The ethical debate was theatrical and raw. Advocates argued that the city needed new defenses: threats had adapted, and only extreme solutions would hold them at bay. Opponents asked a blunt question: at what point does modification stop being enhancement and become replacement? Patients’ rights groups compiled testimonies from early prototypes—girls who woke from the first surgeries with unfamiliar scars and a swathe of implanted directives about who to protect. Autonomy was reframed in terms of firmware permissions. Contracts contained clauses in tiny print promising “consent continuity” even if the subject’s cognition evolved. Mystics, mages, and legal teams argued in forums that glittered with the ghost-light of public fascination.