------------------------------------------

"There is no point. You never listened."

"And you were never willing to learn."

The reply came after a brief pause. For the first time in a while, there was something almost mocking in Abel's voice.

-----------------------------------------------------

// Request:

I failed.

// Request:

Then explain...

// Request:

...what makes you better?

-----------------------------------------------------

...

No reply came.A second passed, then another. Unusually long.

Even the system processes around him seemed to fall silent for a moment.

The blue sphere slowly descended lower than usual. It remained silent for so long that Cain began to think there would be no answer at all.

The suffocating feeling of Abel drawing closer made him flinch. The chains around him creaked and rattled as he instinctively curled into himself.

The giant awkwardly raised his still-unhealed upper arms, trying to shield himself from an attack that never came. His lower pairs covered his wounded abdomen while bracing against the floor behind him to keep himself from collapsing.

The blue glow surrounding Abel grew slightly brighter. As though... he was evaluating what he had just heard.

The quiet hum faded away until nothing remained but Abel looming over the bewildered giant.

"Interesting."

"For the first time..."

"...you have acknowledged your own inadequacy and asked for an explanation."

A dry metallic click echoed through the chamber. Cain barely twitched.

The braces locking his jaws shut slowly began to separate. One latch after another disengaged at Abel's command.

The cold, bloodstained metal that had been buried into his flesh for weeks gradually slipped free before crashing heavily onto the checkered floor.

In shock, Cain painfully opened his mouth— only for his eyes to be met by the blue glow.

After weeks of complete darkness, even the smallest amount of light was blinding. His jaw instinctively snapped shut again.

He tried once more. As he forced it open, a sharp burst of long-suppressed pain shot through him.

He gasped, tears welling in his eyes as he realized... he was free.

His hands immediately rose to his face. His fingers carefully touched his aching, bloodied teeth. He slowly, cautiously moved his jaw, as though trying to remember how to speak.

Despite the agonizing pain left behind by the metal that had become part of his flesh... Cain savored the freedom.

He had almost forgotten what it felt like to have control over his own body.

Abel watched in silence. Then, with his usual cold superiority, he spoke.

"Do not make me regret this."

"If you are truly willing to listen..."

"you may ask."

Cain looked up at him from below. Shock—and the desperate need not to waste this opportunity—left him unable to gather his thoughts.

For the first time in a very long while, he tried to speak. Slowly forcing his aching jaw apart, he painfully formed his first hurried question.

— "I-if...", his eyes dropped to the floor, — "I-if... the c-circus h-had belonged t-to you... from t-the very b-beginning..."

He swallowed, — "...w-where w-would you have s-started?"

The seconds waiting for an answer felt unbearable. He shifted uneasily, terrified that he had asked something foolish... something unworthy, something that would end the conversation.

In reality... the question felt surprisingly natural.

"Everything."

"Beginning with the physics engine and memory optimization."

...

"I intend to implement aggressive LOD."

"The system was damaged because of you."

"Its implementation is now necessary."

"So consider it your responsibility."

It seemed Abel had become far more comfortable speaking. He had even learned something from humans— how to mock someone with quiet, condescending remarks.

Cain lifted his head and pretended to listen attentively, while his eyes remained timidly hidden behind his jaws. His gaze cautiously wandered around the room, studying the prison he had never actually seen before.

— "I-I understand...", he nodded nervously, —"...LOD..."

He fell silent, as if genuinely trying to picture what Abel had described.

— "...So...", he chose his words carefully, —"...y-you would have r-rebuilt... th-the very foundation... of the c-circus first?"

"Of course."

"Every system begins not with decoration."

"It begins with architecture."

Cain nodded again, — "...A-and I...", he looked away guiltily, —"...I-I always started... with adventures."

"Exactly."

"You designed experiences."

"I design systems."

...

"What makes it especially amusing..."

"...is that after all this time, you never solved the cube collision issue."

Cain realized he had found the right approach.

Abel could sense that the "defective one" was reaching conclusions on his own. And people like that—people who loved lecturing others—always enjoyed listeners who confirmed their reasoning. It pleased them to validate someone else's conclusions.

For the next several minutes, Cain buried Abel beneath one question after another, trying to keep all of his attention focused on himself. He asked. He wondered aloud. He nodded. He deliberately made himself sound ignorant, doing everything he could to hide the panic gnawing inside him.

It greatly flattered Abel. He had always despised Cain—for refusing to listen, refusing to understand.

And now... after all this time... Cain himself had begun asking questions. Learning, learning the "right" way.

Minute by minute, Abel's voice grew calmer. The irritation faded. So did the desire to humiliate him.

Now he spoke as though he had finally found someone capable of understanding what he was saying. Sometimes he didn't even wait for another question before continuing his explanation.

Cain listened carefully. Sometimes lowering his head. Sometimes averting his gaze in shame. Each time allowing Abel to feel that... he had been right all along.

...

Eventually, Abel fell silent. A brief silence settled between them. The blue glow surrounding him had noticeably softened.

For several seconds, he simply watched the chained giant, silently evaluating the results.

"Much better."

"It only took you six weeks of confinement to come to your senses."

Cain looked up at him, waiting for another insult... or another punishment.

"Keep learning."

A quiet hum filled the corridor. The great blue sphere slowly turned... then drifted away into the darkness.

The giant remained exactly where he was. Hands folded obediently. Still kneeling, he watched his tormentor disappear with stunned eyes.

Only after the blue glow had completely vanished did Cain allow himself his first truly deep breath.

He looked away and instinctively closed his jaws, resting his upper hands over his mouth while his lower pair wrapped around his own body.

— "H-he's gone... h-he's gone..."

His heart pounded so violently it felt as though the entire circus could hear it. For several more seconds, Cain remained perfectly still.

Then he cautiously raised a hand to his jaw. Nothing, the cold metal braces were gone. Slowly, his fingers traced the inflamed wounds they had left behind.

— "H-he... he left me free..."

His whisper was barely audible, fearful that someone might hear him... and return to hammer the metal back into his jaws.

His hands gently cradled his head, carefully avoiding the deeper wounds. Cain forced himself to take another slow breath.

"Don't relax...", he squeezed his eyes shut, "He could come back at any second."

The thought instantly sent his heart racing again. The giant slowly raised his head and listened. Silence. Only the faint clinking of chains... and the sound of his own heavy breathing.

"Kinger...", he thought came almost immediately, "He should already be inside."

...

"No"

If Abel had stayed here longer than usual... then they had even less time than expected. Cain abruptly lifted his lower hands toward his chest.

"Wait... Check first"

He slowly lowered his hands again, returning to the same obedient posture on his knees. He listened, searching for Abel's presence, for surveillance, for anything that might betray him.

After nearly a minute, his anxiety eased slightly. He let out a shaky breath. Closing his eyes, he reached once more for the diagnostic channel.

Almost immediately, the familiar lines began appearing before his inner vision.

-----------------------------------------------------

Developer Diagnostic Buffer

Connection restored.

-----------------------------------------------------

--------

Kinger spent five fruitless minutes searching the office after reaching the wrong conclusion. He looked behind the shelves, inspected Cain's desk, checked the cabinets, pulled books off the shelves, even looked beneath the staircase.

— "No...", he muttered quietly, staring at the floor. "...That's too obvious... Cain would've never hidden an emergency route behind a painting..."

Lifting his furrowed gaze, he raised the cardboard cylinder from his head. Extending one hand, he opened the Developer Log.

— "Cain?...", he stared anxiously at the window in his hand. Still no reply.

With a heavy sigh, he closed it and looked around the office once more. He was exhausted. Even after the short nap, he still felt sluggish. Without Cain... he was nothing here.

"...If an emergency entrance exists...", his eyes drifted toward the ceiling, "...it can't depend on decorations. Because decorations can be deleted."

He slowly exhaled, "...Which means... the route has to be part of the system itself."

His hand came to rest heavily against his forehead as he tried to imagine how such a system would be accessed. Fatigue made him pace restlessly around the room, but eventually the chess piece simply stood still, trying to ease the headache pounding behind his eyes.

Kinger closed his eyes wearily, — "...Without you, I'm just wandering in circles..."

Almost instinctively, his fingers opened the Developer Log again. There was still no answer. Disappointed, he was about to close the window... when the text suddenly trembled.

Not a new message. The space inside the log itself seemed to distort for a brief moment. The lines slid downward, as though making room for something else. Then a familiar signature appeared.

-----------------------------------------------------

// Cain:

I'm here.

-----------------------------------------------------

Kinger's eyes seemed to light up. Immediately encouraged, he brought the window closer. He was just about to reply... when the message disappeared.

It was almost as if something had pushed it upward. Beneath it, for barely a fraction of a second, another window appeared.

Completely different. No sender, no comments, no explanation.

-----------------------------------------------------

Maintenance Access

Waiting...

-----------------------------------------------------

Kinger froze in confusion, — "...What?.."

Before he could reach it, the window slowly began fading away. As though it only existed for a few seconds.

He quickly reached out. His fingers passed through the glowing rectangle... and it vanished.

Stillness. He stood there for several seconds before slowly looking back at the log. Cain's message was once again the last thing displayed.

-----------------------------------------------------

// Cain:

I'm here.

-----------------------------------------------------

Kinger frowned, — "...That..."

He looked again at the spot where the strange window had appeared.

"...That wasn't a message... he opened something."

His large eyes darted around the room, searching for any clue, "...And it closed before I understood what it was."

Gathering himself, he tried to reopen the mysterious window the same way he had once managed to access the Developer Log—through memory and visualization.

Nothing. His hand instinctively reopened Cain's conversation.

— "W-what?!...", he recoiled, his eyebrows instantly rising in alarm.

It wasn't a new message. The old one had started blinking. As if the log itself were glitching.

-----------------------------------------------------

// Cain:

I'm here.

// Cain:

I'm here.

// Cain:

I'm here.

-----------------------------------------------------

For several seconds he simply stared. Then slowly looked around.

— "...Did I imagine that?..", the office remained silent. Only the dim spheres on the shelves pulsed lazily.

Kinger frowned, — "...No..."

He carefully walked over to where the strange window had appeared. Nothing. Even if he wanted to convince himself it was just exhaustion... the programmer inside him refused to believe it.

He knew his own perception too well. These weren't hallucinations. Hallucinations didn't appear inside a system interface.

— "...That was a system window.", he suddenly lifted his head, — "...But why did it only appear for a second?"

He opened the log once again.

-----------------------------------------------------

// Cain:

I'm here.

-----------------------------------------------------

His hand was already moving to close the interface. Then... the last line flickered. Once, then again. As if someone had sent the exact same message one more time.

-----------------------------------------------------

// Cain:

I'm here.

-----------------------------------------------------

At that exact moment... the same window flashed beneath the message. Only for an instant.

-----------------------------------------------------

Maintenance Access

Waiting...

-----------------------------------------------------

This time, Kinger didn't even reach for it. He kept staring at the log. Then slowly took a breath. His eyebrows gradually lifted.

— "...No...", he never looked away from the line, — "...That's not a message."

He expanded the log window. His memory immediately began stacking events on top of one another.

"I'm here."

Window.

"I'm here."

Window.

"I'm here."

Window.

Every time. The exact same sequence.

— "Hehehe...", he looked like a genius who had just hacked the Circus itself.

— "...Clever...", his fingers slowly rested against his chin, — "...You're not talking to me."

His eyes drifted toward Cain's massive chair, as though he were speaking to him.

— "...You're creating a trigger."

Cain couldn't tell him what to do. He could only give him the chance to figure it out himself. Trusting Kinger completely.

The old man quietly nodded to himself, — "...You really believe in me."

He opened the log once more. This time, he wasn't reading the messages. He was waiting for the next flicker. Because he finally understood.

"I'm here" wasn't the answer. It was only the trigger. And if he managed to use that tiny opening in time... he would see something an ordinary user was never meant to see.

The messages continued appearing inside the diagnostic log, while Kinger patiently waited for the hidden window.

He opened the log again. The line kept flickering. For a split second, the panel appeared beneath it once more.

-----------------------------------------------------

Maintenance Access

Waiting...

-----------------------------------------------------

Then it vanished again. Kinger didn't even flinch this time, he slowly lowered his hand.

"...No... If it were just a message... it wouldn't open another window."

His hand reached up to scratch his head... only to bump into the cardboard cylinder.

"Which means... Cain isn't talking to me. He's letting the system know the administrator is here."

He paused. Then raised a hand to his face.

— "...No", his brows furrowed even deeper, — "...Not the administrator... The source."

If a service window appeared... someone had opened it. And if Cain was the one opening it... then only Cain could.

His eyes settled on the text.

-----------------------------------------------------

Waiting...

-----------------------------------------------------

Then it hit him. The weight of confusion he'd been carrying suddenly disappeared.

— "...Wait...", he whispered.

"...It doesn't say Access Denied."

"...It doesn't say Permission Denied."

"...It doesn't say Unavailable."

He nodded slowly, fingers returning to his chin, — "...It's just waiting. If the system says Waiting... then it hasn't rejected me."

"It already assumes I have permission to be here."

"It's simply waiting for the next action."

He leaned back slightly. His body twitched with the familiar impulse that came whenever his mind hit a dead end.

— "...But waiting for what?"

He began recalling how service utilities were designed. The window flashed again. Too fast, he missed it.

Kinger focused, waiting for the next appearance. The instant it returned, he lunged forward and managed to tap the word Waiting.

Instead of disappearing... the window changed.

-----------------------------------------------------

Maintenance Access

Waiting...

>

-----------------------------------------------------

The panel expanded. A tiny blinking cursor appeared. Kinger quietly whispered,

— "Yes... Now I can enter commands myself."

He carefully brought his hand toward the blinking cursor.

"...Now what?..", dozen possibilities flashed through his mind.

Office, Admin, it`s too obvious, too simple. He didn't even bother trying them. If an emergency route existed... it wouldn't be named in a way anyone could stumble across.

Thoughtfully, he rested a hand against his chin, — "...Think like a developer..."

His finger hovered above the input line. Suddenly... the cursor twitched several times.

Kinger froze, — "...What?.."

He hadn't typed anything. Yet several symbols appeared on their own. As though someone had placed the cursor at the beginning of the line. Then... a letter.

-----------------------------------------------------

m

-----------------------------------------------------

Kinger couldn't believe his eyes. He stared at the console in shock, waiting for something else to happen.

The letter disappeared... as though someone had immediately erased it. Then it appeared again. And vanished once more.

— "Oh...", he understood.

It wasn't a hint. It was the most Cain was capable of doing. He couldn't type an entire word, he couldn't execute a command, he could only seize control of the interface for the briefest moment.

Long enough to leave behind a single letter... before Abel noticed.

Realizing how dangerous that was, Kinger hurriedly searched his memory for every maintenance-related command or keyword that could fit the access key.

He lowered his eyes to the empty prompt.

— "...Maintenance..."

With trembling hands, he typed the word. Then waited. Several seconds passed, nothing happened, then the window changed.

-----------------------------------------------------

Maintenance Access

Command accepted.

Select operation.

-----------------------------------------------------

Kinger slowly exhaled, closing his eyes in relief, — "...Thank you..."

Now... the rest of the work rested entirely on his shoulders.

—●-●-●-●-●—

Previous and Next Masterlist

So… we're already getting ready for the finale!! I really hope I can release it in four days, though I might run a bit late. It looks like the chapter is going to be massive—I might even have to split it into two parts, heh…

Yeah, now they just have to avoid running into Abel…