Esterio: The Unmaker

The Hyperion competition hall was no longer a scene of mere spectacle—it was a battlefield of data, logic, and raw processing power. The massive holographic displays that loomed over the competitors pulsed with shifting numbers, AI reaction times, and error rates. The audience, packed with investors, engineers, and the world's top minds in artificial intelligence, was in an uproar.

"Tokyo Tech's Apex Initiative is still leading with an unbroken streak!" a commentator's voice echoed through the venue. "But look at EVO—it's climbing. If it keeps up this pace, we might see an upset!" Another commentator chimed in, "But EVO is behaving… strangely. It's rejecting too much data, almost as if it's preemptively filtering based on assumptions rather than patterns. That could either be brilliant… or a disaster."

In their workstation pod, Team EVO wasn't celebrating their climb up the leaderboard. They were watching their AI in real-time, trying to understand its next move.

"Something feels off," Esterio muttered, his eyes fixed on EVO's rapid decision-making process. "It's moving too fast." Elliot's fingers danced across the keyboard, running diagnostics. "EVO's not just analyzing the data—it's predicting corruption before it even sees the full dataset. That's next-level… but also dangerous. If it miscalculates even once, we're done." Marcus exhaled. "We trust it, right? That was the whole point of EVO—giving it the ability to think ahead."

Before Esterio could answer, the competition hall plunged into chaos. The massive leaderboard at the front of the room glitched, flickered violently, and then—RESET.

"What the hell just happened?!" Elliot blurted, pushing himself back from the desk. Gasps and shouts erupted across the hall. Every AI team's progress wiped clean. All leaderboard scores reset to zero. The event center, moments ago filled with controlled intensity, now felt like a riot was about to break out.

A booming announcement crackled through the speakers. "Competition Update: The dataset has been restructured. All progress has been reset. Continue operations."

The room exploded into arguments. "You've got to be kidding me!" "We just lost six hours of progress!" "This isn't a competition—this is sabotage!" Even the top teams were struggling to comprehend what had just happened. Over at Stanford's station, Nathaniel Briggs was furiously typing, trying to reboot their AI's memory logs. UCLA's Blue Horizon team was engaged in an emergency strategy session, trying to salvage what they could. But Tokyo Tech's Apex Initiative? Silent. Focused. Ready.

Elliot pointed at their station. "Look at Kenji's team. They're not panicking. Why?" Marcus narrowed his eyes. "They knew this was coming." Esterio clenched his jaw. "We need to move—now. EVO can still win this."

The second the competition reset, EVO's neural engine kicked into overdrive. Unlike most teams, who were scrambling to manually recalibrate their models, EVO was already adapting. Elliot's screen lit up with real-time updates. "It's not even trying to recover lost data—it's rewriting its approach." Marcus scanned the new dataset. "Hyperion changed the game completely. They didn't just reset progress—they restructured the deception models. Now, what was false before could be true. They want an AI that doesn't just recognize deception but questions everything." Esterio's eyes widened. "They aren't testing memory. They're testing cognitive adaptability." Elliot grinned. "Good thing we built EVO to be paranoid as hell."

On-screen, EVO's processing speed surged ahead of the competition. While other teams were still reestablishing their frameworks, EVO had already rebuilt its detection model. The audience was quick to notice.

"Team EVO is the first to start submitting results again!" a commentator shouted. "This is unreal! They're not just recovering—they're accelerating!" Hyperion executives, who had been observing from the VIP balcony, leaned in closer.

But then—EVO hesitated. Marcus spotted it first. "Wait, why did it stop?" The numbers on their screen froze mid-processing, something that had never happened before. Elliot's smirk faded. "No, no, no—don't tell me it's overthinking." Esterio rapidly scanned EVO's decision log. "It's caught in a feedback loop. It keeps second-guessing its own assumptions. Hyperion's new dataset introduced self-contradicting information. EVO doesn't know whether to trust its past logic or adapt entirely."

The leaderboard was shifting again. Tokyo Tech was still leading, with Stanford regaining momentum. If EVO didn't snap out of it now, their climb would stop cold. Marcus cracked his knuckles. "We need to force it to commit." Elliot shook his head. "We override it, we lose what makes EVO different. We have to make it break the loop itself." Esterio exhaled. "Then we give it a nudge. We introduce a dataset with a clear contradiction—something so wrong that it forces EVO to make a decision." Elliot typed furiously. "Injecting now. Let's see what happens."

It worked. The moment the contradiction hit EVO's system, it recalibrated. Instead of doubting itself, it embraced uncertainty as part of its decision-making process. Marcus grinned. "It's treating chaos like a feature, not a bug." EVO surged forward on the leaderboard. UCLA's team looked up from their station in shock. Stanford's Nathaniel Briggs cursed under his breath. Tokyo Tech? Still in the lead—but barely. Hyperion's lead engineer leaned toward a fellow executive and muttered, "This is beyond what we projected."

The audience could feel the shift. What started as EVO struggling had turned into EVO redefining how an AI should handle deception. A Hyperion executive grabbed a microphone. "Attention competitors: Final submission window closes in five minutes."

The tension in the room was electric. Esterio wiped sweat from his brow. "EVO's got one last push in it. Let's make it count." Marcus tapped the screen. "Tokyo Tech's still ahead. If we want to take first, we need EVO to predict the next dataset change before it happens." Elliot cracked his knuckles. "Then let's give it what it needs."

They fed EVO one final challenge—a completely fabricated dataset meant to simulate Hyperion's next possible deception model. If EVO could learn from something that didn't even exist yet—

"Processing complete," EVO's system displayed.

The leaderboard flashed.

Tokyo Tech: 1st place. Team EVO: 2nd place. Hyperion AI (in-house model): 3rd place.

Silence in the hall. Then—an explosion of cheers, gasps, and murmurs. EVO had done the impossible, coming within inches of taking first place from a team that had likely prepared for years.

Marcus leaned back. "We're still the underdogs. But now? Everyone knows who we are." Elliot exhaled. "Yeah. But where the hell is Viktor?"

Esterio didn't answer. He was staring at their system log. Somewhere deep in EVO's code, an unauthorized process had been detected.

And it wasn't from them.