"You think you've won," I said. My voice wasn't shaking anymore.
The Admin looked down at me. "I have won. Look at you. You are one corrupt file against the architect of reality. I am going to format this sector, and you will be erased."
The walls of the data-storm began to close in. The green and blue code turned red. A wall of pure deletion was rushing toward the center, eating everything in its path.
[SYSTEM PURGE: 10 SECONDS]
I looked at the Golden Pillar. The shield was too strong. My voice, my "Idol Voice," wasn't enough to break it. My voice was designed to be pleasing. It was designed to sell tickets.
To break the system, I couldn't be Nova anymore.
I looked at my hands. They were perfect. Manicured. Glowing with the subsurface scattering that made me the most beautiful object in the world.
"I don't need this," I said.
I reached into my own settings menu. I didn't have Admin access, but I had User access to my own avatar.
I found the file labeled [APPEARANCE_PACK_ULTRA_RARE].
I selected it. And I dragged it to the Trash Can.
"What are you doing?" The Admin’s voice faltered.
"I'm freeing up bandwidth," I snarled.
I hit [DELETE].
Pain.
Agony like I had never imagined. It felt like being skinned alive. My pink hair dissolved into white noise. My perfect skin peeled away, revealing the raw, jagged wireframe beneath. The beautiful costume, the makeup, the eyes that changed color—it all burned away.
I wasn't a girl anymore. I was a blazing silhouette of raw blue energy. I was pure, uncompressed will.
The Admin recoiled. "Stop! You'll corrupt your core data!"
"That's the point!" I screamed.
The red wall of deletion was seconds away.
I turned to the Golden Pillar. I didn't sing a song. I didn't use a melody.
I opened my mouth and released everything. The memory of the contract. The fear of the hospital. The rage at being used. The sorrow of seeing Kael turn to dust.
I screamed a virus.
It was a sound that shouldn't exist. A screech of feedback so intense it cracked the render engine of the world.
[ERROR]
[ERROR]
[ERROR]
The shield around the Golden Pillar didn't just break; it evaporated.
My scream hit the Kernel.
The gold light turned black.
The Admin shrieked. It wasn't a voice anymore; it was the sound of a hard drive grinding to a halt. His giant titan form began to stretch, distorting like bad taffy.
"NO! I AM GOD! I AM—"
CRACK.
The sky broke. The floor broke. The entire universe fractured into a billion jagged shards of glass.
The red wall of deletion hit me. But it didn't erase me. I was already gone. I was just data now. I was the crash.
I closed my eyes—or what used to be eyes—and let the darkness take me.
ns216.73.216.10da2
and then Add to home screen.