The sky turned a deep shade of violet.
They left the ruins behind, following a cracked road swallowed by a forest of twisted steel and concrete. The Tower's echo still lingered in the air—like a string pulled too tight.
He gripped his frost-spear tightly.Neither of them spoke, but both could feel it:
Something had changed.
[Warning: Signal Interference Detected][System Coverage: 72% — Scanning Incomplete]
"This is weird," No. 43 muttered. "My system keeps flickering."
"Mine too," he replied.
As the words left his mouth, a shrill hiss pierced the silence.
From between rusted pillars, a creature emerged.Tall. Thin. Broken-human shaped. Four limbs bent the wrong way, hunched spine, melted head. A monster—but its eyes… were aware.
[UNKNOWN ENTITY DETECTED][Class ??? – Adaptive Hostile Lifeform]
"Back away," he warned.
Too late.
It lunged—fast as wind—screeching in a shattered human voice:"Three… seconds… Not… enough…"
He activated Time Freeze.
Three seconds.
He struck—clean, sharp—at its throat.The blade barely pierced. Its flesh was cold steel. Worse—
Its eyes tracked him.Inside frozen time.
One second left.
It wasn't resisting the freeze.It was… remembering it.
Time resumed.
The creature twisted mid-air. Slashed.Claws tore into No. 43's shoulder.
She dropped. Blood spilled.He roared, thrusting the frost-spear through its eye. Only then did it die.
[EXP Gained: 320][Note: Enemy resisted partial time-freeze. Analysis pending.]
Later, carrying her on his back, he found a narrow crevice beneath a tilted building.
Near the entrance, drawn in blood:
"88 – Still Alive."
"What the hell…?" No. 43 whispered.
A voice answered from the shadows:
"You've finally arrived."
A man. Gray cloak.Face hidden behind a porcelain mask. No system tags. No alerts. No signal.
"No way," he whispered. "You're not a Candidate."
"I'm not," the masked man said with a chuckle."I'm a glitch in the system. And if you want to survive—You need to know the truth."