The Rift was not a place.
It was a confrontation.
Kael stood alone on a floating platform of stone and silence, surrounded by a sky that didn't exist. The horizon was a void — not dark, but hollow. A dome of memory echoed faint images across the curved distance. His own reflections. His own failures.
The ground beneath his boots pulsed faintly with each step, as if remembering every footprint left by players before him.
If there were any.
He exhaled slowly.
Kureha hummed softly in his grip.
> [RIFT STATUS: ACTIVE]
Objective: Survive.
Exit Condition: Completion of All Phases.
Party Detected: None.
A chime rang across the arena. Sharp. Inevitable.
> [Phase I: Echo of Doubt]
A figure stepped into view across the void.
Kael tensed.
Then he saw the face.
His own.
But not the same.
Not quite.
This one looked smaller, like the weight of a thousand hesitations had crushed something inside him. He dragged his sword like a burden. His armor hung loose, scuffed, and unsalvaged.
The echo spoke first.
"I should've left when I had the chance."
Its voice was his. But thinner. "Before the Vipers. Before Ravel. Before all this burned."
Kael said nothing.
He watched.
The echo's expression twitched, something like shame twisting at its mouth.
"You think you're doing something noble. You think this path matters. It doesn't."
It moved.
Fast.
Not skilled, not composed — but desperate.
Kael deflected the first wild swing and stepped back, measuring the form. Erratic. Terrified. Dangerous only in bursts.
> [Draw Cut Sync: 32.1% – Unstable]
[Mental Clarity: -1]
A blade cut across his side. Not deep, but real. The sting sharpened his focus.
The echo surged again, screaming something incoherent — a swirl of regret, of cowardice, of all the things Kael had nearly become but hadn't.
He didn't speak back.
He stepped in and answered with steel.
Kureha slid across the echo's ribs, catching under the guard. A twist. A slash upward. And a clean finish through the neck.
The echo dissolved. Light scattered like ash in the wind.
> [Phase I Complete]
[CP Restored: +12]
[Draw Cut Sync: 35.8%]
[Mental Clarity: Stabilized]
Kael stood still for a moment, breath steadying.
That one had hurt.
Not the wound.
The memory.
---
The next chime struck like a blade drawn too quickly.
> [Phase II: Echo of Ruthlessness]
Another Kael emerged.
This one was sharper.
His armor gleamed with fresh blood. His movements were precise, practiced — a perfectionist. His eyes were cold. Not cruel. Just... unfeeling.
Kael saw it instantly.
This wasn't him.
Not truly.
This was what he would've become if he'd followed orders, taken every advantage, killed without pause or hesitation. The perfect player. The System's favored son.
"You wasted time with Kyo. With questions," the echo said. "You held back when you could've taken more. You showed mercy where you should've struck."
Kael didn't reply. He adjusted his grip.
The echo smirked.
"Let's see how that worked out for you."
They met in the middle.
---
It wasn't like the first fight.
There was no chaos.
Every strike from the echo was calculated. Clean. Dangerous.
Kael parried, blocked, and pivoted. But it wasn't enough.
The echo adjusted constantly. No wasted motion. No flinches.
He took a cut across the shoulder. Another to the thigh.
He dropped.
Kureha skidded across the stone.
The echo leveled its blade.
"You don't win by being noble. You win by surviving."
Kael looked up.
Bleeding. Breathing hard. Glaring.
"You didn't survive."
He surged forward, barehanded, driving his fist into the echo's jaw. A moment of shock. A hesitation. That was all he needed.
> [New Action: Improvised Grapple – Initiated]
Kael slammed the echo down, reclaimed Kureha, and drove the blade through its heart.
The echo didn't scream.
It looked... relieved.
Then it vanished.
> [Phase II Complete]
[CP Restored: +22]
[Draw Cut Sync: 46.1%]
[Level Up: 19 → 21]
[New Trait Acquired: Persistence]
"When under 30% CP, gain bonus Resolve and unlock counter-response windows."
Kael staggered, panting, body trembling under the weight of strain and something deeper — the understanding of what he could have become.
He gritted his teeth.
This Rift wasn't trying to kill him.
It was trying to judge him.
---
The silence returned.
He knew what was next.
And when the final chime echoed, it came with pressure.
Not physical.
Existential.
> [Phase III: Echo of Obedience]
The last version stepped forward.
Kael's breath caught.
This one looked perfect. Immaculate.
His armor pulsed faintly with System code. His blade was beautiful — too beautiful. A thing forged not in fire, but in programming.
His eyes were empty.
Not dark.
Just... gone.
Kael didn't speak.
Because he didn't need to.
He was the version who had obeyed. Accepted every prompt. Killed every target. Taken every upgrade without question. No rebellion. No resistance. Only optimization.
A walking monument to the System's design.
Kael took a slow step forward.
"I don't need to hear you."
He raised Kureha.
"Because I already know what I'm not."
Then he ran.