The wasteland quaked.
Chains crashed down from the sky in burning arcs, gouging deep trenches into the asphalt, wrapping around shattered lamp posts, clawing through the bones of forgotten towers. They writhed like serpents, alive, seeking prey.
Seong-wu raised his blade, golden aura screaming against the descending storm. Do-hyun cursed and pulled Arin back, while Ha-young's eyes flickered, calculating escape paths even as fire rained around them.
But the chains did not strike them.
They struck Hae-won.
A dozen links whipped around his body, cold as molten iron, biting into his skin but not cutting. He staggered, choking against the sudden weight, vision swimming as the world blurred between timelines.
[ Target Identified: Instability. ]
[ Penalty Execution: Commencing. ]
The words burned across the black sky.
Arin screamed. "Let him go!"
But the chains only tightened, dragging Hae-won to his knees. His chest convulsed—phantom wounds tearing open again, five hundred deaths replaying all at once. His breath hitched, a ragged, broken sound.
And then—
Something shifted.
The chains did not crush him. They shuddered.
Every death he had carried, every regression carved into his bones, pulsed through him like echoes in iron. He saw himself crushed under rubble, pierced by the debt-sword, burned by the Titan's fire. He felt the weight of his failures—but the chains felt it too.
One death. One link.
Each failure he had suffered did not vanish. They forged themselves into steel.
The links binding him glowed faintly crimson, their rattling slowing. Instead of constricting, they bent. Reshaped. The weight did not vanish—but it shifted, flowing into his hands.
[ Recognition Complete. ]
[ Authority Granted: Warden of the Chains. ]
Hae-won's fingers curled around a length of glowing iron that now answered to him. He pulled—and the links unraveled, coiling into a weapon. A whip, a blade, a shield. Alive. His.
The chains no longer dragged him. They bowed.
The ground quaked again as the system's voice screamed:
[ Mutation Complete. ]
[ Trial of Chains: Survival Against the Warden. ]
Do-hyun's face went pale. "Don't tell me—"
Seong-wu's golden aura flared, his expression unreadable. "…The scenario just made him the enemy."
Arin clutched Hae-won's arm, eyes wide with both fear and fierce refusal. "No. He's not the enemy. He's—"
But Hae-won cut her off, his voice hoarse but steady, the chains writhing in his grasp.
"No. They chose me."
He lifted the crimson-etched weapon, the weight of five hundred failures singing through the metal.
"If I'm the Warden, then I'll decide who these chains bind."
The others stepped back, caught between awe and terror, as the Trial howled around them.
And for the first time in this scenario, Hae-won was not just surviving it—he was rewriting it.
The first chain in his hand thrummed with life. Heavy, cold, unyielding—yet it pulsed in rhythm with his heart.
Hae-won staggered, chest heaving. The others watched in frozen silence, the Trial's shifting ground groaning beneath them.
[ Authority of the Warden: Initiated. ]
[ Binding Rule: For every death endured, a chain shall be forged. ]
The words carved themselves into his bones.
A flicker of light burned at his feet. Another chain slithered up from the ground, wrapping around his arm. Then another. And another. Links of memory, each glowing faintly with echoes of past agony.
The rubble that had once crushed his skull.
The fire that had burned him alive.
The sword of debt that had pierced his chest.
All of them. Carved into steel.
He dropped to one knee, gasping as the weight multiplied. Every link was heavy, dragging at his limbs, a ledger of pain made manifest.
Arin's voice shook. "Stop—! It's too much—you'll die—"
"No," Hae-won rasped. His fingers dug into the glowing links, pulling them into a single weapon that wrapped around his arm like living armor. His eyes burned crimson. "I've already died. Over and over. This time—I'll make every death count."
The system trembled in response.
[ Warden's Rule Engaged. ]
[ All chains shall obey the one who has borne them. ]
Do-hyun stumbled back, awe and terror on his face. "He's… turning every failure into power."
Seong-wu's grip on his blade tightened, golden light flashing in his eyes. "…Or into madness."
Because the more chains wrapped around him, the more his body shook. His mind flickered with phantom deaths, echoes screaming at him in unison. The agony of five hundred failures roared in his skull, trying to drag him under.
But he held on.
Because for the first time since the regressions began, he wasn't powerless.
Every scar. Every death. Every scream.
They weren't just memories.
They were weapons.
And he would use them all.
The chains writhed around him like serpents of molten steel. They dragged against the black stone, carving glowing grooves with every step.
The Trial shifted. From the endless towers came shapes—abominations bound in rusted links, their bodies twisting like warped reflections of him. The Trial of Chains had made its judgment: to test the Warden with his own burden.
They came at him.
Hae-won raised his arm. The chains surged forward, striking like whips of light and shadow, shattering the first abomination into sparks. Another followed—he swung, and the creature crumpled under the crushing weight of five hundred deaths.
But then—
A chain broke.
The sound split the wasteland like thunder.
Hae-won staggered, breath tearing out of his chest. The broken link dissolved into dust, vanishing into the void.
And in its place—something stirred.
A voice.
Low. Endless. Older than gods.
"…One step closer."
The words did not come from the system. They came from within the fracture in the chain, a space too vast to name.
Hae-won's vision blurred. For a heartbeat, he saw an expanse of nothingness. Thrones shattered. Stars falling like ash. A presence that made gods look like ants.
The chain at his side glowed brighter, tighter, as if the others were straining to hold back what had just been glimpsed.
Arin's scream cut through the haze. "Hae-won—! Your arm—"
He looked down. His skin had cracked along the wrist where the chain had broken, crimson light spilling out like fire. His flesh wasn't unraveling—his humanity was.
The voice came again, softer this time.
"…Break them all, and I will be free."
Hae-won clenched his teeth, yanking the remaining chains taut.
"No," he rasped, forcing the power back down, binding it. "Not yet."
The abominations hesitated. Even they seemed to recoil from what had awakened.
Do-hyun whispered hoarsely, "What the hell is he? That wasn't… that wasn't human."
Seong-wu's eyes narrowed, golden blade trembling in his grip. "If those chains ever shatter completely… he won't be either."
The Trial's bell tolled. Six hours were gone. The first stage had ended.
But as the wasteland fell into silence, the echo of that voice still lingered in Hae-won's skull.
One step closer.