The Lunaris sky slowly faded from red to gray, leaving only a dusty haze of light still swirling in the air. The sound of the emergency bell had long since ceased, replaced by a strange silence, as if the world were holding its breath.
Among the ruins, Arjuna stood still, gazing at the now-silent city. He didn't move, didn't speak, as if his mind were elsewhere.
In his faint blue eyes, reality data still rippled, not yet completely extinguished.
[Eve: System recovery process complete. Fluctuations stable below 5%. Environmental status: temporarily safe.]
"Okay," he murmured. "For now."
Lira, standing a few steps behind, looked at him doubtfully. Since the fight, Arjuna hadn't spoken much. His face remained calm, but beneath that calmness was something she couldn't read: a mix of fatigue and emptiness.
"Arjuna… are you okay?" Lira asked quietly.
Arjuna stared at the sky without answering. Only one sentence came out, almost a whisper:
"The world is staring back."
Eve turned to Lira with her characteristically flat hologram expression, but her voice was slightly softer than usual.
[Eve: Recommendation: Full rest. Your system activity has exceeded the biological body's compatibility threshold.]
"Yes," Arjuna replied curtly. "Let's go back first."
Night fell slowly. The Aether Moon hung high above the Guild tower, casting a blue glow across the city that had barely escaped destruction.
Arjuna sat on the sofa in the small inn they were staying in. His robes were neatly folded on the chair, and Eve stood on the right side of the sofa, gazing at him with soft, glowing eyes.
[Eve: Observation: Parameter changes detected. Master's emotional state shows a distinct, significant anomaly.]
Arjuna opened his eyes slowly and stared at the ceiling. "Different?"
[Eve: Confirmation. Your emotional patterns show unbalanced fluctuations. Indications: mental exhaustion or external data resonance.]
"I just… heard something."
[Eve: Elaboration requested. [What 'something'?]
He didn't answer. His body felt heavy, but his mind remained alert. As his eyes slowly closed, the world around him changed.
It was dark.
There was no earth, no sky. Only an infinite void filled with digital stars, particles of light falling like snow, forming countless cosmic pathways.
Arjuna stood in the center, dressed in simple black. Before his eyes, the data formed a glowing circle, and from within it, a voice echoed.
❖
[VOICE]: Operator-Entity detected. Observation layer opened.
❖
The voice was deep, neutral, yet it seemed to resonate directly into consciousness. Unlike Eve, this voice had no emotion, only the pure will of the world.
"So this is what you call surveillance from above?" Arjuna spoke fearlessly. "I have finally been summoned."
❖
[VOICE]: Arjuna Kusuma. An individual with unauthorized access to the Aetherion system layer. You have violated the laws of reality writing.
❖
He smiled faintly. "Breaking the laws? I only repair what is broken."
❖
[VOICE]: The system does not require human correction. The automatic deletion function has failed due to your interference. Stop rewriting the system.
❖
The words echoed, shaking the starry space. But Arjuna remained silent for a moment before replying slowly,
"Stop? I was born to change, not to obey."
The voice was silent for a moment, then rumbled like thousands of frequencies colliding with one point.
❖
[VOICE]: Then divine punishment will be meted out. The Operator entity must be erased for the sake of world stability.
❖
Arjuna looked up. The digital stars around him suddenly shone sharply, transforming into lines of data that were directed toward him. The light was not just light; it was a judgment code, a mechanism for erasing existence.
But he smiled.
"Just try."
The world's voice stopped. For a moment, utter silence enveloped the empty space. Then, something shattered—not sound, but consciousness. The layers of reality around Arjuna trembled, and a complex pattern appeared beneath his feet: Root Seal Override.
[Eve: Severe warning. The higher layers of reality are unstable. Please cease modification, Master.]
Arjuna stared at Eve's voice, faintly appearing in the air. "Don't worry. I'm not rewriting, I'm just... annotating theirs."
The small smile returned to his face. He stared at the light descending from the sky, and with a single hand gesture, the light froze in midair.
The stars stopped moving, time stopped flowing.
❖
[VOICE]: Access denied… Operator-level anomaly detected… reality code cannot be unlocked.
❖
"Now you know," he said calmly. "I am not part of this system."
He raised his right hand, and blue light surged from his body like a tidal wave.
In the light, the digital starspace began to vibrate violently, then shattered into tiny fragments like shattered data glass.
The world's voice screamed silently, fading away with the fading light.
And amidst the destruction, Arjuna stood alone, staring at the void he had created.
"The world tried to punish me, but it forgot… that I was the one rewriting its path."
The white light was blinding.
Arjuna woke abruptly, breathing heavily, cold sweat dripping from his brow.
Eve had appeared beside the bed, her face solemn.
[Eve: Extreme vital anomaly detected. Neuronal signals fluctuate outside safe parameters. Report required: what happened?]
"A call from above," he answered quietly. "They tried to assess, but failed."
Eve stared at him for a long moment, her digital pupils quivering slightly.
[Eve: Analysis: The monitoring entity is now aware of your ability to resist system commands. Probability of further intervention: high.]
"Good. That means they will come directly."
[Eve: Warning. Your actions amount to a provocation to the world system.]
Arjuna stood, taking a deep breath. "That's why I'm here."
He walked to the window. From outside, the moonlight reflected off his face. But something strange appeared on his skin. Glowing symbols slowly appeared, forming a slowly rotating data circle like a living tattoo.
"This…" Lira, who had just woken up, stared in shock. "That light is from your body!"
[Eve: Confirmation. Observation symbol activated. The world is tracking Master's existence directly.]
"Let it be," Arjuna said, staring at his glowing blue palm. "I have no intention of hiding anymore."
Lira stared at him, awe and fear in her eyes.
"Arjuna, what will you do if they come?"
[Eve: Analysis. Potential for world-wide conflict is increasing. Probability of divine entity involvement: 82 percent.]
"If the world wants to erase me, then I will show you what happens when code tries to resist its author."
[Eve: Initializing defense mode. Awaiting Master's primary command.]
Lira stared at Arjuna, awe and fear in her eyes.
Eve looked at Arjuna, then lowered her head slightly, her voice flat but determined:
[Eve: Confirmation of loyalty. I will stay by your side, no matter the consequences.]
"Very well," Arjuna replied. "Because after this, a new game begins."
The sky above Lunaris suddenly shook violently, enveloped in a layered web of light.
The blue streaks rained down, piercing through buildings and the ground, searching for a single point of the Operator's presence.
But the light stopped right above their lodging, spiraling into a large symbol in the sky: Σ-Ω Protocol: Purification Layer Activated.
Eve looked up, then at Arjuna.
[Eve: Confirmation: The world has activated a divine-level purification protocol. The Operator's elimination process begins.]
Arjuna smiled slightly, twirling his data dagger.
"Then, let's see if the divine can erase the author."
The light descended.
The world shook.
And a new story began.