The door breathes.
Not opens. Not swings. Breathes.
Like it's alive… waiting for him to step through its ribs.
His fingers curl tighter around the fading pulseblade. Last charge flickers. Gone.
Useless now.
He walks anyway.
One step… then another…
Darkness swallows him whole.
But not silence.
Laughter.Soft. Childlike.Wrong.
She's here again.
The girl.
Same white dress. Same soaked hair. Same smile that doesn't blink.
She stands in a garden that shouldn't exist.
Stone walls crumble around her… covered in black roses. The sky above is a swirling pit of stars and blood.
He doesn't speak.
Doesn't move.
He knows what she is now.
Not a dream. Not a ghost.
She's older than the mask.
Older than the system.
Older than him.
She tilts her head.
"You bleed better than the others."
He flinches. Just a twitch. She sees it.
Steps closer.
Bare feet on cracked stone. No sound.
"You shouldn't have chosen the mask. You should've let me eat you."
There's no threat in her voice. No rage.
Just hunger.
The shadows twitch at his feet… still broken. But not silent.
They're whispering again.
[System Protocol Reboot – 37%][Warning: Entity "Smiling Girl" marked as BLACK LEVEL: Do Not Engage.]
He says nothing.
She walks a circle around him… dragging fingers across his back.
"They thought they could seal me in a face."She laughs. It cracks the air."Idiots. I am the face."
He turns slowly. Meets her eyes.
"Why me?"
She stops.
That smile breaks—for just a second.
Then widens… too wide.
"Because you opened the door."
And she lunges.
No buildup. No warning. One second she's still—next, she's in his head.
Screaming.
Images flood in—
A child in a coffin, whispering to worms.A city torn apart by laughter.A throne of eyes… weeping shadows.
He drops to his knees. Blood leaks from his nose.
Can't breathe.Can't think.
Then—
A voice not hers.
The system?
No.
Older.
"Do you wish to override?"
He gasps. "YES."
Time freezes.
The garden vanishes.
She vanishes.
And he's standing in white.
A blank void.
Alone… until he isn't.
A man steps from the whiteness.
Wears the same mask.
Not the bone throne man.
This one is worse.
Because he doesn't exist.
No heartbeat. No system read. Just… absence.
The man speaks.
"You were never supposed to survive the first day. And yet you did."
He removes the mask.
And the face beneath it—
Is his.
Older. Eyes empty. Smile cold.
"You think you're the player. But you're the prize."
He tosses the mask at his feet.
"Put it on. Or die here."
[Choice Triggered: Accept the Future or Break the Loop]
The white world shakes. Cracks.The girl's laughter returns… louder… behind the cracks.
He reaches for the mask—
But stops.
His fingers twitch.
Not in fear. In defiance.
He looks up.
Smiles.
And says…
"No."
He slams his foot into the mask. Shatters it.
The void explodes.
The shadows scream in joy.
[System Break Confirmed][New Class Unlocked: Rogue Shadow | Title: Maskbreaker][All previous protocols disabled. Welcome to free will.]
And he wakes—
On a rooftop.
Night air. Blood moon.
No system voice.
No chains.
Just him.
And the girl—far below.
Looking up at him.
Still smiling.
Still waiting.
But now…
He smiles back.
To be continued…