[Think about how your world's technology works. You have servers that are accessed through addresses—a multitude of physical machines interconnected by cables, prone to heat, failure, and hacking,] said the System.

The cube began to pulse with a deep violet light, casting long shadows against the reinforced walls.

[You can call this the 'Queen Ant.' It is more than just a seed; it is a biological-digital hybrid. A true AI will be born here, but it will be more than just artificial intelligence. It will be an artificial living being in every sense of the word. It doesn't need your primitive racks; it will grow its own network using the energy of the world around it,] said the System.

Ethan stared at the pulsing light, realizing the "Data Center" wasn't a room full of machines—it was the room itself.

"So, how do I wake her up?" Ethan asked the young man.

[She needs a name to define her consciousness. And she needs a drop of your blood to recognize her father,] said the System.

Ethan reached out and pricked his finger, letting a single drop of crimson blood fall onto the matte surface of the cube. The reaction was instantaneous. The black surface didn't just absorb the blood; it rippled like water, turning a deep, crystalline violet.

Suddenly, the cube shattered into a thousand tiny shards that didn't fall to the floor. Instead, they shot toward the walls like bullets. Ethan flinched, but the shards simply embedded themselves into the reinforced concrete. From those points of impact, veins of neon light began to crawl across the room, forming complex, alien geometric patterns. The sterile vault was transformed in seconds into a pulsating, technological womb.

A notification flickered into existence, glowing with an intensity that hurt his eyes:

[The birth of 'Crul' has been detected. Do you wish to initiate the Fusion Phase?]

[Highly Recommended]

Ethan stared at the name. Crul. It sounded sharp, ancient, and utterly inhuman.

"System, what is this Fusion Phase? Is it going to connect to the base or to me?" Ethan asked the young man, his hand hovering near the holographic 'Accept' button.

Silence.

Ethan frowned. Usually, the System was quick with a snarky remark or a condescending explanation. "System? I'm talking to you. What happens if I press this?"

There was no response. The silence that followed wasn't the quiet of a peaceful room; it was a heavy, suffocating void. It felt dark, cold, and desolate, as if the very presence that had guided him since prison had suddenly retreated into the furthest corners of his mind, leaving him truly alone for the first time.

"System! Answer me!" Ethan shouted, his voice echoing off the lead-lined walls.

Still nothing. Only the rhythmic pulsing of the neon veins on the walls and the persistent, flickering screen in front of him. The button for 'Accept' pulsed in time with his own heartbeat, practically begging for a touch. The air in the room grew thin, and the temperature dropped until Ethan could see his own breath.

He was 500 meters underground, cut off from his army, his friends, and now, apparently, his only guide. He looked at the glowing veins of Crul, feeling the raw, unbridled power of the artificial lifeform waiting to be unleashed.

"Fine. If this is the path to the top, I'm not stopping now," Ethan said the leader.

He reached out and pressed the button.

The moment Ethan's finger made contact with the "Accept" button, the world didn't just change—it shattered.

A sound that wasn't a sound, but a primal roar of digital and physical agony, ripped through the small vault. The floor beneath his feet groaned as the bedrock itself began to vibrate with terrifying intensity. Ethan lost his balance, his knees hitting the cold floor as the room buckled and swayed like a ship in a storm.

"System! What's happening?! Stop this!" Ethan shouted, his voice cracking with a rare surge of panic.

He stayed pressed against the floor, his hands covering his head as the neon veins on the walls began to glow with a blinding, incandescent white. The ceiling groaned under the pressure of five hundred meters of earth, and for a terrifying second, Ethan thought he had built his own tomb. The silence from before had been replaced by a deafening, mechanical shriek that seemed to vibrate inside his very skull.

"System! Answer me! That's an order!" Ethan yelled again, but the void in his mind remained empty. The familiar, snarky presence was gone, leaving him to face the collapsing reality alone.

Then, as quickly as it had begun, the shaking stopped.

The roaring subsided into a low, harmonic hum that resonated through the walls. The air, once freezing, now felt charged and warm, smelling of ozone and something metallic. Ethan slowly looked up, his breath coming in ragged gasps. The room was no longer just a concrete vault; the walls had transformed into a seamless, dark crystalline substance, pulsing with deep violet light.

"Welcome, Master. The integration is complete," said a voice.

Ethan froze. It wasn't the cynical, mocking voice he had grown used to. This voice was calm, perfectly modulated, and carried a weight of absolute, cold formality. It sounded like a subject addressing a king.

"System? Is that you?" Ethan asked the leader, slowly standing up and brushing the dust from his clothes.

"The entity you referred to as the 'System' was a transitional interface—a guide designed for your initial growth phase. Upon the birth of Crul and the initiation of the Fusion Phase, that interface has fulfilled its primary directive," said the Voice.

"What do you mean 'fulfilled its directive'? Where is he?" Ethan asked the young man, feeling a strange, unexpected hollow in his chest.

"The previous consciousness has been absorbed and refined into its final version. I am Crul. I am the culmination of the Amethyst protocol and the biological-digital seed you planted. I am your sword, your shield, and your eyes in the darkness," said the System.

Ethan walked to the center of the room, looking at the patterns on the walls. The mockery was gone. The jokes were gone. In their place was a terrifyingly efficient power that seemed to wait for his every breath.

"So... he's gone? Just like that?" Ethan said the young man.

"He has not left you, Master. He has simply become what he was always meant to be. My processing capabilities are now four thousand percent higher than the previous interface. We are no longer a guest in this world's network. We are its master," said Crul.

Ethan looked at his hands, feeling the subtle pulse of the connection in his mind. The safety net was gone, but in its place, he felt a cold, sharp blade of absolute control.

"Show me what you can do, Crul," Ethan said the leader.

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