Wind howled through the hollow skeletons of shattered towers.
Rust-covered cars sat frozen in intersections like petrified beasts. Lamp posts leaned drunkenly. Cracked asphalt veins split the streets, and tangled ivy spilled down walls like nature trying to reclaim its seat. This was Zone-12, formerly East Osaka. Now, it was just another Dead Zone. A Break scarred the center like an infected wound, unstable and pulsing.
And standing at its edge was a boy with a tattered hoodie and a glint of something dangerous in his eyes.
Rei Kuroda exhaled, watching his breath fog in the unnaturally cold air. His System interface hovered faintly in front of him, translucent blue and minimal.
[LEVEL: 1]
Strength: 4
Durability: 3
Agility: 5
Speed: 6
Intelligence: 9
Willpower: 12
Credits: 0
[STATUS: MALNOURISHED / UNSYNCHRONIZED]
[NO WEAPON DETECTED]
[NO ARMOR EQUIPPED]
[NO SKILLS LEARNED]
Pathetic.
He hated looking at it, but it followed him everywhere like a ghost, always judging, always reminding.
Two years. Two whole years since The Pulse, and he hadn’t even killed a single Break creature. Not one level. Not one skill module. He wasn’t even registered to a faction.
"Trash," he muttered to himself.
But something else flickered behind his eyes, not fear. Not anymore.
He stepped forward.
Warning: Unstable Temporal Field. Survival Rate: 12.6%
Recommended Action: FLEE
Override?
[Y/N]
Rei stared at the prompt. Most people would turn back. Hell, even scavengers avoided Echo Breaks, glitched Breaks caught between collapse and stability. Time dilated in them. Space warped. Sometimes people entered and came out aged ten years. Sometimes… they didn’t come out at all.
But Rei didn’t have a choice.
He pressed Y.
As soon as he crossed the threshold, the world warped.
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Colors bled. Light twisted. The sound of static buzzed in his ears, and a horrible pressure pressed against his skin like invisible hands trying to tear him apart.
[System Sync Initiated…]
[Trait: Supernatural Willpower ACTIVATED]
"Pain threshold bypassed."
His knees buckled, but he didn’t fall. His teeth clenched hard enough to hurt. Blood ran from his nose. His vision blurred...
...and then it cleared.
The Break stabilized around him, solidifying into something like a corridor. Cracked marble. Broken statues. Floating particles of light that moved like fireflies. He could see deeper now. The spatial glitch was creating a looping structure. A dungeon built on decay.
But this time… something was different.
[Quest Generated: Break Loop Challenge - First Contact]
Objective: Survive all phases of the Loop.
Reward: ???
Time Limit: 10 minutes (loop resets on failure)
BEGIN.
A shriek echoed down the hall.
Rei turned just as something burst from the shadows, a warped humanoid, limbs too long, face glitching like a corrupted 3D render, flickering between smiles and snarls.
[LEVEL 3: Echo Spawn]
No weapon. No skills. Just Rei.
His heart pounded like a war drum.
[Trait: Accelerated Development - Monitoring Active Combat Conditions]
Initial threat engaged. Combat protocols unlocked temporarily.
[Subroutine Unlocked: Combat Reflex Boost I — 30 seconds]
Rei felt it before he understood it. His body moved before his mind caught up, dodging, pivoting, rolling under a sweeping claw. His speed stat was only 6, but this trait override made it feel like 16.
He grabbed a broken pipe off the ground.
It wasn’t much. But it was enough.
He struck hard, metal shrieking against bone. The creature hissed and reeled, but didn’t fall. It slashed again, grazing his shoulder. Blood spurted. Pain flashed.
[Durability Damage Detected - 8%]
[Willpower Override: Pain Ignored]
He didn’t scream. He didn’t even flinch.
He kept moving. Dodging. Hitting. Gritting his teeth as each motion tore at muscles he didn’t know he still had.
Thirty seconds passed.
The boost ended.
Rei stumbled, breathing hard.
The Echo Spawn lunged again.
He braced to die...
...and then something snapped.
Not in his body. In the air.
[REACTIVE EVOLUTION TRIGGERED]
Adaptation Path Identified: Instinct Looping Reflex
Temporary Skill Gained: Phantom Dodge (Lv. 1)
(Auto-activates to repeat last successful dodge move.)
The world slowed.
The air shifted.
And Rei’s body repeated the perfect roll from seconds ago, like his system had recorded it and hit playback.
He surged behind the creature and rammed the pipe straight into its spine.
It shrieked once, glitched and shattered like glass made of static.
[ENEMY DEFEATED]
EXP GAINED: 120
[LEVEL UP: 1 ? 2]
+2 Stat Points
New Skill Unlocked: Phantom Dodge (Lv. 1)
New Trait Sync: Pain Memory Efficiency
Rei collapsed to his knees, panting.
His first kill.
His first win.
But the room didn't stay quiet for long.
The air shimmered again. Footsteps echoed. Not from a monster, no, these were calm. Controlled.
A voice spoke from the shadows.
"That was... unexpected."
Rei stood up, wobbling, gripping his pipe.
A figure stepped out, a woman in a sleek coat, glowing interface shifting behind her eyes.
[Lv. 18 - Analyst Class: UNKNOWN]
"You’re not registered to any faction," she said. “No skills. No weapons. And yet here you are, surviving an Echo Loop on your first try.”
She smiled, not kindly.
"Tell me, kid... who the hell are you really?"