The world froze for a breath.
Then everything moved.
The Reaper exploded from the fissure in a blur of digitized shadow and steel. Not running. Glitching. Each footfall twisted gravity, warping space. Its limbs blurred—blades for arms, no face, no eyes—just a scream of executable death and an ever-repeating directive:
DELETE.DELETE.DELETE.
Kael screamed my name.
I didn't answer.
Didn't look back.
Didn't run forward, either.
I sidestepped, just one meter left.
The Reaper passed through the space where I'd been like a bullet.
And tore the stone ridge apart.
Chunks of mountain shattered like glass. Gravity lagged behind for a second, caught in the wake of corrupted physics.
If I'd moved a split-second late—
I would've stopped existing.
Assessment: Standard tactics = invalid.Direct confrontation = deletion.Objective: Survive 180 seconds.Until system stabilization completes.
My brain processed twenty options.
Discarded nineteen.
Kept one.
I bolted.
Down the slope, weaving between jagged terrain, vaulting collapsed branches, sliding over ash-slick rocks.
Kael followed, panting hard. "What the hell is that?!"
"An executioner."
"Can we kill it?!"
"No."
"Then what are we—?!"
"Stalling!"
Behind us, the Reaper glitched through a boulder like it wasn't real. Reality bent around it. Trees screamed as they died. The land itself buckled.
You are being pursued.[Adaptive Pathing Initiated.][Target Analysis Updating in Real Time.]
I dove into a crevice. Rolled. Came up under an overhang.
Kael barely cleared it before the Reaper passed by like a knife through the world.
She stared at me, breathless. "You're smiling."
"I figured out its weakness."
She blinked. "Already?!"
"Yes."
She leaned forward, hope flaring.
"What is it?"
I held up one shaking finger.
"Me."
"…What?"
"I'm the weakness. I'm the anomaly. It doesn't know how to delete what doesn't belong. It's adapting, not reacting."
She looked like she wanted to slap me and hug me at the same time.
"You're saying your survival is breaking it?"
"Yes."
"Great. And what happens when it finishes adapting?"
"We die."
Kael let out a choked laugh.
"I hate this world."
"I plan to burn it down."
We reached the edge of a ravine. A collapsed rope bridge swayed between broken cliff pillars.
No time.
No options.
Behind us, the Reaper screamed again.
I pulled a stone from my pocket.
A perfectly smooth river pebble.
Kael gave me a look. "Are you going to throw a rock at it?!"
"No."
I wound back—
And threw it behind us.
It hit the wall with a sharp, clear ping.
A second later, the Reaper glitched midair.
It twitched.
Paused.
Then turned toward the sound.
Kael stared. "You're manipulating its echo-location?"
"No. I'm programming noise priority overrides."
"That's—wait, you're using SOUND as code?!"
"Yes."
[Pattern Divergence Trait Activated.][System Strain: 11%][Behavioral Disruption: Sustained]
The Reaper vanished from sight.
But I knew it hadn't stopped.
It was recalculating.
And it would come back smarter.
Faster.
Worse.
I looked across the ravine. Twenty meters of broken rope. Swinging planks.
"Kael. Can you jump it?"
"I can try."
"Don't. Jump early. Midway. Let the system track you. Then curve down."
"That doesn't make any—"
"It's watching for solutions. So we give it a lie. Go!"
Kael didn't hesitate. She ran. Leapt.
For a moment, I saw her silhouette against the blood-colored sky.
And then she dropped.
Slid under the rim.
Caught a branch halfway down the wall.
Decoy Jump: registered.Delete Path: recalibrating…
Then the Reaper came back.
Too fast.
Too soon.
I couldn't run anymore.
So I stood there.
Arms open.
Letting it see me.
[System Request: Final Message Before Erasure?][Y/N]
I smiled.
"Yes."
[Recording Initiated.]
And I said:
"Game on."
Then I dropped backward off the cliff.
Wind screamed.
Stone rushed up.
I hit something soft — Kael's body braced below — and together, we crashed into a narrow ledge ten meters down, hidden from direct line of sight.
The Reaper shot past the cliff's edge.
Glitched.
Turned midair.
And then—
Vanished.
[Stabilization Complete.][Entity: Echo Seraph – Recalled][Aberrant Target Status: Pending Review][Class "Unbound" Confirmed]
🧾 [Class: UNBOUND]Description: "A Variable beyond Prediction. A Strategist outside Pattern."System Permissions: Partial OverrideEXP: EnabledSkill Tree: ProceduralTrait: [Hyper Cognition]Trait: [Tactical Aberration]Trait: [Pattern Divergence]
I coughed blood into the dirt.
Kael groaned beside me.
Above, the sky glitched.
For just a second.
A shimmer.
A blink.
And far, far away… I saw it.
The Black Tower.
Tall. Cold. Pulsing with invisible data. Watching.
It knew I was coming.
And now?
I was coming for it.