The chamber dissolved.
Not exploded—not collapsed—unraveled.
Like someone had taken reality and tugged a loose thread until the entire room fell apart into strands of light, drifting away like dust on a slow breeze. Jason Wu had to shut his eyes as vertigo hit him hard, stomach lurching as floor, ceiling, and walls vanished beneath his feet.
When the dizziness settled, he was standing on—
Nothing.
A pale, endless expanse of white.Not stone.Not light.Not spirit energy.
Just… blankness.
An infinite sheet of untouched existence.
Jason wiggled his toes. They didn't sink. They didn't stand on anything either. It was like standing on the boundary between moments.
Longwu Sword vibrated uneasily.
["Jason… stay alert. We're not in the chamber anymore.We're outside it."]
Jason asked quietly, "Outside… where?"
["Outside everything."]
Jason swallowed.
"…great."
A small figure stood ten steps ahead—the child in oversized Observer garments, the mask too large for its face, the sleeves dragging behind him like trailing shadows.
The First Error.
He didn't move.Didn't speak.But something about the way his mask tilted—just slightly—felt almost… curious.
As if analyzing Jason the way Jason would watch a strange animal that wandered too close.
Near him, the Administrator materialized again, robes rippling as if resisting the rules of this place.
The Administrator's voice was sharper now.
"This domain is not sanctioned. You do not possess authority to override my verdict."
The child tilted his head in the other direction, the exact same slow, eerie movement.
"…Authority?"
The word left his mouth softly, like someone testing how language worked.Or like a creature that mimicked speech but didn't understand it yet.
The Administrator's mask dimmed.
Jason felt the tension vibrate through the air.
Longwu whispered:
["…Jason. Be careful. This kid… he's not a kid. And he doesn't follow logic as we know it."]
Jason took a breath and stepped forward. "Hey… uh, First Error?"
The masked child turned.
Jason's spine stiffened instantly.
Even though the mask hid his face—
Jason felt seen.Down to the marrow.Down to every fear he hadn't admitted.
"Wow," Jason muttered shakily. "Okay. Nope. Don't like that. At all."
The First Error blinked—or Jason thought he blinked.He wasn't sure.
Then…
"…Jason Wu."
Jason froze.
"You… know my name?"
"I know your existence."
Jason felt something wrap around his chest—like cold fingers reaching from behind the mask and brushing across his heart.
He stepped back instinctively.
"H-hey—slow down with the cryptic horror sentences, please."
The masked child didn't respond.
Instead, he lifted one small hand.
A ripple spread under Jason's feet—not outward, but downward—as though something beneath this blank world stirred.
Jason tensed. "What are you doing—"
"Showing."
The entire white expanse split open like cracking glass.
Jason's eyes widened as shapes formed—
Lines.Threads.Webs of blinding gold and dim silver.
Fate threads.
Millions of them, spanning across everything.
Jason gasped. "This is…"
Longwu crackled.
["The Threads of Mortal Destiny… but why can we see them?"]
The First Error's voice drifted:
"Because you are broken."
Jason scowled. "Rude."
"…Not insult.Description."
With one gesture, the threads surged upward—forming scenes.
Jason saw himself—a faint silhouette—standing at the entrance of Sekte Pedang Bintang.Then another scene—his duel with Senior Sister Xueyin.Then another—the Hollow Abyss trial.Then another—the moment he split the Observer's fate construct.
Each memory flickered like a flame.
Jason gritted his teeth.
"What's the point of showing me this?"
The First Error lowered his hand.
The visions shattered into motes of gold.
Then he approached Jason—
Step.Step.
Each footfall made no sound, yet Jason felt it in the pit of his stomach.
He stopped only a meter away.
"…You are not supposed to exist like this."
Jason frowned. "I didn't ask to be—"
"I know."
For the first time—Jason sensed emotion behind the mask.
Something tiny.A whisper.A feeling like…
Loneliness.
The First Error raised his hand again, pointing to the side.
The blank white expanse distorted—
Revealing a fractured mirror.Not a reflection of light—a reflection of fate.
Jason saw a version of himself—
Broken.Dead.Trapped under rubble.An arm missing.
Another vision—him dying in the first chamber.Another—killed by the Observer's spear.Another—erased before ever reaching Xueyin.
Jason's breath caught.
"What… what is this?"
The First Error spoke calmly:
"These are your fated endings."
Jason staggered.
He stared.
There were dozens.
Hundreds.
Every one of them ended with—
"To die," Jason whispered.
"Yes."
Jason clenched his fists so tightly they trembled.
"Then why am I still alive?"
The First Error tilted his masked head.
"Because you broke the first decision."
Jason froze.
"…first decision?"
The child's voice softened, almost gentle:
"You refused to kneel."
Jason blinked.
That memory flashed—the moment in the Silent Hell when a guardian demanded he kneel,and he refused.
The First Error continued:
"That moment severed your thread.A single defiance.Small for you.Irreversible for fate."
Jason swallowed.
"So I… rewrote my destiny?"
"…You left it."
Jason's breath hitched.
Longwu hummed.
["…So that's what it means. Jason—you're beginning to cultivate outside the Heavens themselves."]
Jason stared at the First Error.
"You… wanted me alive, didn't you?"
Silence.
The child didn't nod.Didn't speak.Didn't move.
But Jason felt the answer.
Yes.
And that terrified him more than the Administrator's verdict.
He whispered: "Why?"
The First Error replied:
"…Because you are the second."
Jason felt the words hit like thunder.
"The… second what?"
"Second error."
Jason froze.
"And… the first error is you?"
The child's mask tilted.
"…Yes."
Jason's heart pounded.
"But… what is an error?"
The First Error lifted a hand and pointed directly at Jason's chest.
"Something fate cannot calculate."
Jason whispered, "…me?"
"Soon."
Jason stepped back.
The First Error took a single step closer.
"Jason Wu.You severed your destined death.You touched a forbidden path.The system will never stop pursuing you again."
Jason clenched Longwu tighter.
"Then why help me? Why stop the Administrator?"
The First Error lowered his head slightly—as if remembering something distant.
"…Because I was alone."
Jason blinked.
"What?"
"…I waited.Long time.For another."
Jason's throat tightened unexpectedly.
"You… were the first person to break fate?"
"…Yes."
Jason swallowed.
"And now… I'm the second."
The First Error did not deny it.
Jason stared at him.
For the first time ever—he felt pity.For something that wasn't human.For something that shouldn't feel.
He whispered, "That must've been… really lonely."
The First Error didn't move.
But Jason felt the air shift.
Like a breath being held.
Then—
"…Yes."
Jason exhaled slowly.
"So what now?"
The child raised his head—
And Jason's blood ran cold.
"Now the System changes its strategy."
The white expanse twisted.
The Administrator appeared again—but not alone.
Six more masked figures appeared behind him.Each radiating pressure like a collapsing star.Each one stronger than the Observer.Some possibly equal to the Administrator.
Jason's breath caught.
"…who—who are they—"
Longwu screamed in his head:
["Jason—those are Fate Executors! This is BAD BAD BAD—these are SYSTEM ENFORCERS, not trial units—!"]
Jason took a step back.
The Executors raised their hands in unison.
The Administrator spoke:
"The Error must be retrieved.Both of them."
Jason blanched. "B—both?! Hey—HEY—leave me out of this family reunion!"
Longwu rattled.
["JASON RUN—"]
The First Error lifted a hand.
The Executors froze mid-motion.Time around them thickened like frozen syrup.
Jason stared.
"…Did he just freeze Executors?"
Longwu's voice cracked.
["Jason, the first Error is on a different scale entirely—this is beyond aberration—"]
Jason gulped.
The First Error turned slowly toward Jason.
"…I cannot hold them long."
Jason felt his pulse spike. "Then what do I do?!"
The child extended his hand—
Toward Jason.
Jason stared.
"What—what do you want—"
"Give me your hand."
Jason stiffened.
Longwu vibrated violently.
["Jason—THINK! We don't know what he'll do—this could bind you, erase you, merge you—"]
Jason hesitated.
One second.
Two.
Then…
He reached out.
His hand met the First Error's.
Soft.
Cold.
And then—
The world exploded into color.
Infinite threads twisted, snapping or rewiring.Power surged through Jason's bones like a cosmic pulse.His spiritual sense expanded so violently he nearly screamed.
Jason gasped:
"W-What—what are you doing to me—?!"
The First Error's voice echoed inside his skull:
"Preparing you.For the hunt."
Jason's eyes widened in horror.
"…the WHAT?!"
The First Error squeezed his hand gently.
"They will chase you now."
Jason shouted, "WHY?! YOU COULD'VE NOT INVOLVED ME—"
"No."
The masked child stepped closer.
Jason felt something shift inside his chest—a second pulse—something unfurling like a hidden organ awakening.
"Because you were already involved.From the moment you were born."
Jason's heart stopped.
"What… do you mean?"
The First Error leaned forward—
And whispered:
"…Your mother severed her fate first."
Jason's mind went blank.
"W—what…?"
But the child released his hand.
He stepped back.
Executors trembled against frozen time.
The Administrator's mask cracked slightly.
Longwu screamed:
["JASON—WE HAVE TO MOVE—NOW!"]
The First Error raised his hand.
A rift opened behind Jason—dark and swirling, yet full of possibilities.
"Go.Grow.Break your destiny fully.Before they catch you."
Jason stared at him.
"You're… helping me escape?"
The First Error's small head tilted.
"…No."
Jason froze.
"I'm helping you become."
Before Jason could speak—
A hand shoved his back.
He fell—
Into the rift—
As the First Error whispered behind him:
"Become the third severance."
Black swallowed him whole.