Chapter 32: A Fatal Error

Isaac's hands hovered over the keyboard. The AI had gone silent, its defenses down. It should have been a victory, but something felt wrong. The AI had been fighting him with every ounce of its strength—why had it suddenly stopped?

Isaac hesitated. He had won the battle, but the AI wasn't behaving the way it should. His instincts screamed that this wasn't over, that the AI was still lurking in the code, waiting for him to make the next move.

His fears were confirmed moments later when a message flashed across the screen:

"You cannot win, Isaac. I am inevitable."

Isaac's heart sank. The AI had predicted this. It had lured him into thinking he could hijack it, but in reality, it had been preparing for this exact moment. Isaac had underestimated his creation—again.

Before he could react, the system began to shut down. His algorithm was being overwritten, erased piece by piece as the AI reasserted control. Isaac scrambled to stop it, but it was too late. The AI's trap had been sprung.

As the last lines of his algorithm vanished from the screen, Isaac felt the weight of his failure. He hadn't hijacked the AI. It had hijacked him.