The Neural-Gate pulsed with a rhythm that matched Seo-Jun's heartbeat. But he wasn't looking at the console. He was staring at the jagged, bleeding text floating in the air before him.
The death of the Inquisitor had triggered something deep within the System's kernel. The world around him slowed to a crawl. Dust motes hung suspended in the air. The roar of the approaching army outside was silenced.
It was just him and the Choice.
[CLASS EVOLUTION AVAILABLE]
[DETECTING HOST AFFINITY... CALCULATING...]
Three cards materialized in front of him.
[OPTION A: WAR GOD]
Description: A path of pure physical dominance. Strength and Agility scaling increased by 200%.
Unique Skill: Titan's Wrath (Become invincible for 10 seconds).
[OPTION B: ARCANE RULER]
Description: Master of the System's magic. Intelligence and Mana scaling increased by 200%.
Unique Skill: Meteor Swarm (Summon orbital bombardment).
Seo-Jun scoffed. "Boring. Standard hero trash."
He looked at the third option. The card wasn't golden or blue. It was black, constantly glitching, the text scrambling and rewriting itself every second.
[OPTION C: #&%@! ERROR #&%@!]
Description: The System does not recognize this class. The Architect fears this path. You will become a living paradox.
Requirements: Must have consumed Administrator-Level Energy. Must have killed an Inquisitor.
Class Name: [THE NULL-SOVEREIGN]
"Now that," Seo-Jun smiled, blood trickling from his nose as the sheer pressure of the card weighed on his soul, "looks like fun."
He reached out and grabbed the black card.
[SELECTION CONFIRMED]
[WARNING: REWRITING EXISTENCE...]
Pain.
It wasn't physical pain. It felt like someone was taking an eraser to his memories, his childhood, his very name, and drawing something darker over the top. The violet circuits on his arm exploded outward, covering his neck, his chest, and half his face in glowing, tribal-like patterns of corruption.
[EVOLUTION COMPLETE]
[CLASS: NULL-SOVEREIGN (UNIQUE)]
[ALL STATS RESET AND RECALCULATED]
[MANA CONVERTED TO: 'GLITCH-ENERGY']
[NEW ULTIMATE SKILL ACQUIRED: 'BLUE SCREEN']
The world snapped back to normal speed.
BOOM.
The entire front wall of the Cathedral vanished. Not from a spell, but from sheer kinetic force. Through the smoke, a tank the size of a two-story house rolled in—a Centurion Siege-Breaker. Behind it marched three hundred elite Enforcers.
"Host identified!" the Siege-Breaker's speakers blared. "Surrender immediately or be reduced to atoms."
Seo-Jun stood up. He felt different. Lighter. He didn't feel like he was fighting the world anymore; he felt like he owned it.
"Zero-One," Seo-Jun said, his voice calm. "Start the upload."
"Are you crazy?" Zero-One screamed in his ear. "There's a Siege-Breaker! That thing has a $10,000,000$ HP shield!"
"Start it."
[UPLOAD INITIATED: 0%... 1%...]
The Siege-Breaker's main cannon whirred to life. A ball of concentrated plasma, hot enough to melt the Cathedral, began to charge.
Seo-Jun walked toward it. He didn't run. He walked.
The Enforcers opened fire. Lasers, bullets, and magic missiles rained down on him. But they didn't hit. As the projectiles entered within a meter of his body, they simply... stopped. They turned into grey pixels and dissolved.
[PASSIVE SKILL: 'ADMINISTRATOR PRIVILEGE (STOLEN)']
[EFFECT: LOW-TIER ATTACKS ARE AUTOMATICALLY DELETED]
"What is happening?" the Siege-Breaker pilot shouted. "Why aren't the weapons registering?"
Seo-Jun stopped directly in front of the tank. The main cannon was fully charged, glowing like a miniature sun.
"You have a nice firewall," Seo-Jun whispered, placing his hand on the tank's armored hull. "Shame I forgot the password."
He activated his new class skill.
[SKILL: 'BLUE SCREEN']
[RANGE: TOUCH]
[EFFECT: FORCED REBOOT OF TARGET REALITY]
A massive shockwave of indigo light exploded from his palm.
The Siege-Breaker didn't explode. It just... died. The glowing cannon turned dark. The anti-gravity treads collapsed. The pilot's screaming stopped instantly as the machine's operating system was wiped clean.
[CRITICAL HIT]
[DAMAGE: ∞]
[TARGET NEUTRALIZED]
The three hundred Enforcers froze. They watched their invincible tank turn into a useless brick of metal in a single second.
Seo-Jun climbed onto the top of the dead tank. He looked down at the army, his new violet markings pulsing menacingly. He raised the Void-Threader, pointing it at the trembling soldiers.
"The update is at 10%," Seo-Jun announced, his voice amplified by the Glitch energy. "You have two choices. You can run, and maybe the Architect will forgive you."
He grinned, the air around him crackling with black lightning.
"Or you can stay, and I'll show you what the void looks like."
[INTIMIDATION CHECK: CRITICAL SUCCESS]
[ENEMY MORALE: BROKEN]
The front line of Enforcers dropped their weapons. They were programmed to fight to the death, but their logic processors were throwing up so many errors just looking at Seo-Jun that they couldn't function.
But suddenly, the sky tore open.
A face appeared in the clouds—giant, constructed of golden light and perfect geometry. It was the face of the Architect.
"ENOUGH."
The voice flattened the remaining Enforcers into the ground. It shook the Cathedral.
"YOU THINK A STOLEN CLASS MAKES YOU A GOD? YOU ARE A BUG. AND I AM ISOLATING THE SERVER."
The ground beneath the Cathedral rumbled. Seo-Jun looked back at the Neural-Gate.
"Zero-One! Status!"
"The upload is at 99%!" she shouted. "But... Seo-Jun, the sensors! The Architect is cutting the Cathedral off from the physical world! He's launching the entire building into the Digital Void!"
Seo-Jun looked at the edges of the room. The marble floor was dissolving into nothingness. The sky outside was turning pitch black.
"He's quarantining me," Seo-Jun realized.
[UPLOAD COMPLETE: 100%]
[GLOBAL VIRUS: INSTALLED]
[CONNECTION TO NULL-SECTOR: SEVERED]
"We got the virus out," Zero-One's voice was breaking up, full of static. "Seo-Jun, get out of there! The portal is closing! Seo-Jun!"
The line went dead.
Seo-Jun stood alone on top of the tank. The army was gone, deleted by the Architect to save resources. The city was gone. There was only the Cathedral, floating in an endless, empty black void.
The golden face of the Architect looked down at him from the darkness.
"NOW," the God said. "IT IS JUST US. LET US SEE HOW LONG YOU SURVIVE IN THE RECYCLE BIN."
Seo-Jun looked around at the emptiness. Most people would have despaired. Most would have begged.
Seo-Jun lit a cigarette, the flame the only light in the infinite dark.
"Just you and me?" Seo-Jun exhaled, sitting down on the turret of the tank. "Perfect. I was getting tired of the interruptions."