The transition was not a movement through space; it was the sensation of being shredded into atoms and reassembled by a cold, indifferent god.
One moment, Alex was standing in the gore-slicked ruins of Cell 47. The next, he was standing in a void of infinite, sterile whiteness. There was no horizon, no floor, and no sky—only a blinding, shadowless expanse that hummed with the vibration of a billion hidden gears.
[ WELCOME TO THE TUTORIAL — STAGE 1 ]
[ ZONE: 404-B (HUMANITY) ]
[ OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE THE FIRST 30 MINUTES ]
Alex stood at the center of the void. Beside him, his two Doppelgangers flickered like glitches in a video game, their eyes glowing with the same eerie gold.
Then, the air rippled.
Hundreds of people began to materialize across the white expanse. Some were screaming, some were vomiting, and others were curled in the fetal position, weeping for mothers who were now light-years away. Among the crowd, Alex saw businessmen in suits, teenagers in hoodies, and—standing a few yards away—James.
James looked small. His hands were shaking so violently he had to tuck them into his armpits.
"Alex?" James's voice was a fragile thread in the cacophony. "Alex! What is this? Where are we?"
Alex moved toward him, his Doppelgangers following in haunting synchronization. "The Shield, James. Remember what I told you. Focus on the blue screen. Claim the Shield."
THE SELECTION
Before James could respond, a screen bloomed in front of every living person.
[ CHOOSE YOUR WEAPON (RANK F - STARTING) ]
Iron Sword
Wooden Staff
Steel Dagger
Reinforced Shield
Battered Bow
"Pick it," Alex commanded.
James didn't hesitate this time. The terror in Alex's eyes was more convincing than any logic. He tapped the Reinforced Shield. In a shower of blue sparks, a heavy, circular plate of scarred iron appeared on his arm. It felt impossibly heavy, yet as his fingers gripped the handle, a faint golden light shimmered across the metal.
[ AWAKENING DETECTED: UNBOUND SHIELD (MYTHIC POTENTIAL) ]
James gasped as the shield hummed against his bone. "It... it feels like it's breathing."
Alex grabbed his own weapon. He didn't choose the sword. He chose the Steel Dagger. He didn't need reach; he needed speed to feed the shadow-fragments inside him.
THE COUNTDOWN ENDS
[ PARTICIPANTS: 500 ]
[ SURVIVAL CONDITION: 50% MUST PERISH FOR THE GATE TO OPEN ]
The weeping stopped. A heavy, pregnant silence fell over the white room.
"Fifty percent?" a woman in a nursing scrub whispered. "That's... that's 250 people. How do we—?"
She didn't finish.
The floor of the white room suddenly bled. Dark, viscous liquid bubbled up from the invisible ground, and from the pools rose the Scavenger Rats. They weren't animals; they were nightmares of fur and serrated bone, the size of large dogs, with eyes that burned like dying coals.
[ MONSTER: VOID SCAVENGER (LVL 1) ]
[ STATUS: HUNGRY ]
"Form a circle!" Alex roared, his voice cutting through the rising panic. "Back to back! If you run, you die!"
But humans are not soldiers; they are prey.
As the first rat lunged, tearing the throat out of a man in a suit, the 500 participants shattered. The white void turned into a slaughterhouse. People tripped over each other, some even pushing others into the jaws of the beasts to buy a second of life.
"James, now!" Alex hissed.
A Scavenger Rat lunged at them, its jaws snapping inches from James's face. Instinctively, James threw up his left arm.
CLANG.
The shield didn't just stop the bite; it erupted. A shockwave of golden force blasted the rat backward, its ribcage imploding before it hit the ground.
[ SKILL ACTIVATED: REFLECTIVE PULSE (LVL 1) ]
James stared at his shield, his breath coming in ragged hitches. "I... I did that?"
"Don't stop!" Alex commanded.
Alex blurred. He didn't just fight; he orchestrated. One Doppelganger moved to James's left, the other to his right. Together, the three Alexes became a whirlwind of silver steel.
Alex's dagger found the soft spots behind the rats' ears. He moved with a cold, surgical precision, his eyes tracking every movement in the room. He wasn't just killing rats; he was watching the people.
He saw Cage.
No, not the Cage he had killed in the prison. This was the "Tutorial Reflection" of the man—a ghost created by the system to test the participants. The System-Cage was already wielding a bloody sword, a cruel smile on his face as he began striking down other humans to speed up the "50% Perish" requirement.
"He's killing people to end the stage faster," James whispered in horror.
"That's how he survived the first time," Alex said, his eyes narrowing into slits. "He's the 'Culling' variable."
Alex kicked a rat away and gripped his dagger tight. The "Regression Bleed" flickered in his mind again, showing him a vision of James falling to Cage's blade.
"Not this time," Alex whispered. "James, hold the line. I'm going to end the stage early."
"Wait, Alex! There are too many of them!"
But Alex was already gone, a streak of black shadow weaving through the chaos toward the man with the bloody sword.