The mont Kai stepped back into the Arkveil Cathedral, he knew sothing was wrong.
It wasn’t the silence. It wasn’t the missing guards. It wasn’t even the black rose blooming on the altar.
It was the sll—like burning paper and blood, barely hidden beneath incense.
And the note.
"One of you isn’t real anymore."
"Chapter 44 starts with blood."
Kai turned sharply as the gate behind him closed. Astra and Nyx appeared seconds later, carrying a weakened Seris between them. Her eyes were half-lidded, mana fluctuating wildly inside her chest, like a soul trying to escape a body it no longer trusted.
Kai gripped the note until it crumbled.
"Yuri? Liora?"
No answer.
He drew his sword.
Astra read the ssage over his shoulder, face pale. "This is the Author again. He’s turning us against each other."
Nyx tilted her head, amused. "Or maybe one of us turned on our own."
Kai glared. "Don’t."
But deep down, the seed had been planted.
And it was already growing.
[System Alert – Narrative Instability Detected]
Synchronization: Fragnted
One Companion Identity: Inconsistent
Recomnd: Loyalty Verification Protocol
Requirent: Eliminate One Suspected Companion
"What the hell is this?" Astra hissed as the System projection hovered in front of them.
Kai stared at the text.
One of his harem mbers was a fake.
Or worse: overwritten.
"I’m not doing that," he said. "I’m not killing anyone."
Nyx laughed softly, stepping away from the group. "You say that now."
"Enough," Astra snapped. "No one’s dying."
But her fingers drifted toward her spellbook.
Just in case.
Seris coughed weakly.
"I saw it... inside him," she murmured. "The Author. He doesn’t just write. He replaces. He erases soone—then rewrites them like a character on a blank page."
Kai crouched beside her.
"You an one of you isn’t... who they were anymore?"
She nodded. Slowly. "The body is the sa. But the soul is borrowed."
The group moved cautiously through the Cathedral halls.
They found signs of a struggle—slash marks on the walls, scorched tiles, a shattered mana crystal in the war room.
No bodies.
No blood.
No Yuri.
No Liora.
Only static echoes where the System had failed to record.
And one final ssage burned into the floor:
"CHOOSE."
They gathered in the main sanctum.
Each of them now carried suspicion in their gaze — like daggers sheathed just below the ribs.
Kai stood before them. "We’re going to test this. Each of you — tell sothing only the real you would know. Sothing no one else could fake."
"Are you serious?" Astra asked.
"Yes."
"Fine," she said, stepping forward. "First ti we kissed, it wasn’t after a battle. It was before. And I was the one who grabbed you."
Kai blinked.
That... was true.
Astra’s eyes were steady.
She passed.
"Nyx?"
She shrugged. "Your worst fear isn’t death. It’s being forgotten. I read it off your System files during that dungeon run when you thought I was asleep."
Kai paused.
Also true.
Nyx smirked. "Cute, right?"
"Seris?"
She looked up, eyes still foggy. "You almost died saving my village. But the first thing you said to after was... ’Do they serve coffee in heaven?’ You thought I was an angel."
He smiled faintly.
That was the exact line.
Three for three.
But that was the problem.
Too perfect.
He turned slowly.
Because soone was missing.
"Where’s Liora?"
Suddenly, the cathedral lights flared.
The walls trembled.
And a voice echoed through the sanctum.
Not Liora’s.
"You hesitate at the altar. That is your sin."
"You want love without sacrifice. Loyalty without pain. A hero without a cost."
"But stories demand blood."
A figure stepped from the shadows.
She wore Liora’s face. Her armor. Her voice.
But her eyes?
Completely empty.
Like soone had hollowed her out and left a script behind.
Kai stepped forward. "Where’s the real Liora?"
The doppelgänger smiled. "She’s dreaming of endings. This body... it’s mine now. And you only have one chance."
She held up a shard of mirrored glass.
"Kill the fake. Or I will."
[System Trigger – Decision Point Activated]
Choose:
– [Execute Suspected Impostor]
– [Do Nothing – Warning: Companion Termination Imminent]
Countdown: 5 minutes
Astra was already raising her staff. "We kill it. Right now."
"Wait," Kai snapped. "We don’t know she’s the fake."
"Do you really want to risk it?"
Seris struggled to her feet. "There’s only one way to know..."
She drew her blade.
And pointed it at Nyx.
Everyone froze.
"Why ?" Nyx asked, eyes narrowing.
"Because you were too perfect," Seris said. "Too rehearsed. Your mory wasn’t proof. It was a script."
Kai’s heart raced.
"No," he said. "I know Nyx. She’s been with since—"
"Since when?" Seris interrupted. "Can you rember the exact mont she joined us?"
Kai paused.
And realized—
He couldn’t.
Nyx stepped back, suddenly calm.
Dangerously calm.
"That’s a sha," she said.
And then she smiled.
But it wasn’t Nyx’s smile.
It was his.
She drew a blade from her shadow and slashed at Seris.
Astra raised a barrier just in ti.
"Hostile confirmation!" she shouted.
Kai’s System flared.
[Impostor Detected – Soul Signature Mismatch]
Identity: Null
Classification: AUTHOR’S PROXY
Objective: Destabilize Narrative
Nyx/Proxy’s body twisted — limbs elongating, eyes multiplying, voice fracturing.
"You should’ve chosen her," it growled. "But now I’ll choose you."
A dark spell ignited from its hand.
A rewrite curse.
Kai moved.
Faster than thought.
His sword pierced the proxy’s chest mid-cast.
The creature scread — not in pain, but frustration.
Its form unraveled into a cloud of ink and glitching text.
And was gone.
Silence fell.
Kai dropped his sword.
Nyx’s body lay on the ground — real now, unconscious but intact.
"She was overwritten," Astra whispered. "The real Nyx... she was still in there."
"But barely," Kai said.
And for a mont, he felt cold.
Because he’d almost let her die.
[System Notice – Impostor Eliminated]
Nyx Status: Restoring... 47%
Loyalty Flag: Fractured
Emotional Core: Wounded
Recovery Ti: Unknown
Astra stood beside him.
"You did what you had to."
"No," Kai said quietly. "I did what I should’ve done earlier."
He looked down at Nyx.
And realized sothing terrifying.
They could all be taken.
At any mont.
Even him.
That night, Seris stood by his door.
"Would you do it?" she asked.
"Do what?"
"If the System told you I was next. If it said I was the fake."
Kai didn’t answer.
He couldn’t.
She smiled.
But it wasn’t happy.
"Then maybe it already has."
She walked away.
Leaving him in silence.
And fear.
She left with silence. He stayed with the mory.
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