The Gauntlet -v0.6- -himecut- Guide

The Admin froze. The connection severed. Her form glitched, then dissolved into a shower of harmless sparks. She had been a guardian program all along. The final test.

"No," she said.

She closed her eyes and ran. The snip-snip of her scissors cut through the mirrors, severing the memories before they could solidify. Blood—no, code—dripped from her fingers. She emerged on the other side, breathless, a long scratch down her cheek where a shard of regret had nearly taken her eye. The Gauntlet -v0.6- -HimeCut-

"One cut," Kiko whispered. "For a new life."

Mannequins wearing the faces of everyone she'd ever disappointed. Her father. Her producer. An. They reached for her with porcelain fingers. She didn't cut them. She cut the strings above their heads, and they collapsed into heaps of compassion. A strange choice. The Gauntlet rewarded her with a key. The Admin froze

Kiko hung her scissors on the wall. They were still chipped. Still dull. She wouldn't sharpen them.

"System notification: Version 0.6 pending," a placid female voice announced from the sky. "Commencing asset pruning. Designate 'Sakura, An' flagged for deletion." She had been a guardian program all along

The Archivist pointed to the frozen sunset. A sliver of it had begun to move. A crack. "Three hours until the patch deploys. The Gauntlet will warp time. For you, it will feel like three days. For her…" He gestured to the fracturing face on the screen. "She has ninety minutes before she becomes un-recoverable."