The bridge was a graveyard.
Broken concrete, twisted metal, and burned marks from the System Enforcer's beams littered the ground. Smoke rose slowly into the sky, mixing with the red glow of distant fires. Survivors sat or stood in silence, too shocked to speak.
They had just watched something that wasn't supposed to exist… get erased.
Kai lay on his back near the edge of the bridge, staring up at the cracked sky. His body still ached, but Maya's healing had saved him from dying.
She sat beside him, holding his hand tightly, as if letting go might make him disappear.
"You really scared me," she whispered.
Kai smiled weakly. "I was trying to scare something else."
She let out a shaky laugh, then suddenly grew serious.
"Kai… what are you?"
He didn't answer right away.
Above her head, nothing glowed anymore.
No fate.
No countdown.
Just her name and class.
For the first time, she was truly unpredictable.
"I'm not special," Kai finally said. "I'm just… outside the rules."
The blue-spear man walked over, his face pale.
"That thing… it wasn't a monster. It wasn't even a boss. It was something else."
"Yeah," Kai said. "It was the System fixing a mistake."
The man looked at him. "And that mistake is you."
Kai met his eyes. "Looks like it."
Suddenly, everyone's blue system windows popped up at once.
[GLOBAL NOTICE][EMERGENCY PATCH APPLIED]
Kai's blood ran cold.
"Everyone, get ready," he said quietly.
"The System just changed something."
The world was about to become far more dangerous.
Every survivor froze as the blue windows hovered in front of their faces.
Some people tried to swipe them away.Some tried to close them.None of it worked.
The text rewrote itself, line by line.
[GLOBAL BALANCE UPDATE][ANOMALY CONTAINMENT MODE ACTIVATED]
Kai felt a cold pressure settle in his chest.
"This is because of us," he muttered.
Maya looked at him. "Because of you."
More text appeared.
[PLAYERS WILL NOW RECEIVE HUNTER MISSIONS][TARGETS: ANOMALIES, UNREGISTERED ENTITIES, FATELESS HUMANS][REWARDS: MASSIVE EXPERIENCE, UNIQUE SKILLS]
The survivors gasped.
A man screamed, "That means—"
Kai finished it for him.
"They just put a bounty on my head."
And on Maya's.
Above some of the Players in the group, new glowing symbols appeared.
HUNTER STATUS: ACTIVE
Kai slowly stood up.
"Everyone who got that symbol…" he said quietly, "step away from us."
The blue-spear man looked at his own glowing mark.
Then at Kai.
Then at Maya.
"I don't want to," he said softly.
Above his head:
FATE: WILL ATTEMPT TO KILL KAI
Kai nodded.
"I know."
The world wasn't just broken anymore.
It was hunting them.
And now…
They were prey.
The air between the group turned sharp.
The people who had received the Hunter symbol slowly stepped back from Kai and Maya. Some did it unwillingly, like they were being pushed by an invisible hand. Others looked… excited.
Free EXP.
Rare rewards.
Unique skills.
The System had made one thing very clear:
Killing Kai and Maya was profitable.
The blue-spear man lowered his weapon slightly, but his hands were trembling.
"Kai… listen. This isn't me. The system—"
"I know," Kai said quietly. "That doesn't change what you'll do."
Above the man's head, the glowing words didn't lie.
FATE: WILL STRIKE FIRST
A woman with glowing claws took a step forward.
"We don't have a choice," she said. "If we don't hunt anomalies, the system will punish us."
Another Hunter laughed nervously. "And the rewards are insane… legendary drops, unique skills… it's like killing a final boss."
Maya clutched Kai's sleeve.
"They're talking about us like we're monsters…"
Kai felt a bitter smile form.
"That's what we are now. To the System."
One of the Hunters suddenly moved.
The blue-spear man lunged, spear flashing straight toward Kai's chest.
Maya screamed.
Kai ducked just in time, the spear slicing the air where his heart had been.
The moment it happened, every Hunter's window flashed.
[HUNT BEGINS]
The System had officially declared them targets.
"RUN!" Kai shouted, grabbing Maya's hand.
They sprinted toward the far end of the bridge as skills exploded behind them — fire, ice, lightning tearing into the concrete.
A Hunter leapt in front of them, blades glowing.
"Sorry," she said. "Nothing personal."
Kai slammed his shoulder into her, knocking her off balance. Maya used her healing energy in a way she didn't even understand yet — a burst of light that blinded the Hunter.
They kept running.
The bridge ended in a steep drop toward a ruined riverside.
Kai didn't slow.
Maya stared at him in panic.
"Kai— there's no road!"
"I know."
He jumped.
The wind tore past them as they fell.
Maya screamed, clutching Kai's arm, her heart pounding so hard he could feel it through her grip. Below them, the dark river rushed violently, reflecting broken lights and burning buildings.
"Trust me!" Kai shouted over the roar.
"I DO!" she screamed back.
They hit the water.
Cold swallowed them whole.
The impact knocked the air out of Kai's lungs, but he held onto Maya as tightly as he could, fighting against the current. The river dragged them under, spinning them like leaves.
Above them, Hunters gathered at the edge of the bridge, staring down.
"Did they just jump?" someone gasped.
"Are they dead?"
Kai kicked upward, breaking through the surface, gasping for air. Maya came up beside him, coughing but alive.
Above her head…
Still nothing.
No fate.
No countdown.
Just freedom.
They let the river carry them away, drifting into the shadows beneath the bridge, where the Hunters couldn't see.
Maya laughed weakly through her tears.
"We just jumped off a bridge to escape people with superpowers."
Kai smiled tiredly.
"And we lived."
Far above, every Hunter received one final message.
[TARGETS LOST]
But Kai knew better.
The hunt had only just begun.