Chapter 10 Override First Attempt

Six hunters coming for one Null. I did the math fast. Lyra had one good arm. Seran had Rank A power but using it directly would bring him big trouble. I had a chipped knife and one skill I could not use yet.

"If you use your rank to block them, what does that cost you?" I asked Seran straight.

Seran did not hesitate. "A formal query from my commander. Questions about why Rank A was deep in the Ashfields and why he obstructed a sanctioned purge."

He paused and rested his hand on his sword. "Questions I do not want to answer yet."

"So you will not stop them," I said. I crossed my arms tight.

"Not directly," Seran replied. He looked out the window again.

I nodded. "Fine. What can you do indirectly then?"

Seran almost smiled. "I can create administrative confusion. I can flag this location as an active Registry investigation site. It will not stop them but it will slow them down. Force them to verify before entering."

"Do it now," I said. "We need every second we can get."

Seran worked on his panel. His fingers moved fast. Lyra watched him with tight eyes. She held her bad arm close to her body. Pain showed every time she shifted.

While he worked I turned to Lyra. "Can you walk?"

"Obviously," she answered. She stood taller but her face stayed pale.

"Can you fight if we run into something on the way out?" I asked. I looked straight at her arm.

She glanced down at it. "I will manage. Do not slow down for me."

I looked at my own System windows. I had been avoiding them. But the Override ability sat at the edge. I felt it before. I asked both of them, "Can the System flag me as a different class if I force it?"

Both Lyra and Seran stared at me hard. Seran narrowed his eyes. "That is not possible."

"I know," I said. "How impossible exactly?"

Seran rubbed his chin. "Completely. Class assignment happens once at sixteen. It is locked. The System does not allow changes."

Lyra stepped closer and grabbed my sleeve with her good hand. "Kane, what are you thinking? Your face looks like you are about to try something stupid."

"I am thinking about Override," I explained. "I have seen it at the edges of my System access. Like an undocumented function in old code. Every person has a class-assignment slot. Mine is errored. But an errored slot is still a slot."

Seran listened with the look of someone whose whole world was being shaken. "If you could force a false class flag onto yourself, just for detection purposes, the hound would read you as registered. The purge squad’s target would disappear."

"Yes," I said.

"It would be the most significant System violation since the Founding," Seran said. His voice stayed low.

"I have committed worse in beta testing," I replied. A tired smile pulled at my mouth.

Lyra held my sleeve tighter. "Kane, this could break you. Your head already hurts from smaller things. Think about it."

"I know," I said. "But we have no better choice. Six hunters are coming. We run or we die. I have to try."

Seran nodded once. "Try it. But be ready for pain."

I focused hard. I reached for that errored slot. I pushed. A sharp headache hit me like a needle behind my left eye. I winced and pressed my hand to my head. "It hurts. Like fire in my skull."

A violent error message flashed red. I suppressed it manually. My hands shook. "Forty seconds of nothing. I do not know if it is working."

Then the notification came.

"System process override detected," I read out loud. "Class slot force-written. Temporary flag Common Fighter. Rank E. Duration unstable. Estimate two to three hours. System integrity warning."

"Rank E," Lyra said. She breathed out hard. "The lowest. But it is something. You are visible now."

"I am registered," I said. Relief mixed with the pounding in my head. "The hound should read me as a basic fighter. Not a Null. How does it feel on your end?"

Seran checked his own panel. "It is holding. Barely. The flag looks real from outside. We move now. They are almost at the front."

We slipped out the back of the watchtower. The night air felt cold. We moved north fast. Lyra kept pace despite her arm. She gritted her teeth with every step. "It hurts but I can run."

Seran moved smoothly and efficiently. "Stay close. The administrative flag should buy us three minutes."

Two kilometers passed. My head still throbbed. Then I felt the Override start to fray. The false flag flickered.

"Thirty minutes," I said. "Maybe less. It is destabilizing fast."

Seran glanced back. "The gate is forty minutes north."

"Then we run," I said. My legs burned but I pushed harder. "No choice now."

Lyra ran beside me. Sweat ran down her face. "I can keep up. Do not slow for me. How is your head?"

"Feels like it will split," I answered. "But the flag is still there. Barely."

We ran. The ground felt uneven. Behind us the purge squad cleared Seran’s administrative hold. The System hound pinged loud.

I caught the edge of the notification. "Target detected. Rank E Common Fighter."

The squad leader’s voice carried on the wind. "The Rank E has no record. No name. No origin. No assignment date. That is not a common fighter. That is our Null using something that does not exist."

He broke into a full sprint. "Kill all three. No mercy."

Seran drew his sword. "They are coming faster now. We need to push."

Lyra gripped her weapon with her good hand. Pain twisted her face. "Kane, your Override is the only thing keeping us alive right now. Hold it as long as you can."

"I am trying," I said. My head felt like it would split. Frustration boiled hot inside me. "One new trick and the System already fights back this hard."

The horns blew louder. Six hunters closing the gap. Seran ran at the front. "Stay together. If the flag drops we fight."

Lyra breathed hard beside me. "My arm is numb now. I can still swing but not for long. What happens if the Override fails completely?"

"We become targets again," I said. "Full Null. They will focus everything on me."

Seran looked back. "Then we make them earn every step. Kane, how much time is left on the flag?"

"Twenty minutes now," I answered. "It is cracking faster than I thought."

The hound pinged again. Red warnings flashed across my vision. The Override started to crack more. The squad leader shouted orders. Their footsteps grew louder.

Lyra looked at me. Her eyes showed exhaustion and fire. "Whatever you do next, Kane, make it count. I cannot fight like this for long."

I felt the full weight. My chipped knife. Lyra’s ruined arm. Seran’s risky help. Six killers behind us who now knew exactly what I was.

The false flag flickered one more time. The System hound screamed a new alert.

Seran gripped his sword tighter. "They are too close. Get ready. The gate is still far. This run is about to turn into a fight."

The night felt heavier. Everything was about to explode. Six hunters. One fading Override. Lyra pushing through pain. Seran is ready to draw blood.

We ran harder. The end of the Override was coming. And the hunters were gaining fast.