[Main Scenario #4: Dominion Selection – Active]
Objective: Secure Authority over one of the Eight Conflict Zones.
Status: Neutral
Remaining Time: 71:58:32
Special Condition: You are being watched by an Entity outside the story.
Hidden Title: [Usurper]
– The System regards your decisions as destabilizing.
– All choices now affect scenario logic directly.
– Warning: Entity-level countermeasures may apply.
Noah exhaled through his nose as the message burned across his retinas.
"I broke the story so hard the system gave me a warning."
He stood on the second-floor overhang of Danton Station, surveying the survivors below. The wounded were being tended to, the dead covered. Seraphine had formed a small command team and was organizing food and shelter like a natural-born officer.
He didn't need to intervene. Not yet.
She's faster than in the novel. I might've accelerated her growth path just by being here.
He leaned on the railing, checking his interface again.
[Zone Conflict Status: Neutral]
– Sector Danton (Current): Available
– Sector Veyla: Claimed (User Unknown)
– Sector Harrowgate: In Chaos
– Sector Lynden: Locked
– Sectors 5–8: No data retrieved
"Two zones already locked in," he muttered. "Which means..."
He opened the private system inbox again. The message was still there.
Sender: ???
Subject: You Are Not the Only One.
Below it was a video attachment. System-sealed. Unforgeable. No Watcher watermark.
He tapped it.
The clip played.
A dim corridor. An execution site. A line of chained prisoners.
And a boy—no older than 19—smiling as he stepped over the corpses of his teammates. His shirt was covered in blood. His eyes glowed with deep, sick joy. He waved at the recording.
"If you're reading this... then you made it past Scenario 3.
You're probably wondering who else got dragged in.
Congratulations. You've been marked.
Let's see who finishes this story first."
The video ended.
Noah stood in stillness, knuckles tight on the railing.
Another Reader. Another person like me who knows how the story unfolds. But he's not trying to survive. He's trying to rewrite it his own way.
There had been no mention of this figure in Endgame Protocol. Not once. This wasn't a hidden character. This was someone new.
No. Not new. External.
Another real-world soul dropped into the narrative... but corrupted.
He closed the video.
Footsteps behind him.
"You okay?"
Seraphine.
He turned, eyes scanning her briefly. Her clothes were tattered, her left arm bandaged, but her expression was composed. Fire didn't blaze from her skin anymore—but her will hadn't dimmed one bit.
"I'm fine," Noah said. "Just thinking."
"About the next step?"
He nodded. "Scenario Four is different. It isn't about monsters. It's about choosing sides."
Seraphine tilted her head. "There are sides now?"
Noah opened his system map and showed her.
[Dominion Selection: Claim your Zone]
Zones: Danton (Us) / Veyla (Claimed) / Harrowgate (Chaotic)
Victory Condition: Establish total authority over one zone and stabilize its Core.
"In each sector, a Dominion Core spawns. Whoever controls it becomes the Sector Authority. They gain passive bonuses, resource generation, and control of narrative gates."
"In other words," Seraphine said, "a king."
Noah nodded. "Or a tyrant."
"And we need to claim one."
"No. We need to defend this one. Someone already took Veyla. That means there's at least one rival who knows how the story works."
Seraphine leaned forward, voice quiet. "Like you?"
He hesitated.
"…Yes. Like me."
"But not like you," she added. "You're trying to save people. This one isn't."
He glanced back toward the system message. The memory of that boy's twisted smile returned.
"No," Noah said softly. "He's not like me."
Elsewhere, deeper in the Veyla Sector, the boy in question sat on a throne of bones.
A group of survivors knelt before him, eyes glazed, limbs trembling with a strange aura.
[Authority Confirmed – Veyla Sector]
– Active Controller: Rex Monroe
– System Status: Corrupted Dominion – Tier 1
– Blessing: Unknown (???)
– Narrative Entanglement: EXTREME
Rex clicked his tongue.
"They're calling him the Usurper, huh? Cute."
He raised a hand. One of the kneeling survivors convulsed, then fell limp. The others didn't move.
"Noah…"
"Let's see how far your memory of the story gets you when I'm writing the next chapter."
Back at Danton Station, Noah had gathered the remaining combatants.
"Dominion Core will appear somewhere in this station," he said. "When it does, we need to activate it before another faction breaches in."
A voice rose from the crowd. "What if we don't want to be part of this war?"
Noah's eyes narrowed. "Then leave. But if you stay in this Zone without registering loyalty to an Authority, the system will classify you as an unauthorized variable. And then…"
[System Protocol – Rogue Entity Flag]
– Penalty: Skill Restriction
– All Experience Gain Nullified
– Passive Debuff: Death Multiplier +300%
Seraphine looked at him. "That's cruel."
"It's a story," Noah said. "And stories need order. Or they fall apart."
As if summoned, the platform trembled.
[Dominion Core Spawned – Zone: Danton]
Location: Central Concourse, Level B2
Activation Window: 00:30:00
Failure to activate in time: Zone Status will become Contested
Noah turned, already moving.
"Everyone ready your gear. The war for this Zone starts now."