5... 4... 3... 2... 1.
The countdown hit zero.
The world didn't explode.
It fractured.
Kei didn't feel pain—but something tore through his consciousness. Like his mind was split between infinite timelines, all crashing into one another. He was standing… and falling… and fighting… and running—all at once.
Theblue-armoredwoman was gone.
Replaced by echoes of herself. Thousands of her. In one world, she struck him. In another, she bowed. In a third, she whispered his name like she loved him.
And then—silence.
Everything froze. Kei found himself standing in a white space, a single blue thread looping endlessly around him.
System Notification:
You are in the Timeline Layer Zone
[Time Fragmentation Detected.]
Neuromancer Evolution: 61%
Kei's eyes widened. "Is it activating again?"
Suddenly, footsteps.
Out of the void came a man. Or… something. His body glitched at the edges. His suit was clean, professional—faceless, emotionless. The same eerie blue aura, wrapped in glitch particles.
The Faceless Man.
"So… you cracked it," he said, voice calm but layered—like multiple people speaking at once.
Kei stepped back, instinctively raising his guard. "What is this place?! What's happening to me?!"
The Faceless Man didn't answer. He raised his hand.
A shard of time floated between them—a frozen memory, showing Kei as a child, locked in a lab, wires in his brain, screaming.
Kei froze. His chest tightened.
"That's not just your memory," the Faceless Man said. "It's your origin."
"Why are you showing me this…?" Kei's voice cracked. "What are you?"
"I am the Archive," he replied, his faceless head tilting. "And your awakening will disrupt more than just this prison. You are becoming the key."
"Key to what?"
The Faceless Man didn't answer. He turned, walking toward the edge of the void.
Before disappearing, he said one thing:
> "When the Neuromancer reaches 100%, the real prison begins."
Then—crack.
The white space broke like glass, shattering into colors. Kei landed hard, gasping, back in his cell… or what was left of it.
The walls were glitched. His hands glowed faintly with circuit-like lines. And carved into the wall behind him—glowing blue letters:
"You are not just inside the prison. You are a part of it."