Chapter 4 — The First Hunt
The sky broke open.
Not like a storm, or like light tearing clouds.
No — it split as if a knife slid between the seams of reality.
A golden rift peeled downward, widening until the world's newborn sky bled red and gold.
Lyra stumbled back as the wind reversed direction, pulling toward the tear.
"Aris…" her voice shook, "that— that's not another Purge Unit."
He already knew.
The pressure in the air felt different.
Sharper.
Purposeful.
Something aware was coming.
The tear widened—
and the Seraphim descended.
Twelve wings, each feather a blade of encoded light, trailing radiant code.
Not armor — script.
Not flesh — law.
[Entity Detected : Seraphim Prime – High-Tier Hunter Unit]
[Threat Level : Ω++]
[Objective : Eliminate Anomaly Bug #000]
The continent fragment under Aris's feet trembled.
Lyra's breath hitched.
"That thing is sent when worlds refuse to die. It's… an extinction protocol."
Aris didn't answer at first.
He just stared — steady, unblinking.
Something inside him tightened.
Not fear.
Not awe.
Recognition.
This thing represented everything that had erased his world — the rules that said he wasn't meant to survive.
The laws that laughed at his people struggling for life in a "tutorial."
The Seraphim's voice wasn't sound.
It was a command embedded in existence itself.
"Anomaly Aris Vane." "Return to nonexistence."
The world obeyed.
Gravity slammed him downward.
His knees nearly buckled.
The island cracked along its center, stone screaming under pressure.
Lyra was thrown to the ground, gasping under the force.
Aris grit his teeth.
Every bone in his body felt like it was being crushed from the inside out.
So this is their authority.
This is what judged my world unworthy before it even had a chance.
His hands trembled — not from strain, but anger.
Very quietly, he breathed out:
"…No."
Silver code flared beneath his skin.
[Reality Rewrite Lv 3 — Active]
[Command Input: Gravity = Hostile Only]
The world shifted.
The weight disappeared from Aris —
and crashed onto the Seraphim.
The angel's wings slammed downward, smashing the sky into molten light.
The void cracked around it like glass.
Lyra choked on breath, staring.
"You— you made the world hate it instead of you—"
"Not hate," Aris said, voice steady, expression tight.
"Correct."
He pushed off the ground — movement now effortless — and launched forward.
The Seraphim swung its arm, a blade of pure deletion-code slicing through the air.
Aris twisted past it, barely a blur, and drove his palm straight into the creature's chest.
The impact was like striking a burning star.
Code flared, searing his skin raw.
[Warning : Unauthorized contact]
[User Data Stability: Dropping]
Aris ignored it.
His jaw clenched hard enough to ache.
"This is the thing that decided my world wasn't worth existing?"
His voice shook — not weak, but controlled rage.
"You delete entire lives like checking a box."
He activated the skill.
[Error Assimilation — ENGAGED]
Silver cracks spread through the Seraphim's chest, spiderwebbing outward.
The angel convulsed — the sound it made was not a scream, but a distortion, reality itself glitching around it.
Chunks of radiant code tore free, drifting like shards of starlight.
They flowed into Aris.
And the world changed around him.
[New Passive Unlocked: System Sight]
[Effect: See structural code of active entities and environments]
He staggered.
Lyra caught his arm.
"Aris — stop — your body can't handle that much rewrite authority yet!"
He didn't respond.
He couldn't.
The Seraphim's wings flared again — five remaining, burning white-hot.
A rain of radiant swords formed above, hundreds of them, all pointed downward.
Lyra's eyes widened.
"If those land, the island— the Node— everything will—"
"I know."
Aris exhaled sharply.
"Rule four."
[Reality Rewrite Lv 3 — Command Input: Reflection = True]
Every sword reversed course mid-air.
The sky detonated.
The shockwave blew half of the forming atmosphere apart.
The Seraphim reeled back, armor fractured, wings shredded.
Only one glowing eye remained — flickering.
It looked at him.
Not with fear.
With hatred.
"The Guild will unmake you, Error. You are not meant to exist."
Aris stepped forward, breathing harshly, code flickering around him.
"Yeah," he said quietly, voice steady but burning.
"And that's the problem, isn't it?"
He raised his hand — grabbed the Seraphim's halo — and crushed it.
The angel flickered — collapsed — and dissolved into raw data, dispersing like dust on a solar wind.
[Entity 'Seraphim Prime' — Terminated] [Reward : Core Fragment – Hunter Protocol] [Reality Rewrite : Level Up → 4] [New Feature: Temporal Lag — Pause local time for 3 seconds]
Lyra stared, wide-eyed, pale, stunned silent for a long time.
Finally, she managed:
"You… you killed a Seraphim Prime."
Aris wiped glowing residue from his mouth — it wasn't blood anymore.
His voice came out low.
Controlled.
"No," he said.
"I executed the thing that executed my world."
The Origin Node pulsed beneath them, stabilizing.
Stars formed overhead — slowly, flickering into constellations.
Then—
The air rippled.
A message appeared.
Slow.
Heavy.
Unavoidable.
[ALERT: Unauthorized Overkill Detected.]
Another line appeared, glowing deep crimson.
[Broadcasting to All Guild Realms in: 10… 9…]
Lyra's eyes widened.
"They're about to announce you to every overseer, every system, every world—"
Aris looked up at the forming sky — silver clouds spreading, starlight bleeding through.
For the first time since the world died—
He felt something like direction.
He let out a slow breath.
"…Good."
The countdown reached 1.
[Message Sent: "Bug #000 is alive."]
Aris's eyes sharpened.
"Then let them come."