The moment Kai stepped through the tear in reality, color died.
Everything around him was grey—not just muted, but drained, like the world itself had been exiled from the palette of existence. No sun. No sky. Just an endless plain of static terrain, as if someone half-finished coding this place and then abandoned it.
> So this is what's outside the script.
A place the system never expected anyone to reach.
Behind him, the Trial Arena collapsed in silence. No explosion. Just a visual delete—like dragging a folder to the trash.
---
[System Notice: Zone Exit Detected]
[Location: NULL_SECTOR_0]
[Status: Non-Narrative Space | Unauthorized Access | Risk Level: Absolute]
> Unauthorized.
Perfect.
Kai walked forward. The divine sword he stole from the Hero—now dim and cracked—dragged across the brittle ground. Even it didn't seem to know how to function here.
He didn't care.
Then he saw it.
A structure—floating midair. A sphere made of glitched architecture. Doors leading to nowhere. Stairs that bent backward. Fragments of old system code floated like debris.
At the center, a throne.
And on it, a corpse wearing his own face.
---
[Analyzing Anomaly...]
[Temporal Echo Detected]
[Designation: Failed Final Trial v1.04]
[Cause of Death: Narrative Compliance]
Kai stared at the body. Same features. Same build. But the eyes were empty.
He knelt and pulled a data shard from its chest—a glowing, system-coded memory crystal labeled:
> "Last Thoughts – Before I Obeyed"
He crushed it in his hand.
The memory hit like lightning.
> "If I don't lose… they erase the timeline."
"Maybe I wasn't meant to win."
"Maybe the System was right."
> Maybe I deserved to be forgotten.
Kai stood. Silent.
Then he smiled.
> "You were a coward. I'm not."
---
[Warning: Divine Intervention Incoming]
[Stabilization Attempt: Manifesting System Authority – 'Archivist of Order']
Above him, light formed again—this time slower, more calculated.
A humanoid figure emerged, robed in binary code, with an open book floating in its hands. The Archivist. A curator of fate. A literal system administrator.
"You have violated protocol," it said in a voice made of layered echoes. "Your role was to die. You chose instead to devour the story."
Kai nodded, respectful. Then spat blood at its feet.
> "Tell your gods: I'm writing a new one."
---
The Archivist raised a hand.
[Skill Detected: Attempting Format Reset]
[Skill: Divine Rewrite] – ACTIVATED
Reality began to warp—rewinding. Trying to undo the last few minutes. Trying to unmake his rebellion.
Kai grinned.
He pulled the divine sword forward, dug its cracked tip into the ground, and whispered:
> "Override this."
---
[Narrative Override Lv.1 Activated]
Command: HARD SAVE – Anchor Memory Created
Command: REJECT FORMAT RESET]
> Narrative Anchor established. Memory corruption denied.
The time reversal failed.
The Archivist stepped back. "Impossible. You're anchoring yourself to free will?"
Kai's eyes glowed with stolen data.
> "I'm not just anchoring. I'm corrupting your entire operating table."
---
Then, he struck.
Not at the Archivist.
At the code holding the world together.