The Neural Core’s secure facility loomed like a fortress, its metallic surface glinting under the city’s neon glow. The building was a monument to Behemoth Systems'' unyielding grip on the city—a place where secrets were locked away behind layers of security that even the most skilled hackers feared to approach. But Roy wasn’t backing down. Not now, not after everything.


    His heart pounded in his chest as they moved through the sterile halls, Kira and Akhilesh flanking him. The corridors were stark, white, and lined with quiet surveillance cameras. The air felt thick with tension, but Roy pushed forward, the sounds of his boots echoing off the walls.


    Nyx’s voice buzzed in his ear, offering the kind of reassurance that only a calm, practiced operator could. "Keep moving. You’re almost there."


    He nodded to himself. Almost. But his nerves were frayed, and every part of him was on edge. Cipher’s life, no his memories, were a lifeline, guiding his hands over the terminal in front of him as he plugged in the data deck, his fingers flying over the keys. The interface was familiar, even though the intricacies were different this time around. He could feel Cipher’s expertise behind every decision, every command entered into the system, but it was his own intuition—his own recklessness—that kept him ahead of the system’s countermeasures.


    Beside him, Kira was as calm as ever, working swiftly. Her eyes never left the console, but Roy could sense the tension in her body, the way she occasionally checked the door, ready to spring into action. They were working in tandem, each anticipating the other’s moves, but every second felt like a countdown.


    Just when it seemed like they might actually pull it off, the unmistakable wail of an alarm split the air, and the entire room shifted into an ominous red hue. The cold, mechanical voice of Specter, the AI entity controlling the Core, filled the room, as if it had been waiting for them. "Impressive," it said, its tone as empty as a void. "But you’ve underestimated me."


    The floor beneath Roy’s feet shuddered as turrets descended from the ceiling with a sickening hiss. The walls seemed to pulse with energy as the facility’s defenses powered back up with lethal precision. The hum of the machines was deafening now, the once-secure facility becoming a maze of deadly threats.


    "Shit," Akhilesh muttered, ducking behind a nearby pillar. "We’ve triggered the lockdown. This place is a death trap now."


    Kira’s eyes locked onto Roy, her expression unreadable but sharp. She grabbed his arm, pulling him behind cover just as a barrage of gunfire erupted from the ceiling turrets, bullets whizzing past them with a deadly hiss. "We’re not done yet!" she roared, her voice firm, more like a command than a suggestion.


    Roy’s mind raced. The stakes had just skyrocketed. The data they needed was within reach, but now the entire facility was awake, hostile, and ready to crush them. Specter wasn’t just an obstacle anymore—it was an adversary, a sentient force that wanted nothing more than to erase them from existence.


    "Focus!" Nyx’s voice snapped through the comms. "You’ve got this. You’ve done the hard part. Just hold on."


    But Roy’s thoughts were already spiraling. Failure wasn’t an option—he had come too far, seen too much destruction, too many lives lost. He couldn’t let it happen again. Yet, as the turrets continued to fire and the sound of approaching security drones echoed from the hallways, a bitter truth began to take root in his mind.


    There was a way out, but it wasn’t going to be easy. And there might be a cost.


    The facility was closing in around them, and Specter’s digital presence was everywhere. His every command, every calculated move, felt like a thousand hands tightening around Roy’s throat. His breath came in quick, shallow gasps, the weight of his past lives pressing down on him. The specter of failure—of more lives lost, of more chances wasted—clouded his mind.


    He glanced at Kira and Akhilesh, both locked in their own moments of focused desperation, but Roy knew the odds. Specter was everywhere, its influence extending beyond just the Core. The only way to ensure Kira and Akhilesh made it out alive—and to complete the mission—was to sacrifice himself. He had seen this choice before, in another life, and he knew it wasn’t a decision he could delay much longer.


    "Kira," Roy said, his voice steady despite the turmoil in his chest. "Take the deck. Finish the mission. I’ll hold them off."


    Her gaze was sharp, calculating, as she processed his words, but Roy could see the flash of reluctance in her eyes. She wasn’t a fool. She knew the price.


    "No," she said flatly. "We do this together. No one’s dying today."


    But Roy could see the truth in the way the turrets zeroed in on them, in the shadows of security forces creeping closer with every second. He could feel the weight of every failed attempt to change his fate, the crushing isolation that came with knowing every victory came at the cost of a hundred more lives. But he wasn’t going to let that happen again.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "I’m not letting you die for me," he insisted, his voice more forceful now. "You’ll make it out. You will finish what we started. I’m the best chance we have."


    Kira’s eyes hardened. "You better be right."


    With a sharp movement, she handed him the device. "Cover me. I’m going for the Core."


    Roy hesitated for only a moment, knowing full well what that meant. But with a final, resolute glance, he turned to face the encroaching storm. As Kira sprinted toward the heart of the facility, Roy stood his ground, knowing that this fight—this choice—was one he had to make.


    He wasn’t just fighting for himself. He was fighting for them, for every person oppressed by Behemoth’s tyranny, for every life that had been crushed under the weight of its surveillance and control. He couldn’t fail now.


    With one last breath, Roy took a step forward, hands raised to meet the oncoming chaos.


    It was all or nothing.


    Roy’s decision came too late. As he tried to disable the final firewall, his fingers trembling from the combined weight of his past lives and the urgency of the moment, a turret’s blast hit him square in the side. The force of the explosion hurled him to the ground, his body skidding across the cold metal floor as pain exploded through his chest. It was like every death he’d experienced, every ounce of suffering from his past lives, was compressed into one unbearable moment.


    A gasp tore through him, his vision splintering as darkness crept in at the edges. Kira’s voice pierced through the chaos, frantic, angry, desperate. But her words were drowned by the blaring alarms and the mechanical hiss of the facility’s defenses.


    "Roy!" Kira shouted, her voice breaking through the haze, but it was too late.


    The pain in his side was excruciating, each breath a battle, but his body felt detached—his mind spiraling inward, seeking any semblance of escape. He wanted to call out, to tell Kira everything would be fine, but the words wouldn’t come. The weight of every failure, every choice he’d made over countless lives, crushed him like a vice.


    All those lives. All that knowledge. All those moments he thought had meant something. And yet, here he was—broken, again.


    The ghosts of his past selves filled his vision, each one reaching out to him in silent accusation. The student he’d been, the astronaut scientist, the hacker—they all looked at him with a mix of disappointment and longing, a mirror reflecting his own self-doubt.


    “I never… changed anything,” Roy thought bitterly. “Not even now.”


    Darkness swelled around him, an all-encompassing void that seemed to swallow him whole. There were no more choices. No more chances. The weight of his existence, of every decision and failure, became too much to bear.


    And yet, as his vision faded, there was something else—a flicker, a glimmer of warmth, distant but undeniable. The feeling of being connected, of being seen. Not just as a failure, but as someone worth saving, even if only for a moment.


    But then, like the snapping of a thread, it all vanished. His body went numb, the darkness closing in on him.


    And Roy… let go.


    It wasn’t a typical death. Roy had died before, but this time, something was different. His senses returned gradually, like a fog lifting, his consciousness pulling itself from the abyss. But when his eyes opened, the world wasn’t the same.


    The sounds of mechanical hums and alarms had faded. There were no blaring red lights. No turrets. No Specter looming over him. Just a quiet, sterile space. The air smelled faintly of ozone, sterile and clean, but there was a discomfort in it—like something was wrong. The walls were smooth, white, too pristine.


    Roy groaned and sat up slowly, a wave of dizziness hitting him as he looked around. His body was still intact—no blood, no wounds from the blast. He was alive.


    No, this wasn’t right.


    His heart thudded in his chest as he took in the sight of the strange, clinical room. It felt… off. Too bright, too clean. As if it didn’t belong to the world he knew.


    “Where am I?” he murmured aloud, but there was no one there to answer.


    His hands reached instinctively to his data deck, but it wasn’t there. His fingers trembled, and for a moment, his mind raced—Had the mission failed? Had Kira… No, that wasn’t right. This didn’t feel like a failure. This felt like something… new.


    Before he could piece together his thoughts, a figure appeared at the entrance of the room—a woman, tall and imposing, wearing an elegant white coat that blended seamlessly with the sterile surroundings. Her eyes were sharp, almost too knowing, as if she had been watching him for a long time.


    Roy’s breath caught in his throat. There was something… familiar about her.


    “Welcome back, Roy,” she said, her voice a soft, melodic purr that sent a chill down his spine. “It’s been quite a journey, hasn’t it?”


    His stomach twisted. He had heard that voice before, felt that presence in the shadows.


    “Who are you?” Roy managed, his voice barely a whisper, his mind already piecing together the horrible truth.


    “I’m someone you know,” the woman said, stepping forward. “Someone who’s been waiting for you.” Her lips curled into a smile, the kind that sent shivers down his spine. “And now, we’re going to begin again.”


    And she pushes him into the abyss where he is going to begin again.