The 'Ghost-Wing' jet cut through the thin, freezing air of the High Atlas, its engines muffled by Zero-Day's new 'Silence Patch'. Below them, the golden dunes of Merzouga had been replaced by jagged, snow-capped peaks that looked like the teeth of a giant.
"Jin, do you read me?" Zero-Day's voice crackled through the neural link in Jin's ear. He was back in the Merzouga hideout, surrounded by stolen Association servers. "I'm seeing massive fluctuations in the local mana-grid. The Association has dropped a 'Gravity Anchor' near the summit of Toubkal. They're trying to pin down the Source before you get there."
Jin looked out the cockpit window. Beside him, Mi-na was shivering, not from the cold, but from the sheer volume of data she was sensing. "The mountain... it's not just rock anymore, Jin. It's being 'Overwritten'. Someone is forcing a new reality onto it."
"Zero-Day, can you give us a clear landing zone?" Jin asked, gripping his dual blades.
"Negative," Zero-Day replied, his typing speed audible through the link. "The first of the Four Architects is already there. Code-name: The Sculptor. He doesn't fight with swords; he rewrites the environment. Look out!"
Suddenly, the mountain itself seemed to move. Huge pillars of rock and ice rose from the slopes, twisting into the shape of giant, jagged hands that reached for the jet.
"Jump!" Jin shouted.
He grabbed Mi-na and Zero-Day's remote-controlled combat drone, and they leaped from the jet just as a stone hand crushed the wing. Jin activated Phase Shift, turning them into red pixels as they glided through the solid rock of the mountain slope, landing safely in a hidden ravine.
[Location: Mount Toubkal - Elevation: 4,000m][Warning: Environmental Code is Corrupted]
As they stood up, the snow around them didn't melt; it turned into sharp, crystalline needles that hovered in the air, pointing at them. A man in a pristine white lab coat over heavy armor stepped out from the blizzard. He held a digital stylus that drew glowing blue lines in the air.
"A Rank-F glitch and a corrupted girl," The Sculptor said, his voice as cold as the ice around them. "You've caused quite a mess in the system's logs. I'm here to 'Smooth' the edges."
"Zero-Day, I need a bypass!" Jin hissed.
"Working on it!" Zero-Day's voice echoed. "He's using a 'Local Reality Lock'. I'm sending a virus to his stylus to create a lag. When I say 'Now', use the Atlas Blade!"
Jin narrowed his eyes, the red and white light of his daggers reflecting off the snow. The fight for the brain of Africa had begun.