Mario did something unthinkable. He jumped between the XCI and NSZ halves, forcing Bowser’s body to split its logic. The left side demanded permanence; the right side demanded flexibility. For one frame, Bowser froze — and Mario plucked the seed.

“Different,” Mario said. The fruit hummed with two tones — a steady, complete hum (XCI) and a shimmering, space-saving echo (NSZ). “This one’s split .”

Then the NSZ Warrens. Here, the ground shifted every few seconds. Power-ups appeared, but using them made another power-up somewhere else vanish. Mario learned to move light, storing momentum like data. He earned the .