The crack spreading across the Core sounded like glass breaking underwater.
Slow.
Unnatural.
Terrifying.
Silver fractures crawled across the barrier surrounding the manifested Selina as the chamber lights flickered violently overhead.
And through those fractures—
her eyes never left Selina.
"You stole my future."
The words echoed through the archive like a curse.
Selina's chest tightened painfully.
Because somewhere deep inside herself—
she understood that hatred.
This version of her had suffered every abandoned timeline.
Every death.
Every moment Lucian failed to save her.
Every version of herself discarded so the "main" timeline could continue.
Lucian stepped slightly forward.
Protective instinct immediate.
The manifested Selina laughed softly.
The sound was hollow.
Broken.
"Still protecting her first."
Lucian's expression remained icy.
"You are not Selina."
The silver-eyed girl tilted her head slightly.
"Then what am I?"
Silence.
No one answered.
Because nobody truly knew.
The future Selina's holographic projection flickered harder now, struggling to stabilize.
"The Core is collapsing identity separation."
Adrian frowned sharply.
"You people really need to explain things in normal language."
Damian answered quietly this time.
"It means the timelines are merging psychologically."
The chamber went still.
Adrian looked toward the manifested Selina again.
"So she's becoming real."
The stranger—the man claiming to be Selina's father—closed his eyes briefly.
"Yes."
The manifested Selina smiled faintly at that.
"Finally."
The Core pulsed again.
And suddenly—
the silver barrier shattered.
The explosion of energy threw everyone backward violently.
Selina crashed against the stone floor hard enough to lose her breath.
Lucian immediately moved toward her again despite the chaos erupting around them.
The archive alarms screamed louder.
CORE BREACH DETECTED
RECURSION FAILURE IMMINENT
Silver light flooded the chamber.
And at the center of it—
the manifested Selina stepped out of the broken Core.
Barefoot.
Perfectly calm.
Perfectly identical.
The only difference—
her eyes.
Empty silver.
No warmth.
No humanity.
Only accumulated pain.
The Hollow Circle guards immediately raised their weapons.
One of them shouted—
"Don't move!"
The manifested Selina looked toward him slowly.
Almost curiously.
Then—
the guard suddenly collapsed.
No gunshot.
No physical contact.
He simply dropped lifelessly to the floor.
The entire chamber froze.
Adrian stepped backward immediately.
"What the hell was that?"
Lucian's expression darkened violently.
"She's affecting neural synchronization directly."
Nobody except the stranger seemed to fully understand what that meant.
But everyone understood one thing:
she was dangerous.
Very dangerous.
The manifested Selina looked down at her own hands slowly.
Almost fascinated.
Then her gaze lifted toward the real Selina again.
And suddenly—
memories exploded inside Selina's mind.
Not flashes.
Entire lives.
She saw herself screaming underground while the city burned above.
Saw Lucian dying beside her.
Saw Damian begging her to run.
Saw Adrian holding her dead body.
Saw timelines where she destroyed the Core herself.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
The pain became unbearable.
Selina cried out sharply, collapsing to her knees.
Lucian reached her instantly.
"Look at me."
His voice cut through the chaos sharply.
Selina struggled to breathe.
"She's showing me everything."
The manifested Selina watched calmly.
"Because you deserve to remember too."
Tears burned down Selina's face unexpectedly.
Not only from pain.
From grief.
Every timeline felt real.
Every death mattered.
The manifested Selina stepped closer slowly.
The air around her distorted faintly with silver static.
"Do you know what the worst part was?"
Her voice sounded softer now.
Sad.
"You kept hoping someone would choose you first."
The words pierced directly into Selina's chest.
Because they were true.
Painfully true.
The manifested Selina smiled faintly.
"But every timeline proved the same thing."
Her empty silver eyes shifted toward Lucian.
"He always chose the world eventually."
Lucian's expression cracked slightly.
The smallest amount.
But enough.
Selina noticed.
So did the manifested version.
"There."
She smiled wider.
"That guilt."
The chamber trembled harder.
The future projection above them destabilized further.
"She's feeding on recursive emotional resonance."
Adrian looked exhausted.
"I genuinely hate every sentence spoken in this room."
Nobody reacted.
Because the manifested Selina had reached the center of the chamber now.
And the Core behind her was still moving.
Still alive.
Still synchronizing.
The stranger looked toward her carefully.
"You were never meant to awaken fully."
The manifested Selina turned toward him slowly.
For the first time—
rage entered her face completely.
Pure rage.
"You created me."
The stranger fell silent.
Her silver eyes darkened.
"You trapped us inside endless deaths."
The archive lights exploded overhead.
Glass shattered across the floor.
The pressure inside the chamber became almost unbearable.
Several Hollow Circle members collapsed unconscious instantly.
Damian staggered backward.
Even Lucian's breathing became strained now.
The manifested Selina's voice echoed unnaturally through the archive.
"Do you know how many times I begged to live?"
Selina's chest tightened violently.
Because she felt it.
The despair.
The loneliness.
The endless repeated deaths.
The manifested Selina looked back toward the real Selina.
And quietly—
"You are not the original anymore."
Silence.
Then softly—
"You're only the version that survived longest."