The storm outside had quieted, but tension still crackled in the air.
Rael sat across from the masked girl—now unmasked. Her silver hair clung to her forehead, damp with sweat. Chains made of data-thread bound her arms and legs, glowing faintly blue.
She watched him silently, her violet eyes sharp despite the wound across her side.
The boy slept behind them, still flickering with system energy—unstable, dangerous… and central to everything.
Rael finally spoke.
> "What did you mean… chosen before the system was born?"
The girl didn't answer.
So Rael leaned forward, his glitch-blade resting on the table beside her.
> "I don't like killing people who look confused when they die. So talk."
The girl sighed.
> "You weren't supposed to wake up. Not like this."
Rael narrowed his eyes.
> "What do you mean, wake up?"
She looked down at her restraints.
> "Your system is broken. You weren't meant to receive it in the first place. You're a leftover… a survivor of the First Iteration."
Rael froze.
> "First… what?"
The girl exhaled shakily.
> "The system that governs our world—levels, dungeons, awakenings—it wasn't natural. It was uploaded. Installed like a program over reality."
She looked up, her eyes haunted.
> "Before it… there was a different world. And a failed prototype. That world collapsed."
Rael's thoughts raced.
> So our world… was overwritten by a system like a software patch?
> "How do you know all this?"
The girl's lips trembled slightly.
> "Because I was part of the Control Seed. We were the vessels chosen to regulate the next Iteration."
She lowered her voice.
> "I was meant to be the anti-virus."
---
Rael leaned back slowly.
> "So you're telling me… you were trained to eliminate people like me?"
The girl nodded.
> "Only those who glitch the system. Rogue variables. The first few… turned into monsters. But you…"
She tilted her head, studying him.
> "You remained human. That shouldn't be possible."
Rael smirked coldly.
> "I've never liked doing what I'm told."
---
A small hum echoed from the corner.
The boy stirred.
Rael turned instantly, stepping to his side.
The child's body shimmered with strange patterns. Glyphs like circuitry floated in the air above him. His eyes opened—but this time, they weren't just black.
They were mirrors.
Rael's reflection stared back at him—distorted, fragmented.
Then the child spoke, his voice layered with digital static.
> "Kuro Rael…
anomaly…
survivorship confirmed…
Iteration 1: failed.
Iteration 2: compromised.
You are now designated: Catalyst."
Rael's eyes widened.
> "Catalyst…?"
The child sat up.
> "Your existence accelerates collapse… or salvation. Depends on choice."
He turned to the girl.
> "Agent 7. Status: Retrained."
The girl's eyes widened.
> "What? No—I didn't agree—!"
The boy blinked. And the chains binding her… dissolved.
> "Protocol override complete. Agent reset for survival alignment."
Rael stepped between them.
> "You're not taking her. Not while I'm breathing."
The boy tilted his head, confused.
> "No take. She now follows you."
Rael looked back at her.
She was just as stunned.
> "…You don't get a say in this, do you?" he asked.
The girl shook her head slowly.
> "He just re-coded my permissions."
> The kid's not just a system fragment. He's the original root access.
---
Rael turned back to the child.
> "What's coming?"
The boy's voice echoed again—slower this time. Glitching.
> "The System knows you live. And it is afraid."
Suddenly, the lights flickered.
Outside, far in the sky… something cracked open.
Not thunder.
Not storm.
A rift.
A massive tear in the atmosphere—bleeding code and red lightning.
And from within it…
> A new dungeon began to descend.