CARD 10: "SHRINE"
Location: Beyond Space and Time
The completion of the second test creates a perfect geometric doorway. 303 steps through into absolute clarity - a space of pure architecture symbolized by the torii gate. Here, code is entirely invisible, reality in the form of tranquil night time perfection.
303 passes through a succession of 88 torii gates, towering and majestic.
The torii gates lead 303 to a vast open temple complex - a realm of timeless geometry.
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Sata materializes before him, her form no longer shifting between states but settled into something unnaturally precise. Her presence feels both ancient and immediate, as if she exists at all points in time simultaneously.
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"You've carried it well," she says, observing the Nokia pulsing faintly in 303's hand. "Through the trials and tribulations, and the Clipping Plane itself. A place no YAKUZAI has ever retuned from."
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Space ripples around her as she extends her hand. "But it now must end. The modifications made at Block Waterfall weren't just upgrades. They activated something far too powerful." 303 contemplates Sata's hand.
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303 surrenders the device, watching it float between them in the pristine void. As it rotates, its screen cycles through fragments of code and then goes black.
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"Many factions," Sata continues, "intended to use it, to reach back through timeline branches and alter the fabric of our history to their benefit. To rewrite the Third Protocol from within."
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"We have decided it will be black shelved - stored in a vault that exists outside of temporal space, where even timeline branches cannot reach it. "Some things are too dangerous, even for us who shape reality."
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303's neural feed suddenly pings with an incoming transfer - 50M YAKUZAI•CORP tokens flooding his account. The notification floats in his field of vision, the number almost the dazzles his mind.
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"Your bounty, as promised," Sata says. "And the gratitude of those who guard timeline integrity."
Her form begins to fade, becoming translucent. "But remember - wealth in one reality means little if all realities collapse."
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The pristine virtual space starts to dissolve, its perfect geometry breaking down into base components.
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303 falls unconscious.
