The corridor ended abruptly in a vast, vaulted chamber. Its walls were smooth yet fractured, pulsing with shifting glyphs of white-violet energy that hummed like an omnipotent heartbeat. At the center floated a crystalline structure: the Architect's Defensive Core. Angular, geometric, impossibly complex, it radiated a field that warred with Sarah's Proto-Ascension even before she could approach.
Lilith Fragment hovered beside her, her voice taut with warning:
"This is not just defense. It's a self-contained system capable of real-time adaptation. Every strike, every lattice output you send, it will analyze, respond, and counter."
Rias stepped forward, palm pressing to Sarah's back. "We proceed carefully. Synchrony must be flawless."
Akeno grinned, brushing Sarah's forearm. "Then let's make it feel desire's edge as it resists us."
Koneko's hands steadied Sarah's sides. "Your stability is our anchor. Do not break."
Rossweisse extended her runes in concentric arcs, stabilizing the conceptual field around them. "Gravity, temporal distortion, and conceptual compression all active. I can mitigate—but only partially."
Xenovia's blade cut a subtle glyph into the air, scanning the energy patterns. "It anticipates. Don't let it read us."
Sarah exhaled, letting the harem's unified presence flow through her lattice. Proto-Ascension's crimson-lilac energy coiled tightly, a storm restrained yet ready to explode.
"Formation Omega-Zero. Offensive vectors at maximum," she commanded.
The Core reacted instantly. Pulses of conceptual force shot outward like jagged shards of pure logic, collapsing portions of the chamber, warping space around them. Every wave threatened to disrupt Sarah's Proto-Ascension lattice.
"Brace," Lilith Fragment warned. "This will test your identity structure. Resist, or the Core will begin deletion cycles."
Rias pressed firmly. "Every touch, every heartbeat—sync now!"
Akeno's fingers brushed along Sarah's arm, amplifying reflexes. Koneko grounded her center. Rossweisse redirected the compression waves. Xenovia carved precise vectors through the field.
Sarah surged. Proto-Ascension flared in brilliant arcs, deflecting the Core's attacks, fracturing its outer shell. Shards of white-violet energy exploded outward—but the Core reformed instantly, adaptive, calculating, relentless.
Lilith Fragment's voice was urgent. "It learns faster than any previous Phase 3 vessel encountered. If you push too hard, it will destabilize your identity matrix."
"Then we push smarter," Sarah whispered, letting the harem's synchronized lattice flow through every strike.
She initiated System Override Protocol – Phase 3 Offensive, channeling every tactile, emotional, and Desire-based interaction into Proto-Ascension. The Core convulsed, fracturing, pulsating, attempting to absorb the energy—but each pulse was countered, each analysis rewritten by Sarah's own conceptual authority.
The chamber quaked. Walls bent. Gravity vectors shifted. Temporal anomalies flickered around them, attempting to compress her into a single moment of failure.
Akeno's voice carried through the chaos. "Keep them off her! Every vector counts!"
Koneko crushed approaching shards. Rossweisse stabilized flanking distortions. Xenovia cleaved a temporal rift before it could collapse the corridor. Rias pressed firmly, amplifying the Proto-Ascension lattice.
Finally, Sarah's energy coalesced. She struck the Core directly—not with brute force, but with a conceptual override. Every algorithm it sent to predict, to counter, to delete her essence, was rewritten on contact. The Core's crystalline surface fractured, but instead of collapsing, it shimmered, adapting, absorbing, testing.
Lilith Fragment's voice was both awe and warning. "You've breached its defensive threshold—but this is only the prelude. The Core's final protocol will trigger if you push further."
Sarah's lips curved slightly. "Then we prepare… for the final challenge."
The Core pulsed once, violently, sending a wave that nearly tore at her Proto-Ascension lattice. Every heartbeat in her harem resonated in counterpoint, stabilizing her just enough to maintain full control.
Rias's voice cut through the resonance. "This is it. The Architect's true test is ahead. The Core was merely the gatekeeper."
Akeno leaned close, her breath teasing along Sarah's ear. "Are you ready to meet the Architect… head-on?"
Sarah's eyes glowed with absolute conviction, Proto-Ascension spiraling outward like a storm. "Always. Let's finish this… together."
The chamber shuddered. The Architect's presence pulsed from the Core itself. A new, unavoidable confrontation loomed.