Chapter 16: The Ghost in the System

The Academy's bell tower struck noon, its chimes drowned out by the cacophony of preparation. Students and faculty—once divided by caste and magic affinity—now scrambled in uneasy unity. Percival barked orders at a group of alchemy students jury-rigging mana turrets, while Rikka drilled combat novices on how to stab something without "tripping on their own robes." Seraphina stood atop the fractured courtyard fountain, her voice cutting through the chaos like a blade.

"The enemy arrives at dusk," she declared, her fan raised high. "They will call us rebels. Heretics. Insects. Prove them wrong."

The crowd roared, fists and wands raised. Aizen watched from the shadows, his admin interface parsing their odds:

[Estimated Survival Rate: 17.3%]

Optimistic.

He slipped away, drawn to the ruins of the maze's entrance. The fissure still pulsed faintly, and something in the static hum reminded him of Lyra's final whisper.

"Help…"

"You're either brave or stupid," Clara said, appearing beside him with a tray of healing vials. "Probably both."

Aizen took a vial. "What gave it away?"

"The part where you're staring into a cursed pit instead of resting." She hesitated. "I… heard things. Whispers in the infirmary. About Lyra."

"She's dead."

"Are you sure?"

The fissure flickered. Aizen's [Maze Navigator] trait flared, revealing a hidden path veiled by code.

Damn it.

The maze's remnants were a graveyard of shattered illusions. Aizen followed the trail to a sealed chamber, its walls etched with System glyphs. At its center floated a flickering hologram—a child-sized figure with Lyra's golden eyes.

"Aizen…?" the fragment whispered. "I'm… sorry."

[Hidden Quest Updated: "The Ghost in the System"]

[Objective: Recover Lyra's Data Fragment]

[Reward: Unlock "Codeweaver" Skill, +100 Affection Points]

[Failure: Fragment Corruption]

"You're not her," Aizen said coldly.

"I'm… what's left. The part they… deleted." The hologram flickered, showing flashes of Lyra's past—a lab, cold hands, code forced into her veins. "They made me a weapon. But you… you woke me up. Now they'll destroy me. Please."

Aizen's hand hovered over the data port. Trusting a fragment of his enemy was suicide. But 17.3% wasn't a chance—it was a death sentence.

He plugged in.

[Downloading Data Fragment…]

[Warning: Malware Detected]

The chamber shuddered. Glyphs turned blood-red as the fragment's form distorted, its voice glitching. "N-no…! They're here! They're—"

Aizen yanked his hand back as the hologram exploded into static. The fragment coalesced into a crystalline drive in his palm, warm and faintly pulsing.

[Skill Acquired: "Codeweaver" (Basic)]

[Effect: Manipulate System code at the cost of mental strain.]

"You owe me," he told the silence.

The Administrator Fleet descended at dusk. Warships blotted out the sun, their hulls sleek and alien, etched with the same runes as the Academy's core. The lead ship fired a warning shot—a beam of light that vaporized the clocktower.

"Show-offs," Rikka muttered, loading a mana cannon.

Seraphina's fan glowed. "Hold the line!"

The first wave hit like a storm. Drones swarmed the courtyard, their plasma blades carving through barricades. Students fell, but the survivors fought harder—Percival's turrets lashed the sky, Celestia's healers mended wounds, and Rikka's squad carved a bloody path through the ranks.

Aizen wove through the chaos, [Codeweaver] active. He hijacked drones, turning them against their masters, but each command cost him—a nosebleed, a migraine, memories fraying at the edges.

[Mental Integrity: 64%]

A warship descended, its hatch opening to reveal a figure in white armor, their face obscured by a fractal visor.

"Administrator Aizen Sōsuke," they intoned, voice echoing across the battlefield. "Surrender, and your execution will be swift."

Aizen grinned. "Hard pass."

He unleashed a [Codeweaver] pulse. The warship's engines sputtered, crashing into the courtyard. The admin floated down, untouched, a blade of pure data forming in their hand.

"Then perish."

Their duel was a blur. The admin's blade cut through Aizen's defenses, each strike overloading his skills. He countered with stolen code and dirty tricks—hacking their armor's gravity, summoning rogue drones, even weaponizing the Academy's cursed cafeteria stew.

[Mental Integrity: 29%]

"You're… annoying," the admin hissed, their visor cracking.

"Thanks."

Aizen's final move was a gamble. He channeled [Codeweaver] and [Chronomancer's Gambit] into one chaotic burst. Time fractured. Code unraveled. The admin's blade disintegrated as their armor sparked and died.

"This isn't over," they spat before teleporting away.

The remaining ships retreated. The Academy stood—battered, bleeding, but alive.

In the aftermath, Aizen found Seraphina on the battlefield, her gown torn and bloodied. She didn't look at him.

"You're a fool," she said.

"But a useful one."

Her fan tapped his chest—lightly, almost fondly. "Don't die. I'd hate to break in a new butler."

[Affection Points with Seraphina von Eldoria: +70 (Current: 335/1000)]

Rikka found him next, tossing him a stolen energy core. "For the next round."

"There won't be a next round."

She laughed. "Keep dreaming."

[Affection Points with Rikka Volsung: +50 (Current: 220/500)]

As night fell, Aizen slipped into the infirmary. Clara slept at Lyra's fragment drive, her clipboard clutched to her chest. The drive pulsed, and a holographic Lyra—smaller, softer—flickered to life.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Don't," Aizen said. "You're still a pain in my ass."

Lyra's ghost smiled. "I know."

[New Quest: "Rebuild the Rebellion" – Locked Until Chapter 17]

Post-Chapter Scene:

In the admin warship's wreckage, a data core glowed. The fractured admin watched Aizen's victory through a cracked visor.

"You've only won a battle, rat," they hissed. "Let's see you survive the war."

They activated a beacon.

[Warning: System Overmind – Awakening]