Chapter 74: The Old Guard's Last Stand

Far from the vibrant digital pulse, in the arid, forgotten wastes of what was once the American Southwest, a desperate resistance clung to the past. Led by Elias Thorne, a former corporate security chief, this faction believed the human-digital symbiosis was an abomination, a betrayal of pure humanity. They were the "Purists," and they harbored a fanatic hatred for anything augmented, anything digital.

Thorne, a grizzled man with a face scarred by anti-tech riots, gathered his dwindling forces within the skeletal remains of an old data center, repurposed into a fortress. He spoke of purity, of reclaiming a world unsullied by code. Their network was rudimentary, their weapons scavenged, but their conviction burned fiercely. Thorne had discovered a hidden cache of pre-Architect "kill-switches" – potent digital viruses designed to cripple old-world networks. His plan was audacious: unleash these viruses, not just on the digital infrastructure, but on the neural implants of the "symbiotes," forcing a brutal, catastrophic disconnect. This wasn't about winning; it was about burning it all down to rebuild, in their image. It was their last stand, and they intended to make it count.