The sky above Silverwood dimmed so abruptly it was as if someone had torn the color out of the world.
Jason Wu didn't look up at first.
He could already *feel* them.
A pressure like needles against bone. A hum beneath the earth, low and wrong. Even the leaves around him curled inward, recoiling from the force leaking into the realm.
Longwu Sword vibrated in his hand.
*["Boy… run."]*
Jason tightened his stance.
"No."
*["…I knew you'd say that, but still—RUN."]*
Jason stepped forward instead, never taking his eyes off the tear in space still closing behind the projection.
The monsters were emerging now.
At first, just silhouettes.
Then shapes.
Then sound.
Not growls.
Not footsteps.
Something like… chattering metal.
Like teeth grinding from inside a hollow shell.
The first creature fully materialized.
It had no eyes. No mouth.
Just a mask-like surface—smooth, pale, reflective—like the projection that spoke earlier, except twisted and stretched into a beast's form.
Its body was a tangle of jointless limbs, moving like liquid over stone. Metallic veins pulsed beneath a semi-transparent skin.
Jason whispered, "What are you?"
It tilted its head, the gesture unnervingly similar to the projection from before.
Then it lunged.
Jason dodged—barely.
A claw swept past where his chest had been, carving through a tree as if it were wet paper. The trunk fell in two silent halves.
Jason hissed a breath.
"Okay. Fast."
Longwu hummed.
*["These things aren't living beings. They're constructs—no, worse. They're echoes formatted into killing shapes."]*
Jason didn't know what that meant, but he understood the important part:
They were designed to kill him.
The second creature dropped from the treetops, landing behind him with the silent grace of a falling feather. Jason rolled forward, parrying the first creature's strike mid-air, sparks scattering.
Before his feet even touched the ground, the third creature appeared from the side, phasing through a boulder as if the rock had become water for just a moment.
Jason brought Longwu up, blocking the slash.
The force rattled his bones.
"Three on one," Jason muttered. "Great."
*["They're testing your reaction window."]* Longwu warned. *"They want data before the real assault."]*
"Real assault? THIS is the warm-up?!"
*["Boy, you have no idea how badly these things want you dead."]*
Jason spun, slicing upward.
The first creature's arm detached—clean cut.
It fell.
Then twitched.
Then reformed—flowing back into shape like melted metal rewiring itself.
Jason took a step back.
"…Okay. That's cheating."
*["Welcome to being hunted by the Termination System."]* Longwu said. *"Where everything is cheating."]*
The three creatures circled him, their blank faces reflecting Jason's own breathless, tense image.
Then—
They moved simultaneously.
Jason braced—but they didn't attack.
They screamed.
But not sound.
A psychic shockwave tore through the clearing, hitting Jason's mind like a hammer. Memories flashed—silver fragments, faces he didn't recognize, lights he'd never seen—
He staggered.
"Ghh—!"
Longwu screamed back, a metallic roar vibrating through Jason's skull.
*["DON'T LET THEM IN!"]*
Jason gripped his sword harder, teeth grit as the wave threatened to tear open parts of his mind he hadn't even known how to name.
The creatures stepped closer.
Their voices overlapped.
**"TERMINATION SEQUENCE: VERIFY."**
**"TERMINATION TARGET: CONFIRMED."**
**"DESTABILIZER: PRESENT."**
**"BEGIN REMOVAL."**
Jason barked out, "NO YOU DON'T!"
He shot forward, blade flashing.
Longwu sang in his hands—a sound of pure, cutting clarity. The nearest creature lunged, but Jason pivoted low, sweeping the blade upward.
This time, he followed through.
Instead of slicing at the limbs, he cut across the center of the creature's mask-like face.
Light burst out.
A shriek—psychic, sharp—ripped across the air, and the creature staggered back, its form glitching like a broken illusion.
Jason exhaled. "Weak point found."
*["Don't celebrate yet—"]*
The other two creatures crashed into him before Longwu finished. Jason slid across the ground, rolling up to his feet with dirt scraping his palms.
He swung—one creature twisted unnaturally, flowing around the blade like liquid.
Jason saw it too late.
The second creature leapt onto him.
It slammed him to the ground, claws pinning his wrists, its faceless head inches above his own.
Its "mouth" opened.
There were no teeth.
Not even a shape.
Just raw, screaming light.
It lunged.
Jason jerked his head aside, barely dodging as the beam seared the earth where his skull had been.
The creature tried again—
Jason heaved upward with both legs, flipping it off him. He rolled, panting.
"Longwu—NOW!"
The sword pulsed.
A resonance shockwave burst outward, knocking all three creatures back.
Jason sprinted toward the nearest one, slicing its mask again. Cracks spread across its form like lightning.
The second creature rushed him—Jason twisted, catching its strike, then reversed momentum and stabbed straight through its mask.
Light erupted.
The creature convulsed and dissolved into dust.
"One down," Jason panted.
*["Two."]*
Jason blinked.
The cracked one behind him finished collapsing.
"…Oh. Nice."
The third creature froze.
Its faceless head turned toward Jason.
Then—slowly—it lifted its hand and tapped the side of its mask. Once. Twice.
Like… someone taking notes.
Jason exhaled sharply. "You're analyzing me."
The creature tilted its head.
Then its form trembled.
Split.
And became two.
Jason swore loudly. "SERIOUSLY?!"
*["Boy,"]* Longwu said dryly, *"welcome to scaling difficulty."]*
The two creatures lunged.
Jason dodged the first, blocked the second, then stabbed forward—but the creature flowed aside, its body bending in ways nothing physical should.
Jason's muscles strained. His breath came ragged. Sweat dripped down his jaw as he slashed, parried, ducked.
They were faster now.
Smarter.
Learning.
One creature flickered behind him—Jason turned just in time to block its strike, but the other one slammed into his back.
He hit the ground hard.
Pain jolted his spine.
*["Jason, SLOW DOWN—!"]* Longwu snapped. *"They're predicting your moves!"]*
"I KNOW!"
He barely rolled aside as a claw carved open the ground.
Jason forced himself up—only to see both creatures' heads tilt.
At the same angle.
At the same moment.
Then, in perfect unison, they whispered:
**"PHASE TWO."**
Longwu froze.
*["…Jason."]*
A long, tense silence.
*["Phase Two is NOT something you can—"]*
The air cracked.
Something flashed behind Jason—
He spun—
Too slow.
A third creature appeared. Taller, sharper, its mask layered with shifting symbols.
Jason tried to raise his sword—
A claw pierced through his shoulder.
Blood splattered the grass.
Jason screamed.
Longwu roared in fury, vibrating with killing intent.
*["JASON! GET UP!"]*
The creatures closed in.
One hissed:
**"TERMINATION: IMMINENT."**
Jason clenched his teeth, vision shaking.
He forced his hand to tighten around Longwu's hilt.
"I… don't… die here…"
The tallest creature pulled its arm free, blade-like claws dripping Jason's blood.
Jason staggered—and fell to one knee.
Everything blurred.
Longwu's voice grew faint.
*["…boy… listen…"]*
*["…don't black out…"]*
Jason raised his head.
And saw—
A silhouette stepping out of the forest behind the creatures.
Not a creature.
Not a projection.
A person.
A real one.
Jason squinted through the pain, vision swimming.
The silhouette lifted a single hand.
A pulse of force erupted outward—silent, invisible, devastating.
All three creatures froze mid-lunge.
Then—
Cracked.
Shattered.
And exploded into shimmering dust.
Jason gasped, falling to both knees.
The world rang.
He looked up, breath shaking.
The figure stepped closer.
Slowly.
Light revealed their face.
Jason's eyes widened.
"You—"
He couldn't finish.
Because the figure smiled softly, almost apologetically.
"Sorry I'm late, Jason," the person said.
"I didn't think they'd send Phase Two this soon."
Jason's blood ran cold.
He knew that voice.
He had heard it once—in a memory he didn't possess, yet felt in his bones.
The person stepped forward—
A young man.
Sharp eyes.
Calm aura.
And the Wu bloodline in every feature.
Jason's heart stopped.
Because the man who saved him looked exactly like—
**Jason Wu.**
But older.
Stronger.
Sharper.
Impossible.
The man smiled faintly.
"Nice to finally meet you, younger me."