Kael remained frozen like someone pressed PAUSE on the universe.
Even the boar corpses around him glitched mid-disintegration, frozen red pixels dripping in midair like suspended blood raindrops.
And high above the sky, that massive eye stared directly at Reiji.
A cold, alien intelligence.
Judging him.
Silently.
Creepily.
Reiji pointed both hands at the sky like a drunk man yelling at a drone.
"HEY! WHO THE HELL IS WATCHING?!
You wanna run ads too?! Maybe sell me some skincare?!"
No response.
Just… blinking.
Slow. Heavy. Like a loading bar made of hatred.
Reiji grabbed a rock and hurled it at the sky.
It fell back down and hit him in the head.
"OW—okay, yeah, that checks out. Universe 1. Reiji 0."
He rubbed his skull, staring up.
"You know, if you're gonna stalk me, at least buy me dinner. I'm cheap. Two ramen bowls and I'm yours."
The eye narrowed.
Reiji gasped dramatically.
"Oh my god. It blinked with disappointment. That's my mom's default expression!"
Suddenly—
ZZZT—
Static surged in the air.
The whole forest turned into pixel snow for half a second before stabilizing.
Kael flickered, briefly unfrozen. His mouth opened mechanically:
"Interference… detected… run… outsider… he sees—"
FREEZE.
Back to statue mode.
Reiji's expression fell.
"Okay, seriously? At least unpause the hot guy before the actual murder attempt starts."
For a moment, the world was eerily quiet.
Then a system message slammed into Reiji's vision like an angry pop-up:
> [NEW THREAT DETECTED]
[CORRUPTION ANOMALY APPROACHING]
Estimated Arrival: 10 seconds
Reiji threw his arms up.
"AWESOME. GREAT. LOVE THAT FOR ME.
Can I please get a TUTORIAL on surviving being hunted by interdimensional spyware?!"
Something moved in the forest.
Something big.
Something making the trees fold like cardboard assets.
Reiji bolted behind Kael's frozen body and peeked over his shoulder.
"Okay, Kael, buddy, hero, protagonist… listen. I know you can't hear me, but I need you to do one thing."
He grabbed Kael's stiff arm and positioned the sword outward like a mannequin in a store display.
"Please tank the next hit for me."
A shadow emerged from the glitching treeline.
Tall. Wrong. Shifting like corrupted code trying to be a humanoid shape.
Reiji whispered:
"…oh, sweet mother of DLC. What the hell are you?"
The creature screeched, a sound like a modem dying and a human crying layered together.
Reiji flinched.
"Hey, language! There are children in this T-rated fantasy world!"
It lunged.
Reiji shoved Kael's paused body forward like a human shield—
The monster hit Kael so hard the hero slid back ten meters like a hockey puck.
Reiji gasped.
"Oh no. Oh no. Oh sh*t. I just used the main character as a shield. The fandom is going to crucify me."
The creature's head snapped toward Reiji.
The pixels on its face rearranged into a single, glowing word:
YOU.
Reiji pointed at himself dramatically.
"ME?! Why me?! I didn't even pirate the game!"
It lunged again.
Reiji sprinted.
He ran like a man powered by pure screaming panic and bad life decisions.
"HEY OBSERVER!" he yelled at the sky while running for his life, "IF YOU'RE TAKING NOTES, WRITE THIS DOWN: YOU SUCK!"
The creature was fast. Too fast.
Reiji looked at his cooldown.
> [Emergency Override – 22h 51m remaining]
He laughed hysterically.
"Oh cool, I'll just die then! Fantastic ability! Five-star review: would use again posthumously!"
He tripped, rolled, crashed into a tree, and scrambled up again.
Just then—
BOOM!!
Blue light exploded behind him.
The creature screeched as if someone slammed an error message into its brain.
Reiji turned… and blinked.
Kael had moved.
Not fully unfrozen, but his arm was raised, sword trembling, glowing bright enough to fry code.
Reiji gasped.
"KAEL?!"
Kael's head twitched toward him, eyes locked on Reiji with terrifying intensity.
He whispered, voice glitching:
"Run… outsider…
You don't belong…
You must not be seen…"
Reiji swallowed hard.
For once, he didn't joke.
"…Kael? You… can hear me?"
Kael twitched, glitching violently.
Then—
He froze again.
Time resumed.
The creature roared in fury.
Reiji backed away, heart hammering, breath shaking.
"Okay… okay… new rule. No more forests. No more heroes stuck on pause. And absolutely no more demon spyware monsters."
He raised his fists.
"Come on then! You want me?! I've got nothing but trauma and poor reflexes!"
But before the creature pounced—
A massive burst of golden code erupted beneath Reiji's feet.
A teleport.
A forced one.
> [SYSTEM OVERRIDE: SAFETY EXTRACTION]
TARGET: ENTITY SATO_REIJI
Destination: UNKNOWN]
Reiji screamed as the world pixelated around him.
The monster's jaw snapped shut inches from his throat—
And Reiji vanished in a column of blinding light.
To be continue