Re Zero If Novels & Stories

If he wants to see the glitch in his perfect world, I will show him exactly how much it's going to cost him to fix it. Valerius raises the watch, and in the reflection of the glass, I see it—a countdown, glowing in red pixels that shouldn't exist in a stable system. Protocol Zero. He mouths a single word, silent beneath the hum of the dying machines. *Begin.*

"Are you ready Elliott?" "God yes," I translate with a smile as she signs with enthusiasm. I climb out of the bed and Carol turns off the ventilator, detaching the hose. We wait a minute to see if she can breathe on her own. After thirty seconds she starts wheezing and gasping for breath. Carol quickly reattaches the hose and turns the ventilator back on.

*2 minutes later* I've reached school, and headed straight to the library to study, for my upcoming exams. Am smiling to myself ear to ear, cause I know am going to pass with flying colors. {1 Bell Ring} I have first-period Math AP with Mr. Clay, he's strict but a great teacher. He once failed a student for cheating on a quiz he gave us two weeks ago. Anyway, we entered the classroom and taken our seats. *Bell ring* Make sure you do your homework from pages 134-167. It does next week Thursday, also make you study those pages cause you a test on plus it's a major grade. After his finished announcement, we went to our next class.

But before it could initialize it, the whole circuit crawled to a near halt from the onslaught of requests. Every process was rendered just barely mobile, and the world stood nearly still. Miko slid the last bit of updated code into place, then deactivated all of her subprocesses. All her Nulls and Mirrors vanished, which allowed the circuit to recapture itself. Everything sped back up to normal as its system resources leveled out.

--- --- Clearer. --- --- And finally— --- Free. --- ---

Rejected again. ***

Wipe the cache. That will cause chaos, Julian. Chaos is better than extinction. I looked at Zero. "Can you do it?" She nodded, her face pale. "I will have to... go dark. I will have to sleep." It’s the only way, I thought. Do it, Julian said. Zero closed her eyes. She began to chant. It was a sound that vibrated in the bones of the digital world. System Purge Initiated. Warning: Global Connectivity Loss Imminent.

"CATEGORY ZERO APPLIES ONLY TO THE FOUNDATIONAL SUBSTRATE." "I am the foundational silence. Without me, the choir is just noise." The Auditor paused. Its spectacles cycled through seventeen calculation modes. "CATEGORY ZERO-POINT-FIVE. DESIGNATION: FOUNDATIONAL INTERVAL. CLASSIFICATION: ESSENTIAL BUT EASILY OVERLOOKED." "Story of my life," the Hollowsmith murmured. The compass settled into true north with the absolute, final, complete warmth of a device that had found the last piece of a puzzle it had been solving since the moment of its creation.