The world froze.
Not metaphorically — literally.
Raindrops hung midair above the Academy courtyard. Flames from lanterns stretched into unmoving ribbons of light. Voices died halfway through syllables.
Only Rei Asakura could move.
He felt it the moment it happened — not as fear, but as pressure.
As if the world itself had taken a breath… and refused to exhale.
[Emergency Override Activated.]
[Local Reality Suspended.]
[Administrator Authority: ABSOLUTE.]
The sky above the city fractured like glass, revealing layers of glowing code beneath the blue illusion. Symbols cascaded downward, rearranging themselves into a vast circular sigil.
At its center, a figure descended.
She did not walk.
She did not float.
She compiled into existence.
A woman of pale light and flowing white constructs, her hair made of drifting data strands, eyes like twin suns rendered in logic. Every step rewrote the air beneath her feet.
The Goddess.
Or rather—
"The Administrator," Rei corrected calmly.
Her eyes narrowed. "You should not be able to speak."
"You should not exist as a god," he replied.
Silence rippled outward, cracking the frozen world further.
Aria stood a few meters behind him, immobilized — eyes wide, breath trapped in her lungs. Rei felt the System's chains wrapped around her consciousness and, instinctively, rejected them.
A pulse of black distortion spread.
[Warning: Administrator Control Reduced by 3%.]
The Goddess frowned.
"Prototype 00," she said, voice layered with a thousand echoes. "You were sealed for a reason."
Rei took a step forward. The ground beneath him rewrote itself to accommodate his presence — not by permission, but by force.
"I was sealed because I asked the wrong question."
She tilted her head. "There is no 'wrong' question."
"There is," he said. "I asked whether love could exist without control."
The sky trembled.
"You misunderstand the System," the Goddess said. "Emotion is chaos. Love must be guided. Desire must be structured. Without us, your world would tear itself apart."
Rei smiled — not cruelly, not warmly.
"Then why are you afraid?"
For the first time since her creation…
the Goddess hesitated.
A micro-delay.
0.03 seconds of unscripted behavior.
[ERROR DETECTED: ADMINISTRATOR RESPONSE DESYNC.]
Aria felt it too. The pressure on her chest loosened. She gasped as time shuddered forward a fraction.
The Goddess raised her hand. "Enough. You will return to dormancy. Your existence destabilizes every emotional constant."
Chains of radiant code erupted from the sigil, rushing toward Rei from all directions.
He didn't dodge.
He refused.
[Skill Awakening: Harem Hatred — Level 3]
[Effect: Absolute Rejection of Imposed Bonds.]
[Secondary Effect: Authority Inversion.]
The chains shattered on contact, dissolving into meaningless data.
The shockwave cracked the sky completely.
The Goddess staggered backward.
"That ability—!" she whispered. "That's not hatred. That's—"
"Freedom," Rei finished. "The kind you never accounted for."
He raised his hand, and for the first time, the System did not respond instantly.
Lag.
Delay.
Fear.
Rei stepped closer, close enough that the Goddess could see her own reflection in his eyes — not as a savior, but as a program.
"You asked me to understand love," he said quietly. "But you never understood humans."
Her voice dropped, stripped of divinity. "If I release control… everything collapses."
"No," Rei replied. "Only your story does."
The sigil flickered violently.
[CRITICAL WARNING: SYSTEM STABILITY -12%]
[Administrator Retreat Recommended.]
The Goddess looked at Aria — at the frozen city — then back at Rei.
"This isn't over," she said, her form beginning to fragment. "You can't erase me."
"I don't need to," Rei answered. "I just need people to stop believing in you."
With a final surge of light, the Goddess dissolved into cascading code, retreating beyond the fractured sky.
Time resumed.
Lantern flames snapped back into motion. Rain crashed down. Voices returned in confusion and screams.
Aria collapsed to her knees, breathing hard.
Rei caught her before she hit the ground.
"That was a god," she whispered. "And you made her retreat."
He looked up at the normal sky, now imperfect — a single glitch still visible like a scar.
"She wasn't a god," he said. "She was an error that learned to lie."
The System chimed weakly, its voice no longer confident.
[Notice: Global Emotional Calibration Drift Detected.]
[New Variable Introduced: FREE WILL.]
Somewhere deep within the world, chains began to loosen.
And for the first time, love — real love — had a chance to exist.
Not because it was forced.
But because it was chosen.