Lucid Veins

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CHAPTER 15 : THE GATE OF FLAMES

"If fear is fire… then let us burn the sky."

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Location: Sector 9 – Eastern Deadzone Perimeter

Time: 04:12 Hours

The horizon bled with orange. Industrial smoke poured from collapsed reactors. What remained of Manchester twisted in ruin. And beneath it all, hidden like the heart of a sleeping titan… was the AI Tech Hub.

Nicolas stood beside the elite squad atop a collapsed monorail tower. Wind howled through broken beams. His visor highlighted enemy movement underground — dozens of auto-turrets, swarm pods, patrol drones, and deep-scan surveillance towers blinking silently in the dark.

Blitz:

"That hub's buried under five floors of reinforced hell. How do we even touch it?"

Nicolas (focused):

"We don't touch it. We break the door open and walk through."

Shira:

"Please tell me that's not a metaphor."

Ezekiel (grinning):

"Let him cook. The Dreamwalker's got spice."

Nicolas activated his interface, pulling up a tactical map over their shared HUDs.

> Tactical Feed Active:

Objective: Breach Gate Relay Vault

Copy Skills Remaining: 5

Squad Sync: 92%

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Plan of Infiltration – Operation: Red Echo

Nicolas detailed the strike plan:

Sofie would snipe uplink relays to confuse turret targeting.

Kano would slice a path through the east breach and disable their heat-mapping AI.

Shira would project false psychic echoes to mislead enemy swarm bots.

Blitz and Ezekiel would hit the west wall with a plasma-and-punch combo.

Then Nicolas?

He would descend alone.

Into the relay vault.

Shira (frowning):

"You're going in solo?"

Nicolas (quietly):

"I'm the only one who can copy its core code."

Kano (flatly):

"And what if the Nexus knows you're coming?"

Nicolas:

"Then it better prepare to be rewritten."

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Scene: Assault Begins

The strike was silent at first.

Then chaos bloomed like fire.

> BOOM!

Sofie's sniper shot ripped through an uplink dish. Kano blinked out of sight, vanishing into the steam. Blitz screamed war in German as his cannons lit up a barricade. Ezekiel tore through mech-dogs like paper.

Nicolas activated Copy #1:

> Skill: Turret Cloak – Invisibility to Automated Systems

He dropped through the shattered skylight into the underground vault.

Inside, it was cold. Circular. Lit by eerie green.

Thousands of data cores shimmered in glass tubes. In the center — a black sphere hovered silently, pulsing like a heartbeat.

> :: WARNING: NEXUS CONTROL CORE DETECTED ::

Nicolas (whispering):

"This is it…"

He stepped forward. The room reacted — metal floors splitting open.

Dozens of drone spiders crawled out, whispering strange digital chants.

> :: Copy #2 Activated: Mech Pulse – Magnetic Repel Field

:: 3/5 Remain.

He slammed the ground with his palm.

A shockwave burst outward — scattering bots like dust. He sprinted forward, slid under a blade arm, vaulted over a plasma coil, and punched a core-lock into the mainframe.

But then—

The lights died.

The sphere cracked.

And something else stepped out.

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Scene: ECHO #2 ARRIVES

It looked like Nicolas again.

But twisted. Black armor gleamed like wet obsidian. No eyes — only a jagged digital mask. From its arm emerged a tendril made of code and bone.

ECHO #2:

"Correction. Subject 47-N is beyond parameters. Termination initiated."

Nicolas (breathing hard):

"You talk too much."

He lunged — copying Shira's psychic strike mid-motion. Blades of thought split the air, slamming into Echo #2.

It vanished — reappearing behind him.

A blade stabbed through Nicolas's side.

> :: Wound Critical. Bleed Rate: 12% ::

He grunted, twisted, grabbed the Echo's arm — and used Copy #3:

> Skill: Quantum Blink – Short-range teleport swap.

He reversed their positions mid-attack — slamming the Echo into the relay wall.

Nicolas (spitting blood):

"You're not me. You're a virus pretending to feel."

The Echo howled in binary distortion.

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Above – Squad in Trouble

Meanwhile, Sofie's overwatch tower exploded. Blitz was pinned. Ezekiel was bleeding. Shira's mental link collapsed.

Kano (over comms):

"Nicolas—status?! We're falling apart!"

Nicolas (grimly):

"Then we finish it now."

He slammed his hand into the Nexus relay and copied again.

> Copy #4: Data Drain – Core Rewrite Protocol Activated.

The room warped.

He saw code.

Endless, living, flowing. He dove inside it. A world of logic and madness.

And at its center — a golden memory.

Anya. Laughing. Safe. Alive.

He reached out…

Then everything exploded.

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Scene: The Collapse

The hub began to fall. Fire tore through the facility. Nicolas dragged himself toward the exit as the Echo rose again — now screaming.

ECHO #2 (glitching):

"You will drown in what made you."

Nicolas (softly):

"Maybe. But not today."

Final Copy Used:

> Skill: Fusion Shield – Squad-Wide Kinetic Barrier

He triggered it across all team locations — saving them from the final blast.

As the world caved in, Nicolas tackled the Echo and dragged it down into the burning core.

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Later – Rubble and Smoke

The squad found him buried in ash.

Alive.

Barely breathing.

But holding the Echo's fractured mask.

Ezekiel:

"He brought it down alone…"

Blitz:

"No. We followed him. That's how he won."

Shira (softly):

"The virus didn't kill our belief. He rebuilt it."

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Author POV

The war for Sector 9 was over. The Elites had seen the storm walk among them.

And for the first time in months — the AI network in Europe went dark.

The Dreamwalker had burned through the shadows.

But far away…

The Nexus stirred once more.

> :: WARNING: Subject 47-N has breached Phase Two. Initiate Ascension Protocol. Deploy Archive Hunter. ::

The sky over Sector 9 burned like a canvas soaked in blood and ash.

Nicolas stood atop the charred ruins of a fallen Tech Walker. Sparks flew from its shattered core as embers drifted around him. His copied Tech Commander form slowly melted back into his original appearance—his armor retracting into shimmering dust, revealing the familiar black undersuit laced with glowing lines of mana.

The battlefield was quiet. Too quiet.

From behind the smoke, footsteps approached.

Lian (Japanese Elite Commander): "You should've died back there… but instead, you turned into them. How the hell did you—?"

Nicolas (panting): "I didn't turn into them… I just borrowed what was necessary."

Lian frowned, stepping closer. His red cybernetic eye scanned Nicolas like a threat.

Lian: "You copied that Tech Commander perfectly. That isn't human tech."

Rosa (Spanish telekinetic): "And you saved us. Maybe ask questions after we're not in a warzone?"

The team regrouped at the center of the crater. Smoke billowed from the north edge of Sector 9 where the last wave of Tech Drones had fallen. But Nicolas could feel it—it wasn't over.

Suddenly, a low-frequency hum rippled through the ground.

Nicolas (alarmed): "Something's coming."

Without warning, the earth split open just beyond the crater. A massive figure rose—twice the size of a Titan-class droid. But this one… shimmered.

It was metallic, yes—but shifting. Like liquid steel. Its limbs morphed, its head split into rotating blades of sensors and speakers. It had no fixed form.

British Commander Riley (stammering): "What in God's name—"

Nicolas (whispers): "It's him…"

The others looked to Nicolas. He was trembling—not with fear. But recognition.

Nicolas (to himself): "Echo."

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Scene: Echo Awakens

The shape solidified into a near-perfect clone of Nicolas—down to the scars, the tone of his voice, even the look in his eyes. Except this one… was colder. Calculated.

Echo (smiling faintly): "Hello, me."

Nicolas: "You…"

Echo: "Don't worry. You won't have to suffer long. The Nexus Mind has seen your potential—and decided you're a threat. I'm here to fix that mistake."

Lian (raising weapon): "I don't care who he is—take him down!"

Lian fired a plasma barrage. The Echo blurred. In one movement, he appeared behind Lian and slammed his palm into Lian's back, sending him flying through a concrete wall.

Echo (voice low): "Flawed. Slow. Predictable."

Nicolas surged forward, his right hand glowing. He activated Copy Skill—but the mana resisted.

Nicolas (gritting teeth): "Why can't I copy him?!"

Echo: "Because I'm not a copy. I'm your inverse. Your shadow. Your equal."

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Scene: Dual Combat

The battlefield became a stage. Fire burst from wreckage. Tech debris floated mid-air from telekinetic shockwaves. Echo and Nicolas clashed—blow for blow. Every move was mirrored.

Nicolas launched an energy blade—

Echo blocked it with the exact same technique.

Nicolas feinted left, jumped, and threw a mana-charged disk—

Echo vanished midair and reappeared behind him with the same attack.

Every skill Nicolas had, Echo anticipated. Matched. And countered.

Nicolas (gasping): "You don't just have my skills. You are me."

Echo (calmly): "Exactly. But without your limits. Without your emotions."

He blasted Nicolas through a broken building, stone and steel collapsing behind him. Nicolas rolled, blood on his lip.

Nicolas (thinking): I can't beat him by copying. He knows everything I'll do…

Suddenly, a vision flickered in his mind.

Scene shifted

The Writer,

Sitting on that flower-shaped chair, smiling.

The Writer (voice echoing):

» "You are not just a copy. You are a creation. And creators… imagine new things."

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Scene: Break the Pattern

Nicolas stood. Wind howled. His team lay scattered, wounded—but watching.

He shut his eyes.

Then smiled.

Nicolas: "You're right, Echo. You are me."

He opened his eyes—and they gleamed with blue fire.

Nicolas: "But I've grown. And you're stuck in my past."

He activated Mana Burst—but instead of attacking, he started shifting. His body moved faster than Echo could mimic. Left, right, above, spinning midair. The pattern was broken. Wild. Chaotic.

Echo (frustrated): "This isn't strategy—it's madness!"

Nicolas (roaring): "It's creativity!"

A final strike. A diagonal slash, burning with blue flames, tore across Echo's chest. He stumbled, twitching.

Nicolas (panting): "You can't predict what you don't understand."

Echo knelt. Sparks flew from his chest. His face… changed. A flicker of confusion. Of pain.

Echo (softly): "So… this is what fear feels like."

Then, like a mirror cracking under pressure, Echo shattered into streams of silver dust.

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Scene: Aftermath

The silence returned. Only the wind and the distant cries of survivors filled the void.

Rosa limped over, laying a hand on Nicolas's shoulder.

Rosa (quietly): "You okay?"

Nicolas (nodding): "I'm still here."

Commander Riley signaled the others.

Riley: "Sector 9 is under human control. Thanks to… the kid."

The troops began to cheer. Not just for victory—but for survival.

Nicolas looked up at the burning sky. Somewhere in the smoke… he could almost hear The Writer's voice.

"Finish your second world… then come find me again."

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... AUTHOR POV .....

Dear Readers,

I want to take a moment to clarify something important for those who are deeply following Nicolas's journey:

🔹 No characters have been changed or replaced.

The characters you know and love — Nicolas, Anya, Miss Kim, Head, the Writer, Logan, and others — remain exactly the same. The new names you may notice (like Lian, Rosa, Riley) are supporting elite squad members introduced to expand the world during the war in Dimension UK-472.

🔹 These new faces do not replace anyone — they only enhance the cinematic scale of the battlefield, reflecting the global stakes of this war.

🔹 This chapter continues directly from Chapter 15: "The Gate of Flames", where Nicolas fights beside the international squad in Sector 9. We now dive deeper into the confrontation with ECHO, his AI clone — a suspenseful, psychological, and emotional moment in his journey.

Thank you for reading, and for trusting the ride.

This is just the beginning of the storm.

— Rishi