The corrupted beast collapsed with a sickening thud, its grotesque form flickering in and out of coherence—until it burst into fragments of light. Data particles scattered into the cold air like dying embers, leaving nothing behind but the echo of violence.
Eran stood motionless, chest heaving.
His hands trembled, not from fear—but the aftershock of something far deeper.
Power.
Unnatural.
Real.
> [Codex Report — Combat Log Saved]
[XP Gained: +132]
[Skill Progress: Data Phasing (Lv.1) → 42%]
The numbers appeared before his eyes and faded. Cold. Clinical. Detached. Yet the weight they carried felt anything but.
This wasn't a game.
He opened the Codex menu again, his gaze locking onto a new, pulsing tab below his only skill.
> [Directive: CLASSIFICATION ZERO – Clearance Required]
Before he could reach for it—
A chill swept through the ruins.
Not wind.
Not weather.
A void.
As if something unseen had displaced the air—no, reality itself. Eran's skin prickled.
He turned.
At the far edge of the broken transit platform stood a figure. Cloaked in torn black robes, its face concealed behind a smooth white mask, blank but for a single rune that pulsed in its center like a heartbeat of foreign light.
It said nothing at first. It didn't need to. Its very presence bent the atmosphere, as if time hesitated to interfere.
Then it spoke.
> "You've activated it."
"The Codex has chosen."
The voice was calm. Too calm. Like it was echoing from somewhere just beyond reality.
Eran narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?"
The figure took a single step forward. No sound. No weight.
> "You are Observer Zero," it said.
"The final contingency."
> "You were never meant to awaken... not yet."
The words hit him like a punch to the chest. Meant? Not meant? Who decides that?
Then the figure raised its gloved hand. In its palm, a crystal shard hovered—shimmering like frozen code trapped in a prism of light.
> [Codex Update Available: Download Memory Fragment?]
[Y/N]
Eran hesitated.
Everything about this felt wrong. Staged. Or worse—predestined. But if this was the only path to answers…
> "Do it."
The shard dissolved into his chest.
> [Memory Fragment Acquired]
Title: "Directive: Collapse Protocol"
A voice not his own echoed inside his mind:
> "When the Fifth Seal breaks, the world will reboot.
Seven Observers will rise. Only one will remain.
You are the Zero—beyond the system, outside its control."
Eran staggered back. "There are others?"
The cloaked figure said nothing. Its form was already flickering, dissolving into thin lines of code.
But just before it vanished entirely, one final message burned into the air.
> "They will come for you."
"Not just the beasts."
"The system itself will try to erase you."
> "Survive."
"And remember—you were never supposed to exist."
Gone.
No trace left behind.
Just silence—and the Codex, pulsing in warning.
> [New Objective Unlocked: Survive Until the First Seal Breaks]
[Time Remaining: 06:59:59:99]
Seven hours.
That was all.
To prepare.
To find the others.
To understand who—what—he truly was.
Eran clenched his fists. The air around him shimmered once again as the Codex dug deeper into his very being.
The countdown had begun.
To be continued...