My Charity System made me too OP

The descent was quiet.

No more floating platforms. No more pulse shifts. Just a sealed lift that carried Aris down through the spiral base of the scaffold. Her limbs ached, every breath stiff from the exertion—but her grip on the baton never loosened.

When the lift doors opened at ground level, Leon was waiting.

He didn't speak.

He just handed her a bottle of water and clapped her on the shoulder.

Kael and Roselia were just behind, kneeling over a dismantled Choir console.

"You handled it?" Kael asked without looking up.

Aris nodded. "Lira's gone. Fourth Voice. She wasn't subtle."

"She wasn't meant to be," Roselia said, standing and tossing a burnt pulse thread aside. "She was a distraction."

Aris frowned. "Explain."

Kael stepped back from the console and activated a projection.

It showed a floor map—Floor 334—but deep beneath the surface.

"There's a second structure," he said. "Buried below the scaffold. It was shielded until five minutes ago—right after you struck the final blow."

Leon folded his arms. "The Choir wanted us focused up there while they powered something down here."

Aris moved closer to the projection.

"What is it?"

Kael tapped the map.

"We're not sure. But it's built like a resonance battery—meant to store rhythm, not use it."

"Why would they want that?" Roselia asked.

Kael answered quietly. "Because they've never tried to break rhythm before. This time, they're trying to steal it."

Ten Minutes Later – Access Shaft

The team dropped through an emergency access tube beneath the scaffold base. Dust and loose wiring clung to the walls. It hadn't been opened in decades.

As they descended, Aris glanced at Leon.

"Do you think the Choir's changing tactics because of what happened on 307?"

Leon nodded. "You embarrassed them. Renic's failure sent a message. Now they're trying to control the story."

"And what happens," she asked, "when we keep winning?"

Leon smiled faintly.

"They'll stop trying to break us from the outside. And start sending something worse from within."

Substructure – Central Chamber

The door was massive.

Cold iron laced with Choir glyphs.

Kael ran a scan.

"The core is behind this. Fully active. Drawing in ambient rhythm from the entire floor."

Aris touched the surface.

It throbbed faintly beneath her fingers—like something alive.

Suddenly, a distorted voice played from the wall.

Not Lira's.

A deeper one.

Slow.

Measured.

"You survived the first silence.

Now face the second."

"The Refrain is coming."

The team looked at each other.

Leon stepped back and drew his weapon.

Aris lowered her hand.

"Then we open the door."

The iron door hissed.

It didn't swing open—it split down the middle, unfolding in layers like a blooming machine flower. Cold mist spilled out, swirling at their feet. The rhythm here wasn't absent.

It was wrong.

It beat in slow, echoing pulses.

Aris felt it deep in her chest—like her own rhythm was being pulled forward, dragged into the chamber ahead.

Leon raised his weapon.

Kael whispered, "Keep your tempo guarded. Don't hum. Don't tap. Don't give it anything to trace."

They stepped inside.

The room was circular and massive, lit by pale red lights embedded in the walls. At the center, surrounded by floating glyph rings, was a crystal sphere, pulsing faintly.

Inside it—barely visible—was something alive.

A figure.

Tall.

Still.

But not silent.

Its body was formed of fractured rhythm strands, like stolen pieces of different people's tempo signatures. One shoulder pulsed like a slow march beat. Its spine flickered with broken lullaby chords. One arm moved in a stuttering war rhythm.

Aris took a slow step forward.

"It's stitched together," she whispered. "With rhythm that isn't its own."

Kael's face was pale. "It's not a soldier. It's a mirror."

Roselia asked, "A mirror of what?"

Kael swallowed. "Of every Ascender they've studied. It's made from us."

The figure opened its eyes.

Red and gold, swirling.

Then its mouth moved—and a distorted version of Aris's voice echoed out.

"You shouldn't have come."

Aris froze.

"That's—"

Leon stepped between her and the figure. "Not you. A copy."

The chamber trembled.

The crystal shattered.

The creature dropped to the ground in a crouch, arms twitching in jerks and jolts. Each movement sent a wave of dissonance across the room—forcing the team to step back.

Roselia tried to sync with the floor's pulse to cast a suppression wave—but her magic shattered on contact.

Kael shouted, "It's built to reject standard tempo combat! You can't match it—you have to override it!"

Aris tightened her grip on her baton.

"I'll do it."

She stepped forward, alone, letting her own rhythm begin—slow, sharp, precise.

The creature cocked its head.

Then copied it.

Beat for beat.

Move for move.

Until they were locked in a perfect mirror.

A duel of echoes.

Aris shifted tempo. Spun, feinted, struck low.

The creature matched her exactly.

Strike for strike.

Parry for parry.

Every move she made, it copied—down to the timing.

Kael's voice rang out. "It's not thinking. It's mirroring. You have to break pattern!"

Aris exhaled.

Then she did something insane.

She stopped.

No movement. No beat.

Nothing.

The creature paused too, waiting.

Then she twitched her wrist—off-beat.

It hesitated.

She struck.

Her baton cracked into its ribs.

Another off-beat movement.

It lagged again.

She hit it in the shoulder.

Again.

Again.

Now it was stuttering, trying to catch up.

Aris spun full-speed and slammed her baton into its core—right where the rhythms overlapped.

There was no explosion.

Just silence.

And then… collapse.

The creature fell apart—its stolen rhythms breaking into fading strands of light.

Gone.

Behind them, the glyph rings shut down.

The chamber lights dimmed.

Kael let out a slow breath. "They were testing us again."

Roselia added, "No. They were feeding off us. That thing had parts of hundreds of rhythm patterns. The Choir is collecting data. Turning our strengths into their weapons."

Leon looked at Aris.

"What now?"

She stared at where the creature had fallen.

Then turned to the others.

"We find out what the Refrain is. Before they play it."