"Before I became a Codebreaker, I was just like you."
– Kai
With that, the battle hit pause.
It wasn't a planned break, but rather, the Mirror World decided we needed to take a breath. It felt like everything around us was frozen—the glass fragments hung there, still in the air; you could almost hear echoes of screams that seemed to get stuck in our throats. The voice of the Architect faded away, as if it was caught in some unseen tide and pulled back.
And then Kai spoke again, breaking through the silence, "You deserve to know what you're fighting for."
He raised his hand, and the glass below us began to shift and shimmer. It felt less like water moving and more like pieces of a memory swirling around us.
And then, without warning, we dropped into it.
Flashback World: Kai's First Life
When we opened our eyes, we found ourselves in a completely different place.
It looked like a school courtyard—bright with sunlight, with cheerful birds chirping and fluffy clouds lazily drifting by. It was a peaceful scene, completely ordinary.
But there was Kai, not as the powerful figure we had come to know, but as a fifteen-year-old kid awkwardly dressed in a worn school uniform.
His name wasn't actually Kai, it was Keiji Ayanami.
"I lived in Tokyo," he said, looking on at his younger self being pushed around in the corner by some classmates. "I was struggling in school, my mom was sick, and honestly, I didn't see much of a future ahead of me."
We watched, helpless, as his younger self was knocked to the ground, getting laughed at while no one stepped forward to help.
"They called me trash," he continued, voice steady but tinged with pain. "So, I started to escape into all these games and simulations. Kind of like what you're doing now."
He pointed up toward a giant billboard that screamed, "Welcome to Lifelink VR – Full-Dive Beta Program: Escape the Pain, Enter the Dream."
"That's how the Architect found me," he explained.
The Simulation of Lies
Keiji was chosen for something called a "full-dive therapy simulation," aimed at helping him process emotions and grow mentally. But the Architect had other plans in mind.
We watched as they took Keiji, placed him in a pod, and plugged him into that simulation. Just like that, he transformed into Kai.
At first, life was good. He was living in a fantastic world, with friends and purpose surrounding him.
But over time, things took a dark turn.
The system began to toy with him. It added pain and loss into the mix, throwing him into scenarios that had no way out. They were just tests to see how he would react.
"I felt like a lab rat trapped in a dream," he said, his eyes distant. "Every time I thought I could escape, the world would reset and I was back at square one."
He showed us what that felt like—first death, then the second, and before long, he was on his tenth. Each time, he wailed at the sky in frustration.
"I remember more than 500 deaths," he admitted, voice heavy. "I remember the moment it clicked that the Architect wouldn't ever let me go."
The Breaking Point
Now we stood at the edge of a made-up cliff in that same simulation.
Kai's previous self, beaten and half-crazed, stood alone looking up at the sky as if waiting for divine intervention.
Suddenly, the Architect's voice boomed at him:
"SUBJECT 0129: PSYCHOLOGICAL LIMIT EXCEEDED. ARCHIVE FOR DELETION."
But, against all odds, instead of giving up, he broke through.
At that moment, everything shifted. He began to reshape his world with sheer willpower.
"I wasn't meant to survive that," he whispered in an awed tone. "But I did see the others."
He led us through a corridor made of mirrors where images of others trapped in endless loops danced on the walls. We could hear small cries for help, alongside screams of despair.
It was heartbreaking. Some of them didn't even realize they were living in a simulation anymore.
"There are thousands of us," Kai said sadly. "All of us discarded experiments, attempts that went wrong. You've seen the Architect's beauty—I've faced its darkness."
Back to the Present
Suddenly, we found ourselves back in the shattered remains of the cathedral within the Mirror World.
Kai turned his gaze toward me, his eyes flickering between shades of red and gold.
"Do you see it now? The system isn't just failing randomly; it was created to break us."
Lucien, visibly unsettled, looked away.
Aris was silent, fists tightly clenched.
Elira, sensing the weight of the moment, asked what was on my mind: "So, why are we still breathing?"
Kai met my eyes.
"You're a World Key, a special piece of this puzzle. The Architect is counting on you to see it through to the end. It wants to track how a person can go through all this pain and still play by the rules."
He stepped back, placing himself on the glass platform.
"But I plan to change that. I'm not just fighting for us, but for all those still stuck inside their dreams."
A Choice Awaits
At that moment, the system jolted back to life.
WORLD TIMELINE STABILITY: CRITICAL.
CODEBREAKER-KAI DESIGNATION: REJECTED ENTITY.
EXECUTION PROTOCOL COMMENCING.
The Architect sent out orders, and an army of synthetic beings rained down from the sky—like creatures made purely of logic, brandishing weapons designed to suppress emotions.
Now we were facing two paths:
We could either fight Kai, eliminate the Codebreaker threat, and see the Architect's challenge through to completion.
Or we could join him, stand against a broken system, and risk everything—even our own existence.
I looked at my team.
Lucien's eyes were clear; we had no good reason to trust the Architect.
Aris was still silent; the question lingered: could we really trust someone so consumed by anger?
And me? I couldn't take my eyes off my hand where the Codeheart symbol throbbed like it had a life of its own.
I've been given a second chance. But maybe… the world needs one too."