The dawn that rose over NightSun Grid wasn't sunlight; it was data.
Lines of gold streamed across the horizon, stitching the world back together after another night of compression.
Every pulse of light came with the low hum of code rewriting itself—an endless reminder that Jaigoria wasn't alive, just pretending.
Leice opened his eyes as the sky stabilized.
His system interface blinked quietly beside him.
[Compression Phase Seven: Active]
[Safe Zone Radius: 4 Kilometers]
[Remaining Participants: 156]
The world had grown smaller again.
Aria was awake before Zack. She sat near the edge of their temporary shelter, armor glinting faintly.
She'd removed her gauntlets again, fingers tracing a faint scar on the side of her palm — proof that even in a fabricated world, pain still found a way to feel real.
When Leice approached, she looked up, strands of pale gold hair catching the false dawn.
For a moment, she said nothing — just studied him, the quiet in her eyes different from the night before.
"You don't sleep much," she murmured.
Leice shrugged. "World's too noisy."
"You mean the system?"
He nodded.
"It talks more than it should."
Aria smiled faintly. "Then it's lucky you can talk back."
He raised a brow at that, a trace of amusement softening his face.
The air between them hummed — not tension, not yet, but something new. Respect mixed with curiosity, a spark born in stillness.
Zack stirred, yawning, breaking the quiet.
"Morning already? Feels like we barely closed our eyes."
"You didn't," Leice said. "You snored through three system warnings."
Zack flushed. "I did not!"
Aria chuckled, the sound gentle — a sound that didn't belong to a battlefield.
For a fleeting second, Leice found himself almost… forgetting the world's rules.
[Warning: Emotional Flag "Warmth" – Detected]
[Source: Aria Sillena → Player: Leech Code]
He blinked. Already?
Even without forcing the system, her code was shifting — attaching, rewriting the path of loyalty.
He closed the alert before either of them noticed.
They left their shelter as the Grid began to quake. The Compression Field shimmered on the horizon like a descending dome of violet light.
Ruins that had once stretched for miles were now condensed into a maze barely half that size.
[Next Compression: T–03:00:00]
Leice led, scanning the terrain ahead. His HUD painted invisible paths, potential ambush zones, and resource caches.
Aria walked behind him, matching his pace easily — movements fluid, posture precise. She wasn't a warrior by build, yet the world seemed to adjust around her presence, bending slightly to keep her balanced.
Zack trailed them, clutching his sword awkwardly.
"Do you really think we'll reach the Nexus before the next collapse?"
Leice's tone was even. "If we move smart. Not fast."
Aria tilted her head.
"You speak like someone who's seen this all before."
He didn't answer.
Because I have. Again and again, until boredom killed me once.
They paused at a ridge overlooking a dried riverbed. Dozens of energy signatures glowed faintly below—scattered duels, players desperate to stay inside the shrinking zone.
Leice magnified one feed. Yvonne's data pattern flickered in the distance, golden and violent.
Another, colder pulse—Kesha's signature—lurking near the opposite edge.
"They're still fighting," he muttered. "Perfect."
"Perfect?" Zack asked.
"They draw attention. That means we move unseen."
He checked his DP count.
[Current DP: ∞ ]
[Skill Tree Access – Open]
A flick of his wrist, and new subroutines unfolded.
[Skill Unlocked: Cloak Protocol β]
[Effect: Suppresses visual detection and system scan radius for allied units.]
[DP Spent: 300]
The three of them shimmered, outlines fading until only faint distortions remained.
Aria exhaled softly, awe flickering across her face.
"You hide us from the system itself?"
"Not hide," he corrected. "Convince it we're somewhere else."
Their eyes met briefly — and she looked away, as though embarrassed to have stared too long.
Zack grinned.
"You two talk like you're from another world."
Leice smirked.
"Maybe we are."
Half an hour later, they reached the remains of an energy tower—broken spires rising from the cracked earth.
Aria stopped, frowning.
"The air feels… strange."
[Warning: Local Anomaly Detected]
[Source: Event Fragment – Unstable]
Leice scanned it. The pattern was familiar — part of the original event tree that should've triggered during the Main Hero's escort sequence.
But because he'd hijacked the route, the code was stuttering, trying to find an anchor.
He raised his hand, touching the air. The fragments pulsed faintly beneath his palm.
[Command Input: Stabilize Event Node]
[DP Spent: 120]
[Result: Partial Sync Achieved]
The world flickered — for an instant, Aria and Zack froze mid-motion as reality rewrote itself.
Then everything settled.
Aria blinked, confusion crossing her face.
"Did something just—"
"Reset," Leice said. "Nothing to worry about."
She studied him quietly, then smiled again — a real one this time, unguarded.
"You make impossible things sound simple."
"They are," he replied. "If you stop playing by the rules."
For a moment, her laughter broke through the static, soft and light — and he found himself meeting her gaze longer than he should have.
[Emotional Flag "Trust" – Strengthening]
[Affinity Level: 23% → 47%]
Leice closed the window. He didn't need the reminder.
Still, he could feel the world bending around that change — the code rewriting its loyalties, attaching Aria's path to his instead of Zack's.
Reverse-harem or not, he thought, the roles are mine to assign.
He turned away before either of them noticed the faint smile tugging at his mouth.
[Remaining Participants: 128]
[Compression Phase Seven – 42% Complete]
As night approached again, the three found another shelter—a hollow beneath collapsed ruins.
Zack dozed off quickly, exhaustion overtaking him.
Aria sat near the entrance, watching the artificial stars flicker on the ceiling sky.
"Do you ever wonder," she asked softly, "what waits beyond this war?"
Leice leaned against a wall, eyes half-lidded.
"A different script. One we write ourselves."
She looked at him then, something like admiration shining quietly in her eyes.
"Then maybe I'll let you write mine, too."
Before he could answer, the system pulsed sharply.
[Error: Character Affinity Path Conflict Detected]
[Multiple Hero Flags Intersecting]
[Correction Pending...]
The light flickered once across their faces — the world itself trying to understand a story it no longer controlled.
Leice smirked.
"Too late."
[Override Command: Author's Rewrite – Active]
The glow died, leaving only silence and the hum of his system.
Outside, lightning forked across the shrunken horizon.
The Grid was breaking — and the next phase would decide which world survived.