The city of Nocturne never slept.
It only waited.
Neon signs flickered like dying stars between rain-soaked skyscrapers. The air smelled of ozone, rust, and old blood—blood no one bothered to clean anymore. Drones hummed overhead, scanning faces, scanning souls. In Nocturne, weakness wasn't a phase.
It was a death sentence.
Kael Vire learned that early.
Tonight, he learned it again.
"Move faster, trash."
The boot hit Kael's ribs before the words fully landed. His body slammed into the alley wall, breath ripping out of him in a sharp, useless gasp. Pain bloomed—bright, humiliating, familiar.
Three men stood over him. Black coats. Chrome implants glowing faint red beneath their skin. Enforcers—corporate dogs with government badges and zero mercy.
Kael tried to stand.
His legs betrayed him.
Pathetic.
One of the enforcers crouched, gripping Kael's chin and forcing his head up. The man's eyes weren't human anymore—augmented lenses rotating, analyzing.
"No augmentations. No combat mods. No registered power signature," the enforcer said, almost bored. "You're a waste of processing space."
Kael swallowed blood.
He'd heard that sentence his whole life.
In Nocturne, people were ranked.
Powered. Enhanced. Modified.
And then there was the bottom tier.
Nulls.
People like Kael—born without neural compatibility. No implants. No upgrades. No abilities. Just flesh and bone in a world that outgrew them.
"You stole tech from Sector Nine," another enforcer said. "That's a Class-A offense."
Kael shook his head weakly. "I—I didn't—"
The punch landed mid-sentence.
Stars exploded behind his eyes.
"Don't talk," the first enforcer said. "Nulls don't get voices."
They dragged him deeper into the alley, away from the lights, away from witnesses who would never interfere anyway.
Kael's mind screamed.
Not like this. Not again.
Memories clawed their way up—his mother kneeling in the rain, begging these same badges for mercy. His little sister hiding behind him, shaking. The sound of a gun discharging, clean and final.
Weak people die first.
That was Nocturne's rule.
The enforcers threw Kael to the ground. One of them raised a weapon—sleek, humming, charged with blue energy.
Execution-grade.
Kael closed his eyes.
He wasn't afraid of dying.
He was afraid of dying as nothing.
A sudden sound tore through the alley.
Not a gunshot.
Not an explosion.
A 裂音—a deep, reality-bending crack, like the world itself had fractured.
The air froze.
Rain stopped mid-fall.
Kael's eyes snapped open.
The alley was… wrong.
The walls stretched, glitching like corrupted code. Neon lights bled into unreadable symbols. A translucent grid spread across the ground beneath him, glowing faint white.
Above him, text appeared in the air.
UNREGISTERED NULL DETECTED
ERROR: COMPATIBILITY = 0%
OVERRIDE PROTOCOL… INITIATING
The enforcers stepped back, weapons raised.
"What the hell is this?" one shouted.
Kael couldn't move.
Couldn't breathe.
The pain vanished—replaced by something colder. He felt seen. Not by people.
By something ancient.
YOU HAVE BEEN OBSERVED
YOU HAVE BEEN JUDGED
YOU HAVE SURVIVED
A symbol burned itself into Kael's chest. He screamed—not from pain, but from overload. His nerves lit up like fire. Data flooded his mind—numbers, pathways, combat schemas, survival algorithms.
Not implants.
Not tech.
Something else.
SYSTEM ONLINE
DESIGNATION: NULLFRAME
WELCOME, USER
The enforcers opened fire.
Time slowed.
Kael saw the bullets. Not with his eyes—with something deeper. His body moved before his thoughts could catch up.
He rolled.
The bullets missed.
His hands hit the ground—and the concrete shattered beneath his fingers.
Kael stared at his own hands, trembling.
"What—what did you do to me?" he whispered.
The system responded instantly.
YOU WERE NOTHING
NOW YOU ARE A VARIABLE
Kael stood.
For the first time in his life, the enforcers looked… afraid.
He looked at them—and smiled.
Not because he was strong.
But because now?
He could make them pay.