The world didn't return to silence after the battle.
It merely held its breath.
Smoke curled above the ruins of Sector 9, lit faintly by the blood-orange glow of Nyxfang—the demon weapon still clutched in Jiwoon's hand. The Seraphim Executioner, Vael-Zir, was gone—banished, not slain. But everyone knew…
It would return.
A Fracture in the System
Jiwoon stared at his trembling hand. It wasn't fear. It was change.
[System Warning: Sin Integration Level 51% — Status: Unstable]
The Kirin-Dragon silhouette behind him shimmered briefly, then vanished. The battle had awakened something deeper. Something that was no longer content to sleep.
"It's speaking," Jiwoon muttered.
"What is?" Mira asked cautiously, wrapping his wound.
"The sin… It's learning to whisper."
The Null Order Fractures
Within the hideout, arguments erupted.
Some members of the Null Order began to see Jiwoon as a god. Others… saw him as a threat no better than the system.
One of the elders, Gaon, pointed at him with a trembling hand.
"You're not saving us. You're replacing the gods."
"Maybe that's the only way to break them," Jiwoon replied.
A Visitor from the Past
That night, a familiar face returned—limping, wounded, and changed.
Eri.
She had been missing since the Purge Cycle in Sector 3. Her eyes now carried the shimmer of the divine code—but it was… cracked.
"They tried to rewrite me," she whispered.
"But your rebellion—it disrupted their sync. I escaped."
She collapsed into Jiwoon's arms.
"You weren't supposed to be alive…"
"Neither were you," he replied quietly.
A Decision at Dawn
Before the sun rose, Jiwoon stood alone on the balcony of the crumbling bell tower.
[System Notice: Recalibration protocol temporarily halted.]
[Sin Level Stabilizing… Autonomous control granted.]
For the first time, Jiwoon wasn't being watched.
"If I can't destroy the system from the outside," he whispered,
"Then I'll corrupt it from within."
"I'll become the sin they can't cleanse."
As the wind howled through the ruins, the phantom Kirin-Dragon reappeared behind him, more defined than ever—its two heads turning toward the heavens.
The Rebellion of Sin had begun.