The sky above Lansing still bled with static.
Cracks of pale light ran through the clouds like veins under skin, pulsing with the same rhythm as the System's strange hum. Every few seconds, Ethan swore he could feel it vibrate through his bones — faint, like the city itself had a heartbeat now.
The streets were silent except for the shuffle of his undead trailing behind him. The corpse still wore its store clerk uniform, now stiff with frost, its once-vacant eyes glowing a faint, obedient blue.
It followed without sound. Without thought.
Ethan wasn't sure if that comforted or disturbed him.
He adjusted the strap of his training bag and moved down the cracked road, scanning the frost-coated buildings. Most of the lights were dead. A few car alarms echoed faintly in the distance — their mechanical wails hollow in the stillness.
A half-burned banner from a sporting goods store hung across the street, frozen in mid-sway. GRAND OPENING.
It felt obscene.
The System had said "dungeons forming," but he hadn't expected… this. Not the air turning sharp and thin, not the layer of ice crawling across pavement in perfect symmetry, as if nature had decided to sculpt geometry into the world.
He paused.
The frost beneath his boots shimmered — faintly glowing blue lines running in perfect hexagonal patterns across the ground.
[Environmental Change Detected: Reality Distortion Level 7%.]
[New Sub-Structure Forming: Classification — Dungeon.]
Ethan crouched down. The ice hummed softly under his touch.
It wasn't melting. It wasn't spreading randomly either. It was growing outward in veins.
Like roots.
"Jesus…" he whispered. "It's alive."
Behind him, his undead shifted slightly, drawn to the energy. Ethan felt the connection between them — faint but real, like a tether of cold light in his mind.
It felt… natural. Too natural.
He exhaled, breath clouding in front of him. "You feel it too, huh?"
The corpse tilted its head but said nothing.
He continued forward.
The farther he walked, the thicker the frost became. The buildings ahead were half-transformed — the brick turning translucent, glass warping into jagged, crystalline spires. Streetlamps bent unnaturally, their poles twisting into spiral shapes coated with rime.
This wasn't destruction. It was mutation.
At the heart of it all stood what used to be a park fountain. Now it was unrecognizable — the frozen remains of water suspended mid-air, forming a column of spiraling ice that reached twenty feet high.
Within it, something pulsed.
A light — soft at first, then steady.
[Dungeon Core Detected.]
[Tier 1 — Type: Frost Elemental Nexus.]
[Warning: Reality Stabilization at 46%.]
The last message made him pause. "Stabilization?" he repeated quietly. "So… this thing's building itself?"
The undead groaned faintly beside him, the blue glow of its eyes intensifying.
Ethan took a step closer. His reflection shimmered across the frozen surface — the faint aura of frost clinging to his skin, his breath crystallizing in the air.
And beneath the ice, shapes began to move.
A muffled crack echoed through the plaza. Then another.
Ethan stepped back just as the frozen ground split open. Arms — blue, skeletal, and wreathed in frost — clawed their way free. One. Then another.
The System flickered.
[Hostile Entities Detected.]
[Frostbound Remnants — Level 4.]
There were three of them at first. Then six. Then more — crawling from beneath the ice, their joints grinding like glass on glass.
Ethan gripped the splintered remains of his shinai. He could feel mana coursing through him — cold, heavy, hungry.
"Stay close," he said to his undead. It obeyed instantly, stepping between him and the oncoming enemies.
The first Remnant lunged, its claws scraping across the concrete. Ethan sidestepped, frost exploding under his boots as he swung. The strike shattered one of its arms but didn't stop it. The thing kept coming, mouth opening in a soundless scream.
[Skill Activated: Soulrend.]
Ethan thrust his hand forward. A coil of necrotic frost erupted from his palm, tearing through the creature's chest and freezing it solid.
It collapsed instantly — motionless, then dust.
[+65 EXP.]
He barely had time to breathe before two more leapt at him. His ghoul intercepted one, slamming it to the ground, its own claws ripping into ice-like flesh. The second Remnant hit Ethan square in the chest. He went down hard, air leaving his lungs in a burst of frost.
[Health: 172 / 215.]
The creature snapped its jaws toward his throat, but Ethan's instincts took over. He jammed his hand against its face and unleashed another spell.
[Skill: Soulbreaker.]
The frost detonated at point-blank range, launching the corpse backward in a shower of shattered ice.
His hands trembled from the recoil. He'd used too much mana too quickly.
[Mana: 47 / 160.]
The last Remnant lunged again. Ethan dropped low and rolled aside, coming up behind it. He grabbed his weapon with both hands and swung — not at its body, but at the ground.
[Skill Activated: Reaper's Reach.]
A line of blue light cut through the frost, splitting the creature cleanly in two. Its upper half slid off the lower, ice cracking beneath the weight.
Silence followed.
Ethan's breathing slowed. The faint sound of dripping frostwater filled the plaza.
[Enemies Defeated.]
[Level Up: 3 → 4.]
He looked down at the nearest corpse. It was already starting to fade — not decay, but dissolve, particles of frost rising from its body and floating toward the Dungeon Core.
The dungeon was feeding.
Ethan stood for a long time, staring at the light pulsing at the center of the frozen fountain. Each pulse now seemed to sync with his heartbeat.
He didn't know what the Core truly was — but he knew power when he felt it.
And it was calling to him.
[Optional Interaction Available: Extract Dungeon Essence? (Y/N)]
He hesitated. Then, slowly, he reached out.
The moment his fingers brushed the ice, his vision filled with blue light. His mind flooded with cold — sharp, precise, endless. The kind of cold that could strip away everything human and leave only focus.
He pulled his hand back with a gasp. Frost steamed from his fingertips.
[Dungeon Essence Acquired.]
[Item: Soulforge Shard — Tier 1.]
The small shard materialized in his palm, its surface glowing faintly with spectral light.
It pulsed — once. Then twice. Then quiet.
Ethan exhaled and slipped it into his pocket.
Behind him, his undead still stood waiting. Its head was bowed slightly, almost reverent. Ethan wasn't sure if that was programming… or worship.
By the time he made it back toward the edge of town, the temperature had started to rise again. The frost retreated slowly, melting into mist.
But the shapes of the buildings — the warped glass, the twisted streetlamps — remained wrong.
They would never be the same.
And somewhere in the distance, other lights began to appear on the horizon. Blue. Red. Gold.
Dozens of them.
[Multiple Dungeon Formations Detected Across the Region.]
[Estimated Count: 12 and increasing.]
The world was rewriting itself in real time.
Ethan looked toward the horizon, where the nearest distortion pulsed faintly like a heartbeat. His breath curled in the cold air, the faint frost in his veins pulsing with power.
"Guess the world's decided to start over," he said quietly.
The ghoul grunted beside him, and Ethan smiled faintly.
"Then so will I."
He started walking again, the mist parting around him. His reflection shimmered faintly across the frost — a man walking between life and death, the air freezing in his wake.
And behind him, his undead followed in perfect silence.
The new world had begun — and its first Death Knight was already learning how to rule it.
The wind cut colder now.
Even as the frost receded, the air still carried the bite of the dungeon's magic, a reminder that the world wasn't finished changing. Ethan walked down the deserted street, his undead trailing behind him like a silent shadow.
A police cruiser lay on its side ahead, lights still flashing weakly, the red-and-blue glow flickering through sheets of melting ice. The windshield was shattered inward. Ethan slowed, watching the frozen spatter pattern across the driver's seat.
He had seen death before — accidents, sparring injuries gone wrong — but this was different. There was intent behind this. A pattern, even in the carnage.
The System pulsed faintly at the edge of his vision.
[Residual Mana Detected.]
[Source: Unknown Lifeform — Active Signature Nearby.]
Ethan crouched, resting one hand on the cruiser. The metal burned with cold. The mana felt thick, oily. Wrong.
He straightened slowly and whispered, "We're not alone."
His undead's head turned toward the nearest alley. Its jaw cracked as if sniffing. A faint growl escaped its throat.
Then he saw movement.
Something crawled from the shadow of a collapsed storefront — thin, fast, on all fours. Its skin shimmered with a translucent sheen, almost crystalline.
[Entity: Frostspawn — Level 6]
The creature lunged before the notification finished forming. Ethan barely raised his arm in time. Claws raked across his forearm, cutting through cloth but leaving no blood — the wound instantly sealing with frost.
He twisted, slammed his boot into the thing's chest, and flung it backward. His undead charged, tackling the creature mid-air, pinning it.
Ethan lifted a hand, focusing on the tether that bound his minion. The connection brightened.
[Skill Activated: Soulbreaker]
Frost flared through the ghoul's hands, spreading into the Frostspawn's body. The two froze together — a grotesque sculpture of claw and bone — before the light inside both faded to black.
[Enemy Defeated +190 EXP]
[Minion Destroyed.]
Ethan let out a long breath, chest heaving. "That's two you've lost," he muttered to himself. "I need something that lasts."
The corpse crackled.
He stared down at it. The ice that had fused them together began to melt, but the Frostspawn's heart — if it could be called that — glowed faintly with blue light.
[Option Available: Absorb Core? (Y/N)]
He hesitated. Then: "Yes."
The moment the shard touched his palm, frost lanced up his veins. The pain was sharp, electric — and then gone, replaced by clarity.
[Essence Absorbed.]
[Skill Unlocked: Frozen Pact (Level 1).]
Allows the Death Knight to strengthen undead by binding monster essence to them.
Ethan flexed his fingers. Frost shimmered over his knuckles, forming delicate patterns before fading.
He knelt beside the fallen ghoul, touching its chest. "You served well," he whispered. "Let's make sure you stay that way."
The air grew colder. Ice spread from his hand, wrapping the body like a cocoon. The glow intensified — then the ghoul's eyes snapped open again, brighter than before.
[Minion Reforged: Frost-Bound Ghoul (Rank E–).]
The creature rose, bowing slightly. Ethan could feel its strength, its movements smoother now, the frost around it alive.
A thin smile crossed his lips. "Much better."
He continued down the street, following the faint hum of magic that now seemed to weave through the air like static.
Here and there, streetlights flickered to life, powered not by electricity but by trapped shards of glowing mana. A half-collapsed billboard buzzed faintly with blue light. The entire city felt like a broken circuit struggling to restart.
He turned a corner — and froze.
A group of survivors huddled near the entrance of a coffee shop, the shattered glass front barricaded with overturned tables. A fire burned inside a metal trash can. They were armed with scavenged weapons: pipes, kitchen knives, one with a baseball bat.
When they saw him, they stiffened.
"Stay back!" someone shouted.
Ethan stopped several feet away. His undead halted behind him, silent.
The woman at the front — mid-thirties, hair tied back, eyes wild — pointed the bat at him. "Those things behind you," she said hoarsely. "What the hell are they?"
"Mine," Ethan replied evenly.
Her expression twisted. "Yours? You did this to them?"
"No. The world did. I just learned to use it."
A man stepped up beside her, clutching a jagged piece of rebar. "You one of those System freaks? I saw a guy throwing fire down the street an hour ago! He burned half a block!"
Ethan's gaze hardened. "And how many people did he save?"
The man faltered.
Ethan glanced toward the sky — still pulsing faintly with the same fractured glow. "If you're alive, it's because something stronger decided to ignore you. That won't last. You need shelter, food, weapons… and someone who can fight."
"You?" the woman asked, disbelief dripping from her tone.
"Unless you know someone better."
Silence. The fire crackled. Someone sobbed softly in the back of the group.
Finally, the woman lowered the bat an inch. "Fine. You can come inside. But those… things stay out here."
Ethan looked back at his minions. "Guard," he said simply. The two undead moved to the building's entrance and went still, like statues of ice.
Inside, the air was warmer, though smoke and fear hung heavy. The survivors huddled close, whispering.
"How long has it been?" Ethan asked.
The woman hesitated. "Since the message in the sky? About twelve hours. Phones don't work. No power, no news. Everything outside the city's dark."
"Twelve hours," he murmured. "And already dungeons are forming."
"Dungeons?"
"That's what the System calls them. Pockets of altered reality. They grow wherever the world's thin."
"You talk like you know this."
"I've seen one."
That drew silence. The fire popped. One of the survivors — a teenager with a cut across his cheek — leaned forward. "What's inside them?"
Ethan met his eyes. "Death. And power."
He left before dawn.
The others tried to stop him — begged him to stay, to wait for the army, for rescue — but Ethan had already seen what rescue looked like in this new world: hesitation and corpses.
The frost was thicker by morning. The sun rose pale and distant behind a veil of shimmering clouds.
As he walked, notifications flickered across his vision.
[Global Status Update.]
[New Dungeons Formed Worldwide: 1,287.]
[Class Distribution Expanding.]
[System Synchronization: Phase Two Beginning.]
The last line made his gut tighten.
He found an overpass overlooking the frozen city. Smoke rose from distant fires; the skyline glittered faintly where frost had devoured glass and steel.
This was Michigan. His home. His training ground. His graveyard.
He reached into his pocket, pulling out the Soulforge Shard he'd taken from the first dungeon. It pulsed faintly in his hand.
He placed it against the hilt of his broken shinai and willed the mana to flow.
The wood cracked, reshaping itself under his fingers — frost crawling along its length, hardening into blackened metal. Runes carved themselves into the surface, glowing briefly before cooling to dull blue.
[Item Created: Runeblade Prototype — Tier 1.]
A weapon forged from will and dungeon essence. Binds to the soul of its creator.
Ethan swung the blade once. The air shimmered with a trail of mist.
For the first time, he felt right.
He looked out across the frozen horizon — to the dozen flickering lights of forming dungeons, to the smoke rising where cities once lived.
"This isn't the end," he whispered. "It's the beginning."
The frost on the guardrail spread outward from his touch, blooming in intricate shapes that caught the dawn light.
Behind him, his undead stood motionless, the faint wind carrying whispers through their hollow throats — like a vow.
The Death Knight walks. The world freezes in his wake.