My Charity System made me too OP

Renic was fast. Too fast for someone pretending to be a quiet archivist.

Aris ran just behind Leon, her baton gripped tight in one hand. Her ribs still ached from the fight with Eran, but there was no time to rest.

Kael led the way through the service tunnels, his hand held out toward the wall. He was tracing Renic's trail—tiny disruptions in the pulse current that most people couldn't feel.

"He's not just running," Kael said as they sprinted. "He's guiding us. Buying time."

Aris frowned. "For what?"

Leon answered without looking back. "To reach the null core. If he gets there before us, he can bury the whole floor in silence."

They reached a heavy security door. Kael scanned his hand. Nothing happened.

"Locked from the other side," he muttered.

Leon stepped forward, planted his hand against the metal, and forced power into the panel. The door hissed, sparks flew—and then it snapped open.

They charged through.

The corridor beyond was dim, lit only by emergency lights. The further they went, the worse the pulse field became. Aris could feel it—the beat in her chest getting weaker, like the Tower itself was struggling to hold rhythm.

Kael suddenly stopped and held up a hand.

Everyone froze.

He pointed to the floor.

A faint shimmer.

"Null trap," he said. "One step and we're blind for thirty seconds."

Aris knelt. "Let me disarm it."

Leon raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

She nodded. "This isn't just a fight anymore. It's personal."

With careful fingers, Aris opened her pulse reader, redirected its output, and used a focused beat from her baton to cancel the field's trigger glyph.

The shimmer disappeared.

Leon gave her a quick nod. "Nice work."

They moved on.

Meanwhile, deeper in the floor...

Renic moved through the locked memory wing, glancing briefly at each seal he passed. He wasn't in a rush anymore.

He knew they were close.

But he also knew they were too late.

He reached the final door—a sealed null chamber buried beneath the Harmonium lines.

He placed his Choir seal into the slot.

It hissed open.

Inside was the Collapse Core—a dull gray orb wrapped in glowing black threads. A heart of silence waiting to detonate.

He approached it slowly, calm.

"Just a little longer," he whispered. "Then this entire floor becomes a memory glitch."

Back in the corridors

The Sovereign team reached the final stairwell, breath tight, pace steady.

"We're thirty seconds behind him," Kael said. "He's reached the null core."

"No time to flank," Leon muttered. "We go direct."

They burst through the last corridor and down the steps.

The door ahead was already cracked open.

Inside, Renic stood before the Collapse Core.

He didn't turn when they entered.

"I expected more time," he said. "But I suppose you're all better than most."

Aris stepped forward, baton raised.

"This is over."

"No," Renic said calmly. "This is already done. You can't stop the core. Even if you kill me."

Leon raised his sidearm. "Then we'll try anyway."

Renic finally turned.

His disguise melted away.

His cloak shimmered, shifting into the smooth Choir weave. His eyes glowed faint red, and his skin pulsed with null markings.

He smiled.

"Let's end this."

Renic moved first.

One wave of his hand, and the room pulsed with distortion. The rhythm field around the Collapse Core flickered violently, making every pulse weapon flicker.

Aris's baton dimmed for a moment—but didn't die.

Leon fired. A clean shot aimed center mass.

Renic twisted mid-air, and the bullet passed clean through an afterimage. He hit the ground in a roll, then sent a shockwave of null energy through the floor, knocking Kael off his feet and forcing Leon to retreat behind a power pillar.

Aris didn't fall.

She charged.

Her baton came down in an arc aimed at his ribs.

Renic raised his forearm—and blocked it with a shimmer of dark pulse shield.

But this time, she pushed through the guard.

The baton sparked, lit with faint blue—her rhythm bleeding through his silence.

He hissed.

"You still have your rhythm?"

"I made my rhythm," she said, and hit him again.

Behind them, Kael stood back up and tossed a compact pulse bomb toward the Collapse Core. It stuck to the outer layer—but didn't explode.

Instead, it fizzled.

Renic laughed. "Nice try. The core only responds to Choir pulses now. Yours is just static to it."

Leon moved around the side, took two more shots—one hit, one grazed.

Renic staggered slightly. Not much. But enough.

Aris went in again—spinning low, baton flashing.

She hit his leg, forcing him to one knee.

Then she went for the head.

But he caught her wrist.

His grip tightened.

"Let's see how your rhythm handles nothing," he said.

He activated his pulse field at point-blank range.

A silence blast.

Instant.

Aris's baton died. Her knees buckled.

She couldn't hear her own breath.

Her heart seemed to stop.

But she held onto one thing—her will.

Her hand moved anyway.

Even if there was no beat.

Even if there was no sound.

She moved.

Her baton swung wide—no energy, no pulse—just force and memory.

It cracked across his jaw.

He staggered back.

She gasped and dropped to one knee.

Kael rushed forward and launched a coded tempo disc—designed to ping off enemy glyphs.

It struck Renic's back and embedded into the fabric of his cloak.

A flash.

Renic screamed.

His Choir field flickered.

And Aris's rhythm returned.

Not strong—but alive.

She looked up.

Leon nodded at her.

"You finish him," he said.

Aris stood slowly, battered and shaking.

Renic wiped blood from his lip and looked at her, half-amused, half-wild.

"You think one girl with a stick can stop the Collapse?"

"I don't think," she said. "I know."

She took a breath.

And moved.

Her rhythm kicked in. Fast. Sharp. Not graceful. Just real.

Baton jabs to his side.

Spin to dodge his counter.

Strike to the ribs—crack.

A backhanded sweep—his shield broke.

He raised a hand to silence her again.

She didn't let him.

Her baton smashed his palm away, then came down clean across his chest.

Renic gasped and stumbled.

She drove the baton into his center mass.

Right into the Choir sigil.

A burst of white-blue rhythm exploded.

Renic's body froze.

He looked down.

The sigil cracked.

Then shattered.