Ester froze, her eyes widening in horror as she looked down at the tablet she had just set aside.
"W-What... the screen! It's cracking!" Ester's face crumpled as if she were about to burst into tears. She picked up the device, which was now webbed with jagged fractures.
"Big brother! Quick! Use your creator's power to fix it! This is the only bridge left between me and the System Master... please! Fix it!"
He thrust his palm forward, channeling the vast reconstructive power within him. Golden light surged toward the tablet like an incoming tide, but no miracle came.
Under the shroud of his power, the tablet emitted a final, tragic golden flare.
Then, before their trembling eyes, it disintegrated like ancient, rotting wood. With a final, ghostly hum, it dissolved into a cloud of light particles and vanished into the void.
The last link to "System" was severed.
Lawson's heart plummeted. A cold, viscous sense of dread crept up his spine like a predator.
He gritted his teeth so hard they nearly cracked, a stifled groan escaping his throat. It was the agonizing ache of losing a brother-in-arms, but he had promised that man: "Keep the secret."
"No! —Ugh, AGHHHHH!!"
A sudden, violent agony ripped through Lawson's chest. He collapsed, clutching his heart as his features contorted in pain.
Wild, unstable golden light bled from his pores—it was as if the {Sword of System Authority} inside him sensed the collapse of the Main System and was letting out a soul-shattering scream.
He drew a jagged breath, forcibly swallowing the pain. Within the silence of his mind, he let out a roar that shattered the encroaching darkness:
"That 'Unique Existence'... as expected, he isn't someone who can be dealt with so easily. Since you've exited the stage, I'm taking over your mess. From this moment on, I AM the supreme authority here. I will take your place, and I will personally drag that arrogant bastard off his throne—I am going to beat this goddamn trash game, once and for all!"
Throughout the fortress, a chorus of confusion broke out.
Luther, Dodge, Phyllis, George, Katie... the phones of every warrior bound to the old system began to vibrate uncontrollably.
The screens flashed with a frantic, blinding gold—a final death rattle—before falling pitch black.
The umbilical cord between the warriors and their armor had been forcibly cut. They had lost their protection. They had lost their weapons.
Danger began to creep up around their ankles like a rising tide. Only the Base generated from Lawson's ten years of data, and the fortress built upon his new Authority, remained standing—immovable, like a pillar of heaven.
"Big brother... help! I'm... I'm disappearing!"
The sharp, helpless cry pulled Lawson back to reality. Ester, being an NPC fundamentally bound to the old system, was fading.
Her body was becoming translucent, starlight drifting away from her fingertips like dust in the wind.
"No! I don't want to leave everyone! Save me!!!" Ester watched her own vanishing hands, her tears flowing in a torrent.
"Ester... dammit! STAY WITH ME!!"
Lawson let out a guttural, desperate roar. This bond had lasted over a decade; he would not allow it to break! He forced himself up through the agonizing pain in his chest, his eyes bloodshot with rage and grief.
If he wanted to save her, he needed to forge a new System Binding Contract for her!
"Become an NPC under my new law!"
Lawson's pupils erupted with a blinding brilliance, the Core Will of a Creator howling within him.
"—From this moment forward, you are my exclusive guide!"
In response to this desperate vow, a pillar of solid golden light swallowed Ester.
Within the radiance, a miracle of re-coding unfolded: Ester's signature long pink hair bleached and reshaped itself at a visible speed, transforming into a waterfall of pure, flawless silver.
Her vibrant pink eyes deepened, darkening into a pair of mysterious, starlit amethysts.
Even her attire flickered and changed—the heavy black Gothic dress faded and shifted into a refreshing, light blue Gothic coordinate that radiated a new sense of vitality.
The tether to the old system was severed cleanly. Under Lawson's authority, Ester received a new definition of personhood.
Her fading body solidified, brimming with a surge of life force she had never felt before.
"Lawson! Thank goodness... hurray, I'm still alive!"
Abandoning all dignity, Ester lunged at him like a startled fawn, wrapping her arms around his with a death grip.
In her frantic relief, she clung so tightly that her soft curves were pressed firmly against his arm, but she was oblivious to everything except the fact that she was still there.
"From today on, I really belong to you! You can never, ever leave me behind again!" she sobbed, her tears soaking his sleeve.
But the cost was steep. The absolute exhaustion of his Authority, coupled with the violent rejection triggered by the {Sword of System Authority} reacting to the Main System's demise, finally caught up to him. Lawson's face turned a ghastly, deathly pale.
THUD!!!
The heavy sound of a body hitting the floor echoed through the district. The "Creator" who, moments ago, had stood with the majesty of a god, now collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
As his consciousness faded into a dark abyss, the holy golden light surrounding him flickered like a dying candle, inching toward extinction until it finally vanished into the silent dark.
Just as the atmosphere reached its breaking point, the warriors, who had rushed over in a panic after sensing the sudden "death" of their phones, stumbled upon the scene.
George, Katie, Dodge, Luther, and Phyllis skidded to a halt, their breaths hitching as they froze. The golden radiance that once symbolized hope had vanished.
The man who had been rewriting the laws of reality just moments ago—the once-invincible Lawson—now lay sprawled on the ground, his life force seemingly extinguished.
"Lawson...?"
Katie's voice trembled, her hand clutching the "black brick" that used to be her smartphone. A sense of unprecedented despair washed over the group.
To them, this wasn't just Lawson fainting; it felt like the total collapse of an era.
"Don't tell me..." Dodge's eyes widened, his throat bobbing painfully.
"Even bro... has 'fallen'?"
"Dammit! Not now of all times!" George hissed, his jaw tight. He instinctively tried to summon his armor, only to find the spiritual realm within his phone hollow.
Not just their power, but their very confidence in the future seemed to have tumbled off the pedestal along with Lawson.
Silence descended, heavy as a tomb, broken only by the newly reborn, silver-haired Ester kneeling beside Lawson, calling out helplessly.
The sight of a "God" falling to the dusty earth made everyone feel as if they had been plunged into an ice cellar.
Their pride, their strength, and now their new "Creator" were all gone.