[Compression Phase Eight – 62 % Complete]
[Safe Zone Radius: 3 Kilometers]
[Remaining Participants: 84]
Inside the Arena Grid
Wind howled across the broken fields of NightSun Grid.
The fragments of Frost Verge and Solar Ridge had fused into a single stretch of terrain—half snow, half desert—lines of code bleeding where the textures refused to match.
Leice stood at its center.
Breakam One floated behind him in segmented form, every blade humming at a different frequency. The air itself trembled.
Zack watched in awe.
"It's like the world's afraid of you…"
Aria glanced at Leice.
"No. It's obeying him."
Leice didn't answer. He was busy.
His interface flickered with dozens of open scripts, his fingers moving through them as if playing an invisible piano.
[Skill Activated: Field Rewrite β]
[DP Spent: 1 000]
[Effect: Temporary Terrain Control (300 m radius)]
The ground shifted. Sand solidified into reflective glass; shards of ice rose like pillars. In seconds, he'd built a fortress out of nothing but corrupted terrain data.
Zack stumbled backward.
"You just—how!?"
Leice looked over his shoulder.
"Basic geometry."
——— x——— x——— x——— x———
NightSun Academy – Observation Deck
Far above, within the floating citadel of the Academy, hundreds of spectators stared at the live feed.
Dozens of holographic screens showed different sectors of the Grid—but all of them, inevitably, focused on one image: Leice Grape standing alone amidst a world he bent to his will.
Murmurs filled the hall.
"That terrain shift… that's impossible."
"Only admin-level scripts can modify the Grid mid-phase."
"He's not even on the ranking board!"
Alicia Grape sat at the center dais, legs crossed, eyes unreadable.
The faint reflection of Leice's image glowed in her pupils.
The woman beside her—an official from the Alicia Consortium—spoke nervously.
"Madam, the system logs don't show an anomaly, but… those commands shouldn't exist."
Alicia's lips curved in a small, cold smile.
"They exist now."
——— x——— x——— x——— x———
Other Viewers
In another wing of the Academy, the Billex Family Observatory buzzed with tension.
Kesha's father slammed a fist on the table.
"That boy—Leice—how is he altering the Grid itself? Even Kesha's team can't replicate that!"
Beside him, Kesha's elder sister leaned forward, fascinated rather than angry.
"He's not altering it," she murmured. "He's conversing with it."
The room fell silent at her words.
Back in Alicia's hall, the feed zoomed in again—Leice raising his hand, Breakam One orbiting like moons.
Alicia whispered under her breath, too low for the others to hear.
"Leech Code… what are you doing?"
——— x——— x——— x——— x———
Back inside the Grids.
The new alliance group—Serin's remaining soldiers—watched as Leice's constructed field stabilized.
When he spoke, the wind carried his voice across the glassy plain.
"Enemy teams approaching from north and west," he said calmly.
"Aria, maintain barriers. Zack, stay within two meters of me."
[Incoming Signatures: 12]
[Distance: 250 m]
Breakam One shifted into long-ranged configuration, its pieces linking into twin rifles that hovered beside him.
[Skill Activated: Vector Cascade]
[DP Spent: 700]
[Effect: Auto-Target Lock — Precision Enhancement × 3]
He pointed.
Silver light lanced across the battlefield—twelve beams, twelve explosions.
When the dust cleared, not a single enemy remained.
Zack's jaw dropped.
"That's not fighting… that's rewriting physics!"
Aria shielded her eyes from the glare, awe plain on her face.
"He doesn't fight the way the world allows."
Leice deactivated the field.
[Remaining Participants: 71]
He could feel the eyes of thousands from above—spectators he couldn't see but somehow sensed.
He smirked.
You wanted a show, didn't you?
——— x——— x——— x——— x———
Academy Observation Deck
Alicia rose from her seat.
"Pull system diagnostics," she ordered.
Technicians scrambled. Data cascaded down the projection walls.
"Madam—every time he uses item,or skill, the system registers it as a valid command. There's no trace of hacking."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning… the world itself recognizes him as an administrator."
Alicia's fingers tightened around the rail. For the first time, her composure cracked—just a hairline fracture.
"Administrator," she repeated. "My son is rewriting Jaigoria."
——— x——— x——— x——— x———
Arena – Unseen Eyes
Aria moved beside Leice as the fog cleared.
"They'll all come for us now. No one will let you walk to the Nexus after this."
Leice smiled faintly.
"Good. Let them try."
[Warning: Observer Level Increased]
[Note: External Monitors > 10 000 Viewers]
Let them all watch, he thought. Every pair of eyes only feeds the legend.
Breakam One pulsed silver in agreement, the weapon almost alive in its excitement.
Zack exhaled shakily.
"You make it look easy."
Leice answered without looking back.
"It's supposed to be."
Far above, Alicia finally turned away from the screens.
"Prepare the override protocols," she said quietly.
"If he continues like this, he'll collapse the simulation before the finals."
Her aide hesitated. "You plan to stop him?"
Alicia's eyes flickered with something between pride and fear.
"No," she said. "I plan to find out whether the world he's breaking still needs gods—or just him."