Flames shot out in every direction.
Yuto didn't think—he moved. He grabbed Rin by the waist and pulled her close, twisting his body so his back faced the heat. Fire roared over them like a crashing wave.
The air turned white.
His system buzzed in his head like a siren.
> [ EMERGENCY SHIELD ACTIVATED – TEMPORARY DAMPENING FIELD ENGAGED ]
[ ENERGY LEVEL: 9% REMAINING ]
He gritted his teeth as the last of the heat washed past them. Smoke filled the forest, rising in thick clouds. Trees snapped, branches fell, dirt turned to black glass.
But they were still standing.
Barely.
Yuto let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, then lowered Rin to the ground carefully.
"You still breathing?" he asked, glancing down.
Her eyes fluttered open. "You shielded me."
"I wasn't about to let that fire cook us both."
"You're not immune to fire."
"Didn't say it was a smart plan."
From beyond the smoke, that voice returned.
"You know," Proxy said, his tone still casual, almost amused, "I was told Gunner-types were hard to kill. I just didn't realize how annoying that would make you."
Yuto stood slowly, raising both weapons.
"You talk a lot for someone who just tried to roast me."
"I was just warming up."
"I don't need your jokes."
Proxy appeared again—walking through the smoke like it didn't even touch him. Not a scratch on him. His long black coat flared slightly at the bottom, untouched by ash. His silver mask reflected the flames around them.
"You don't recognize what I am yet," Proxy said.
"I don't care."
"You should."
Yuto narrowed his eyes. "You said you want what's inside my system. Why?"
Proxy stopped walking and tilted his head like a curious teacher. "Because your system is clean."
"Clean?"
"Uncorrupted. Untampered. It's a direct line."
"To what?"
"To the original construct."
Yuto didn't lower his gun. "Start making sense."
"I doubt you'd understand. Your kind never gets the big picture."
"My kind?"
"Players."
The word made Yuto freeze for a second.
Proxy saw it. He chuckled softly. "So you do know what that means. Interesting."
Yuto didn't answer.
Proxy stepped to the side slowly, walking in a circle around him.
"I've seen your type before. Dropped here with shiny tools and fancy rules. Given a system interface. Told to 'level up' and 'adapt.' You think you're special."
"I never said that."
"But you believe it."
"No," Yuto said. "I just know how to use what I've got. That's the difference."
Proxy chuckled again. "Then prove it."
He lifted his arm and opened his hand.
Another weapon formed—this one a long-barreled rifle, black and red, etched with glowing runes.
Yuto's system lit up instantly.
> [ WARNING: WEAPON TYPE: UNKNOWN VARIANT – REVERSE-ENGINEERED GUN SYSTEM SIGNATURE DETECTED ]
[ STABILITY: UNRANKED – DANGER LEVEL: HIGH ]
Yuto shifted his stance, both guns ready.
"Where'd you get that?" he asked.
"From a corpse," Proxy said without a hint of shame. "He didn't need it anymore."
"You killed another Gunner."
"Correction," Proxy said, "I absorbed another Gunner."
Yuto's hands tightened around the triggers.
"You think I'll let you do that to me?"
Proxy lifted the rifle.
"Oh, I'm not here to ask permission."
He fired.
Yuto leapt sideways as the blast tore through the spot where he'd been standing. The shot didn't just hit—it shredded the air. It cut through a tree behind him like paper.
Rin screamed something, but Yuto didn't hear it. He was already moving again, rolling behind a fallen trunk, shotgun raised.
He fired once.
Proxy sidestepped like he knew it was coming. He didn't even blink.
Yuto cursed and switched to the SMG. He circled wide, keeping low, spraying a burst toward Proxy's legs.
The shots landed—but didn't stop him. They sparked off something invisible.
A barrier?
No. Worse.
Proxy advanced again, calmly, like he had all the time in the world.
"You're fast," he said. "But you're using old tactics."
Yuto shouted, "I'm improvising!"
He jumped forward suddenly, closed the distance, and fired the shotgun at near point-blank.
BOOM.
The shot hit Proxy's chest. He flew backward, landed hard, slid across the dirt.
Yuto didn't wait.
He ran in, guns ready.
But as he stepped close, Proxy snapped his fingers.
And vanished.
Yuto spun. "Where?!"
The voice came from behind him.
"Right here."
Yuto turned—too late.
Proxy's fist slammed into his gut.
Yuto's body flew.
He crashed into the base of a broken tree, weapons dropping from his hands. Pain shot up his spine. He gasped, air gone, vision flickering.
Proxy walked slowly toward him.
"You're not the first," he said. "You won't be the last."
Yuto tried to move, but his limbs refused.
Then he heard it.
Rin's voice.
"Get away from him!"
He saw her standing behind Proxy, her hand glowing with a weak spell charge.
"Rin—no!" he shouted.
Proxy turned just as she launched the blast.
It hit him—but didn't pierce.
He raised his hand casually—and blasted her with a small bolt of red energy.
She dropped instantly.
Yuto's scream tore out of his throat. "RIN!"
He crawled forward, fingers digging into the dirt.
Proxy stopped, standing between them.
"Don't worry," he said quietly. "She's not dead."
He looked back down at Yuto.
"Yet."
Then the system chimed again.
But this time, it didn't warn.
It asked.
> [ EMERGENCY OVERRIDE AVAILABLE – UNTESTED CORE REACTION DETECTED ]
[ RELEASE PROTOTYPE WEAPON? ]
[ WARNING: EFFECT UNSTABLE – COLLATERAL DAMAGE LIKELY ]
[ Y/N ]
Yuto looked past Proxy.
To Rin.
To his hands.
To his system.
He whispered, "Yes."
> [ EMERGENCY OVERRIDE CONFIRMED ]
[ PROTOTYPE SYSTEM CORE — TEMPORARY RELEASE INITIATED ]
[ WARNING: STABILITY UNKNOWN – USER DISCRETION ADVISED ]
[ DEPLOYING: GRENADE LAUNCHER — TEMPEST MAW MK0 ]
Yuto's fingers moved on their own.
He didn't stand. He didn't run.
He just reached.
A hum began under his palm—soft at first, then louder, deeper. Energy crackled across the back of his hand, flowing down his arm like lightning wrapped in glass.
Then the weapon formed.
Not summoned like the others.
Forged.
From nothing.
A heavy metal shape took form in front of him. Long and wide-barreled, loaded with thick rotating chambers, vents glowing white-blue with barely-contained heat. It was bulky, mean-looking—twice the size of his shotgun and ten times as heavy.
The moment his hand gripped the stock, the system spoke again.
> [ WEAPON LOCK ENGAGED – TEMPEST MAW ONLINE – ONE ROUND LOADED ]
[ EFFECT: Area Burst – Shock + Flame + Impact Wave ]
[ RANGE: 25 METERS — BACKBLAST ACTIVE ]
Proxy had just started turning around.
He froze.
His voice shifted from amused to cautious. "What did you just activate?"
Yuto rose to one knee, teeth clenched, vision blurry. "A prototype."
"You're bluffing."
Yuto didn't smile.
He aimed the weapon directly at him.
"You sure you want to test that theory?"
Proxy took a single step back.
"I warned you," Yuto said, "you shouldn't have touched her."
"You'll kill yourself if you fire that."
"Better than letting you win."
Yuto pulled the trigger.
KRA-KOOM.
The launcher bucked like a wild beast. A thunderous boom shattered the air. Light erupted from the barrel like a miniature sun. The projectile shot out in a slow pulse—too large to miss, too fast to dodge.
Proxy tried anyway.
He leapt backward, twisting midair, but the blast radius caught him full on.
The ground split open.
A shockwave of wind and fire exploded in every direction.
Trees bent sideways.
The sky turned red for a heartbeat.
Yuto was thrown backward again, skidding across the dirt, crashing into the slope behind him.
Silence followed.
Dust floated down like snow.
And for a moment… everything stopped moving.
His ears rang.
His arm felt dead.
But he forced himself to sit up.
The launcher was gone—burned out, already breaking apart into white light.
The system pinged.
> [ TEMPEST MAW DEACTIVATED – CORE STABILITY: FAILED ]
[ CHARGING LOCK RESET – 23 HOURS REQUIRED ]
He wiped blood from the side of his face, squinting through the haze.
"Did it hit?" he muttered. "Please tell me that hit."
Something stirred in the middle of the blast zone.
Smoke curled off a crater.
Then he saw it.
A figure kneeling in the dirt.
Proxy was still alive.
Kneeling in the crater, smoke curling from his shoulders, his cloak torn and smoldering. The visor on his mask had cracked down the center, revealing a single eye beneath it—bloodshot, but wide open.
Yuto's arms were shaking. He had nothing left to fire. His shotgun was out. The SMG's barrel was too hot to hold. The prototype launcher had already crumbled into fragments of fading blue light.
And Proxy… was laughing.
Low, broken laughter. Coughing between each sound.
"You really fired that thing…" Proxy's voice was hoarse. "A real Tempest Core… I thought those were just theory."
Yuto took a step forward. "You're still conscious?"
"Barely."
"You shouldn't be."
Proxy didn't rise. "I told you. I didn't come to win. I came to confirm."
"Confirm what?"
He looked up, eye locking with Yuto's. "That you're the real one."
Yuto's face didn't move. "Real what?"
"The original node bearer."
"I have no idea what that means."
"You will," Proxy said, swaying slightly. "But I won't be the one to explain it."
He pulled something from under his coat. A small black disk, glowing faint red.
"Don't move," Yuto warned, raising the SMG again with trembling hands.
"This isn't for you," Proxy said calmly. "This is my exit."
Yuto fired a single burst. The shots hit—he was sure of it. But the disk activated first.
Light flashed outward like a curtain being drawn across the air.
And Proxy vanished—gone without a trace.
Only the scorch marks remained.
Yuto stood there for a long second, breathing hard. Not from fear. From exhaustion.
His system buzzed weakly in his mind.
> [ THREAT: TERMINATED ]
[ SYSTEM STABILITY: RESTORING ]
[ TEMPORARY LOCKOUT ON PROTOTYPE SLOT – COOLING IN PROGRESS ]
[ LOCATION SIGNAL: EXPOSED – FOREIGN TRACE CONFIRMED ]
[ WARNING: FUTURE ENCOUNTERS LIKELY. PREPARE FOR CONTACT. ]
He lowered the weapon slowly.
Then he turned.
"Rin…"
He rushed back up the hill, stumbling over roots and scorched earth. She lay in the same place, barely conscious, eyes fluttering.
He dropped to his knees beside her.
"Hey," he said quietly, brushing her hair from her face. "I got him. He's gone."
Her lips moved slowly. "You're okay?"
"I will be," he said. "What about you?"
She winced. "Feels like I got kicked by a dragon."
"You kinda did."
She opened one eye. "That light. That weapon… I thought the forest was collapsing."
"It almost did."
"Was that… magic?"
Yuto didn't answer right away.
Then he said, "Something like that."
They sat in silence.
Then Rin blinked and looked at the sky.
"Why is the light dimming?"
Yuto followed her gaze.
The trees around them looked faded. The air was thinner. The light above wasn't sunlight anymore—it was faint, bluish, and flickering like a screen on low battery.
"Something's wrong," Yuto said.
The system chimed one last time.
> [ FINAL ALERT: SYSTEM CORE BREACH DETECTED IN SECTOR 07 ]
[ UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS LOGGED – CLASSIFIED NODE ACTIVATED WITHOUT PERMISSION ]
[ MESSAGE RECEIVED: "HE FOUND IT." ]
[ SENDER: UNKNOWN ]
Yuto's face went blank.
The message flashed again.
> "He found it."
Then—
Something answered back.
Not words.
A voice.
Cold. Deep. Distant.
"Trace complete. Target locked."