The shrine was ancient.
Older than the system. Older than the gods who came after.It didn't glow.It hummed.Like it was holding in a scream that had learned how to wait.
Team Catastrophe found it buried under a ruin called Silvertongue's Spine.They stood at the edge of the staircase for a full minute.
No one moved.
Then Kazuki stepped forward.
Kaelith said, "We don't even know what it is."
Kazuki didn't stop walking.
Vera said, "That thing's unstable."
Kazuki didn't flinch.
Darin said, "I'm not gonna lie, the vibes are awful."
Kazuki smiled.
The shrine door didn't open for him.
It tried to shut itself completely. The air buckled. Reality folded. Time blinked sideways.
Kazuki walked through it anyway.
Inside: no boss. No puzzle. Just a swirling knot of system code. It hovered in the center of the room, twitching like a virus pretending to be a prayer.
Mistral whispered, "That's not a shrine. That's a root node. It's wired directly into the world logic."
Kazuki said, "Perfect."
He reached out.
The room screamed.
[System Alert: This action is not permitted.]
[You are not authorized.]
[You are not—]
Kazuki grabbed the code with both hands and pulled.
The echo flared.The shrine convulsed.And Kazuki—
inhaled it.
It entered his body like static fire and divine math. His veins lit up with white-hot syntax. Symbols spun behind his eyes.
And the system started glitching.
[Error: Vessel has consumed shrine logic.][Error: Rewrite Thread moving independently.][Error: Gods are watching.]
Outside, the others watched the shrine cave in.
The air exploded.
And Kazuki walked out.
Unburned. Unbothered.
Eyes glowing with code.
System panel? Gone.
Instead, he had manual access. He whispered into the air:
"/force.clearcorruption(Entity: self)"
And it worked.
Vera stumbled back. "You—what did you do?!"
Kazuki smiled.
"I stopped waiting for permission."
Kaelith raised her bow.
"Step back. You're not safe anymore."
Kazuki didn't move.
"You're right."
He looked up at the sky.
"Neither is the world."
System Broadcast (visible to all guilds, temples, and gods):
⚠️ EMERGENCY NOTICE ⚠️Unauthorized Rewrite DetectedSubject: KazukiAlignment: ???Threat Level: Null-Class BreachResponse: Pending