Rei gripped the blood-slick pipe like a lifeline.
The woman stepped closer, her coat fluttering unnaturally in the still air of the Echo Break. Her boots made no sound. Her steps didn’t echo like his had. Even the corrupted environment seemed to respect her presence, bending subtly around her as if she wasn’t entirely part of this plane.
Her eyes glowed with System code. Not the basic display interface everyone had, but deeper layers. Constant streams of unreadable glyphs scrolled across her irises like cascading waterfalls of information.
Rei didn’t need to scan her again.
Level 18.
Class Unknown.
That alone told him she wasn’t a casual explorer.
She was something else.
A fixer. A cleaner. A predator.
“What’s your name?” she asked, voice soft but firm.
Rei didn’t answer immediately.
Play it smart, Kuroda. This isn’t a rescue. She’s analyzing you, like prey she hasn’t decided whether to eat.
“Rei,” he said finally. “Rei Kuroda.”
The woman tilted her head. “Unregistered, unarmed, unsponsored, and unsanctioned. You're not a scavenger, not a freelancer. You're not even in the Ascenders Guild database.”
“That’s because I’m not in a guild.”
She smiled. “Obviously.”
[System Alert: High-Rank Entity Targeting You — Evade or Engage Recommended]
[Trait: Supernatural Willpower – Stress Response Stabilized]
He didn’t flinch.
Her eyes narrowed slightly in approval. “Most Level Ones would be pissing themselves by now. Even some higher-levels crack under pressure in Break Zones. But you...” she paused, taking a slow breath, “you don’t feel like a Level One. Not anymore.”
Rei stayed silent. He didn’t trust words. Not in here. Not with her.
She tapped the air and pulled up her own UI, different from his. Sleeker. Custom-coded. It looked like it belonged to a different system entirely.
She rotated the screen toward him.
[SUBJECT: REI KURODA]
Recent Combat Spike: +120 EXP
Adaptation Trait Activation: CONFIRMED
Evolution Potential: [AWAKENED]
Tag: PROTOCOL-CANDIDATE
“Candidate?”
The word hit him like a cold splash. It wasn’t just a label, it was a flag. A beacon.
And it confirmed something he had only suspected after surviving the fight:
I’m different.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Congratulations,” the woman said. “You just got noticed.”
Rei swallowed hard. “By who?”
Her eyes gleamed. “Everyone.”
On the 103rd floor of a skyscraper-turned-command center in Neo-Kyoto, a black obelisk buzzed silently in the heart of the Ascenders Guild.
Then, without warning, it lit up.
Dozens of analysts rushed to terminals. Alerts chimed across the network. AI subroutines screamed warnings in dozens of languages.
[CANDIDATE: PROTOCOL DETECTED]
Rei Kuroda – Tier 0 > Tier 1 Transition: VERIFIED
Traits: Accelerated Development / Reactive Evolution / Supernatural Willpower
MARKED FOR OBSERVATION
ACCESS TO BREAK LOOP CLASSIFIED
A man in a three-piece suit with a crimson scarf stepped into the chamber, eyes narrowing at the alert. He glanced at the name and smiled faintly.
“About time,” he said.
The woman, still nameless, lowered her interface.
“I’m not your enemy, Rei,” she said. “But I’m not your friend either. I’m just here to see what you become.”
“That’s… cryptic,” he muttered.
“Good. Cryptic keeps you alive.” She turned away and began walking deeper into the glitched corridor. “The Break is stabilizing again. You triggered a reset delay by killing the Echo Spawn. That shouldn’t be possible for a first-timer.”
She paused at the edge of a stairwell, peering down.
“I’m going to scout ahead. You have two choices. Stay here and risk the next Loop phase without knowing what it brings… or follow me.”
Rei hesitated. His instincts screamed trap. But so did standing still.
He tightened his grip on the pipe. “You’re a stranger with unknown motives and a custom System.”
She raised an eyebrow. “And you’re a glitch in the algorithm. We’re even.”
Rei followed.
The lower levels of the Break were worse.
Gravity flickered. Time loops created afterimages that moved out of sync with their owners. Rei caught glimpses of himself walking ahead, only to blink and find he hadn’t moved.
His head throbbed. His stomach twisted.
But he didn’t stop.
They passed collapsed statues of humanoid figures with shattered faces and long-forgotten names. Murals on the walls pulsed with living light. scenes of alien battles, floating cities, and towers that pierced the sky.
[System Message: Viewing Echo Archive...]
Memory Fragment: 1/7 Unlocked
The mural bled light. Rei staggered.
In a flash, he saw, no, remembered a battle. Ten beings wreathed in light facing down a monstrous entity made of glitch and shadow. The world screamed around them. Systems bled into the sky.
Then it was gone.
He gasped, knees buckling.
The woman caught him.
“Your mind’s syncing with the Echo. That means the System is testing you, fast.”
Rei pushed her off, breath ragged. “Why me?”
“Because you’re not supposed to exist,” she said calmly. “The System was never meant to create a Reactive Core this early.”
She looked at him, gaze now cold.
“You’re what we call a Protocol Anomaly.”
An older woman in a lab coat watched the same feed Rei had triggered. Her hands trembled.
“This shouldn’t be happening. No one should unlock that sequence under Level 30...”
Her assistant looked nervous. “Do we send in a team?”
She shook her head slowly.
“No. We watch. If he survives this, we don’t interfere. If he fails... we wipe the feed.”
Rei and the Analyst finally reached the Loop’s core, a massive, spherical chamber pulsing with red light.
In its center floated a massive creature. Vaguely humanoid, with too many arms, a mask of twisted stone, and a crown of flickering code.
[PHASE BOSS: LOOP GUARDIAN – LEVEL 12]
Warning: Combat Instinct Required. Group Engagement Recommended.
Rei took a step back.
“I can’t fight that.”
She nodded. “Correct. You can’t.”
“…But I have to, don’t I?”
“You don’t have to win. You just have to survive.”
Rei stared at the boss. His System flickered again.
[Trait: Accelerated Development – Pressure Milestone Detected]
Do you wish to engage under hostile learning conditions?
YES / NO
He hesitated.
Then, through the fear and pain, something else rose in his chest.
Not confidence. Not courage.
Resolve.
He hit YES.
The Loop Guardian turned its head toward him. It screamed, a sound made of broken language and data corruption.