Chapter 3: Street Level Zero
The world above was painted in screams and fire.
Rocky shoved the manhole cover aside, the cast iron grinding against asphalt with a shriek that was lost in the chorus of chaos. He hauled himself onto a street that was no longer familiar. The air, once smelling of exhaust and street food, now carried the copper-tang of blood, the ozone of unleashed energy, and the sour stench of fear.
A car was embedded in the second-story window of a bodega, its alarm bleating weakly. Fires danced in broken shopfronts. And the people… they were either running or fighting. Some fought with newfound, impossible powers—a woman in office wear hurling gouts of water from her palms to douse a fire, a teenager surrounded by a shimmering golden shield as he helped an elderly couple. Others fought with desperation and makeshift weapons—baseball bats, kitchen knives, sheer terror.
[Ambient System Energy Detected.] Orion's voice was a calm, subcutaneous hum in his mind. [Multiple Class Signatures within 100-meter radius. Threat Assessment: Variable. The Paradigm Shift is in its violent stabilization phase.]
Rocky's enhanced senses, a side-effect of Cracker's integration, were overwhelming. He could hear the whisper of shifting rubble three blocks away, the frantic heartbeat of a child hiding in a dumpster, the guttural clicks of something that was not human moving through an alley. His vision was sharper, picking up the faint, colored auras that hung around some of the fighting people—a pale blue around the water-woman, a pulsing gold around the shield-boy.
"Filters," he grunted, closing his eyes for a second. "I need filters."
"Attempting to modulate sensory input. CRACKER's biological interfaces are crude. Adjusting." A wave of digital static seemed to pass over his nerves. The overwhelming cacophony dialed back from a roar to a loud clamor. The auras faded to faint outlines. Manageable.
He moved, sticking to the shadows of ruined buildings. His goal was simple: get to his apartment, grab his real gear—the combat knife, the reinforced boots, the old med-kit—and then find some semblance of high ground to assess this nightmare.
He didn't make it fifty feet.
"Look at this guy! No glow! He's a fuckin' Null!"
Three men blocked the mouth of an alley. They looked like they'd been gym rats before the Awakening, now swollen with unnatural musculature. Each had a faint, ugly brown aura. One held a crowbar crackling with faint, earthy energy. Another had skin that looked like rough bark.
The system text for them was clear and confident, a stark contrast to the error messages he got.
"A Null, out in the open? Brave or stupid," chuckled the one with the crackling crowbar, the presumed Earth-Enforcer. "System says you're worth zero XP. But your gear don't look zero." His eyes landed on Rocky's tool bag and the quality boots.
"Move," Rocky said, his voice low. He kept walking, not breaking stride.
The largest Brute stepped directly into his path, a meaty hand shoving against Rocky's chest. "You don't give orders, Null. You give us your stuff. Then maybe we don't break your legs for fun."
The touch was a mistake.
A jolt, not from Rocky, but from within, shot through his nervous system. It was a flash of pure, undiluted offense. A primordial instinct that viewed the shove as an existential threat.
The black-and-red mark on Rocky's forearm surged.
A whip-like tendril of glossy black biomass, tipped with a blade of hardened red chitin, exploded from the mark. It wasn't a conscious command; it was a reflexive, predatory counter-strike.
It moved faster than a snake.
SHINK.
The tendril speared clean through the Brute's palm with a wet crunch. The man stared, uncomprehending for a second, at the black spike now transfixing his hand. Then the pain hit, and he screamed.
[Hostile Action Detected.]
[CRACKER: Defensive Response Engaged.]
[Biomass Utilization: Minimal.]
"What the hell is that?!" the Earth-Enforcer yelled, raising his energy-crackling crowbar.
Rocky was as stunned as they were. He felt the tendril as an extension of his own body, like a new limb made of liquid steel and hungry shadows. He could feel the warmth of the man's blood on it. He could feel Cracker's dormant consciousness stir, not with thought, but with a simple, visceral satisfaction. Prey. Hurt. Good.
The second Brute roared, swinging a fist at Rocky's head. Rocky's own combat reflexes, heightened by Cracker's integration, took over. He ducked under the wild swing. The black tendril, still impaling the first man's hand, yanked sideways, using the screaming man as a fulcrum to pull Rocky out of the line of attack. It was brutal, efficient, and utterly inhuman.
The Earth-Enforcer brought his crowbar down. Rocky raised his arm instinctively.
A shield of interlocking black plates, hexagonal and glossy, sprouted from his forearm to his elbow, forming instantly.
CLANG!
The energy-enhanced crowbar struck the living shield. The impact shuddered up Rocky's arm, but the shield held without a scratch. Cracks of red light flared across its surface on impact, then faded.
"Biomass consumption increasing," Orion reported clinically. "CRACKER's reactive shaping is instinctual but inefficient. Suggest purposeful direction."
Purposeful direction. Right.
The Enforcer stared at the bizarre shield, his confidence cracking. Rocky didn't give him time to recover. He stepped forward, inside the man's guard. The shield on his arm morphed, the plates flowing and reshaping into a brutal, jagged knuckle-duster over his fist.
He didn't throw a fancy punch. He threw a Marine Corps straight right, powered by his own strength and the dense, alien biomass now reinforcing his skeleton.
It connected with the Enforcer's jaw.
CRUNCH.
The man's head snapped back. He dropped like a sack of stones, the crackle around his crowbar dying.
The first Brute was still writhing, trying to pull his hand off the tendril. The second Brute, seeing his leader down, faltered.
Rocky turned his gaze on him. The tendril retracted from the first man's hand with a sickening slurp, flowing back into the mark on his arm, which now glowed a fierce crimson. The injured Brute collapsed, clutching his ruined hand.
"I said move," Rocky repeated, his voice now carrying a faint, discordant echo—Cracker's predatory rumble underscoring his own.
The remaining Brute stumbled backwards, turned, and ran.
Rocky stood there, breathing heavily. The fight had lasted less than fifteen seconds. He looked at his fist. The knuckle-duster dissolved, flowing back under his skin. Only the pulsing mark remained. He felt a slight… emptiness. A hunger.
"Biomass reserves depleted by 8%. CRACKER requires caloric intake for regeneration. Protein is preferred," Orion stated. "Additionally, you are attracting system attention."
Around him, faint, glitching blue screens flickered in the air, trying to analyze him and failing.
[Scanning... ERROR. Entity Type Mismatch.]
[Attempting Class Identification... ERROR. NULL Protocol Active.]
[Assessing Threat Level... ERROR. Inconsistent Data.]
He was a blind spot. A glitch in the new reality.
"Let's go," he muttered, stepping over the moaning Enforcer. He couldn't afford to be a spectacle.
He moved faster now, a shadow with pulsating scars. He witnessed more fragments of the new world: a man with spectral chains binding a lion-sized insect; a group in matching leather jackets, all with similar wolfish auras, claiming a street as their territory; a weeping woman cradling a body that had been partially crystallized.
He finally reached his apartment building. The door was broken off its hinges. Sounds of looting came from within.
He was about to enter when a choked cry came from a nearby alley. Not a scream of terror, but of pain and exertion. He saw a flash of brilliant silver light, followed by a pained grunt.
Against his better judgment, he edged to the alley mouth and looked.
A young man, maybe in his early twenties, was backed against a wall. He wore what looked like hastily donned fantasy robes, now torn and stained. A silver, arcane symbol hovered weakly in the air before him. He was facing two creatures—dog-sized insects with iridescent shells and razor-sharp forelimbs.
The young man's aura was a fading, brilliant silver.
The Sorcerer thrust his hands out. A thin beam of silver light shot forth, scorching one insect's carapace. It skittered back, chittering in anger. The effort seemed to cost him; he sagged, the symbol flickering. The second insect saw its opening and lunged.
Rocky didn't think. He moved.
He didn't have a plan. But he had anger. Anger at the world, at the system, at the monsters. And he had a new, hungry power that resonated with that anger.
As he sprinted into the alley, he willed the biomass to act. Not defensively, but offensively. He focused on the image of a blade, a scythe, something to cut.
The mark on his arm and another forming on his opposite shoulder blazed. From each, a torrent of black substance erupted, flowing down his arms and solidifying. In his right hand, it formed a long, vicious cleaver of black chitin, its edge gleaming red. In his left, it formed a smaller, serrated dagger.
The lunging insect was in mid-air. Rocky crossed the distance in three powerful strides and brought the cleaver down in a diagonal arc.
THWUNK.
It bit deep into the creature's neck, shearing through shell and sinew. Ichor, black and acidic, sprayed. The creature's momentum carried its corpse past him.
The first, wounded insect turned on him. It spat a glob of corrosive phlegm. Rocky raised his left arm. The dagger morphed, expanding into a small, circular shield. The acid hit and sizzled, but didn't penetrate.
"Biomass reacting to corrosive agent. Neutralizing. Efficiency: 87%," Orion narrated.
Rocky charged the final insect. It raised its bladed forelimbs. He feinted high with the cleaver, then dropped low, the shield on his left arm melting back into a dagger. He drove it up through the insect's soft underthorax, twisting. The creature convulsed and died.
Silence, save for Rocky's heavy breathing and the Sorcerer's weak gasps. The black weapons dissolved, retreating back into his skin. The marks pulsed like angry hearts before slowly fading to a dull, warm presence.
He turned to the Sorcerer. The young man was staring at him, eyes wide with a mix of terror and awe. He saw no glowing Class insignia, no typical aura, just a grim-faced man with strange, fading black scars on his skin who had just dispatched two Void-Striders with brutal, alien weapons.
"You… you're not a Warrior. You're not anything. The system… it glitches when I look at you," the Sorcerer stammered.
"Are you hurt?" Rocky asked, his voice back to its normal gruff tone, the echo gone.
"Mana burn. Just… overdid it." The Sorcerer tried to stand, wobbled. "They came out of a… a rift. Down the street. It just opened in the middle of the air."
A rift. Orion's voice buzzed. "Confirmed. Localized spatial fracture. Likely a low-tier dungeon portal or monster spawn point."
"You need to get somewhere safe," Rocky said, offering a hand.
The Sorcerer took it, hauling himself up. "Safe? Where is that? The 'United Awakened Coalition' broadcasts say to head to shelters, but…" He looked at Rocky with sudden, desperate curiosity. "What are you? Your Class… I've never seen anything like that."
Rocky met his gaze. "I don't have a Class."
The Sorcerer blinked. "That's impossible. Everyone gets a Class. The system doesn't allow…"
[WARNING: Local System Administrator Attention Detected.]
A new, authoritative blue screen, clear and unglitching, appeared in both their visions.
[Anomalous Combat Event Logged.]
[Non-standard Entity Participation Confirmed.]
[Dispatch Directive: Sentinel for verification.]
[Estimated Arrival: 120 seconds.]
"What's a Sentinel?" Rocky asked sharply.
The color drained from the Sorcerer's face. "System police. Hunters for anomalies, cheaters, and… and things that shouldn't exist. If they're coming for you…"
Rocky's mind raced. He looked from the terrified Sorcerer to the notification. He was a glitch. And the system had just sent its debuggers.
"Come with me if you want to live," Rocky said, the old movie line feeling grimly appropriate. "Or don't. But I'm not here to be verified."
He turned and ran, not towards his apartment, but deeper into the chaotic city, towards the maze of alleys and ruins. The Sorcerer, after a terrified glance at the countdown in his vision, scrambled after him.
"The Sentinel will have tracking capabilities," Orion said. "Our only advantage is your NULL status and CRACKER's anomalous biology. We must break line-of-sight and mask your energy signature. I have a proposal. It will require accessing a minor system node—one of the early dungeon rifts."
"Do it," Rocky gritted out, as the sound of powered boots hitting pavement began to echo, unnaturally fast, from the street they'd just left.
The hunt was on.
---
[END OF CHAPTER 3]
Next Time on Apex Paradox: Chapter 4 - Glitch in the System - The chase is on! Rocky must use his Null status and his new symbiotic abilities in clever ways to evade a hunter designed to counter normal Classes. The first dungeon rift awaits!
NULL
Chapter 3: Street Level Zero
(Manhwa × Manga Script Format)
PAGE / SCROLL 1 — CHAOS ABOVE
PANEL 1 (FULL WIDTH / STREET VIEW)
Rocky shoves the manhole cover aside. Streets are burning; fires lick broken buildings.
SFX:
SCREEEE—GRIND
CAPTION:
The world above was painted in screams and fire.
PANEL 2 (CLOSE-UP: ROCKY'S FACE)
Grim, breathing in the acrid air. Senses tingling from Cracker integration.
CAPTION:
Air smelled of blood, ozone, and fear.
PAGE / SCROLL 2 — SURVIVAL SENSES
PANEL 3 (LONG SHOT / STREET CHAOS)
People fighting, using Class powers. Office woman hurls water; teen with golden shield helps an elderly couple.
PANEL 4 (ROCKY'S POV / ENHANCED SENSES)
Colored auras around powered humans, distant rubble shifting, hidden threats in alleyways.
CAPTION:
Filters. I need filters.
PANEL 5 (CLOSE-UP: ORION HUD)
Attempting to modulate sensory input…
PAGE / SCROLL 3 — BLOCKED BY BRUTES
PANEL 6 (ALLEY ENTRANCE / THREE MEN)
Swollen, low-level Brutes with brown auras. Crowbar crackling with energy, bark-like skin.
SYSTEM HUD PANEL:
�
PANEL 7 (CLOSE-UP: LEADER BRUTE)
"A Null? Your gear's not zero…"
PANEL 8 (ROCKY WALKING THROUGH)
"Move," Rocky says, calm, focused.
PAGE / SCROLL 4 — CRACKER STRIKES
PANEL 9 (LARGE PANEL)
Brute shoves Rocky. Tendril bursts from arm, black biomass tipped with red chitin.
SFX:
SHINK!
SYSTEM HUD:
[Hostile Action Detected]
[CRACKER: Defensive Response Engaged]
PANEL 10 (ACTION / PANELS)
Tendril pierces Brute's palm.
Second Brute swings at Rocky.
Tendril yanks Rocky aside, using first Brute as fulcrum.
CAPTION:
Reflexive. Predatory. Inhuman.
PAGE / SCROLL 5 — LIVING SHIELD
PANEL 11 (ROCKY'S ARM)
Hexagonal black plates form, striking crowbar deflected.
SFX:
CLANG!
ORION HUD:
Biomass consumption increasing. Reactive shaping instinctual but inefficient.
PANEL 12 (ROCKY TRANSFORMS ARM INTO KNUCKLE-DUSTER)
Marine Corps straight right connects with Earth-Enforcer jaw.
SFX:
CRUNCH!
PANEL 13 (BRUTES COLLAPSING)
Tendril retracts, biomass retreats under skin. Crimson mark pulses.
CAPTION:
Less than fifteen seconds. Brutal. Efficient. Alien.
PAGE / SCROLL 6 — CITY FRAGMENTS
PANEL 14 (ROCKY MOVING THROUGH RUINS)
Shadows, wolves, crystallized bodies, spectral chains binding giant insects.
CAPTION:
A glimpse of the fractured world.
PANEL 15 (ARRIVING AT APARTMENT)
Door off hinges, looting sounds.
PANEL 16 (DISTANT ALLEY / SILVER LIGHT FLASH)
A young Sorcerer fights Void-Striders.
SYSTEM HUD:
PAGE / SCROLL 7 — FIRST HUMAN ENCOUNTER
PANEL 17 (ROCKY RUNNING INTO ALLEY)
Black biomass forms cleaver and dagger from marks on arms.
SFX:
THWUNK!
PANEL 18 (ATTACKING INSECTS)
Cleaver slices through first insect; dagger shield blocks acidic spit from second insect.
ORION HUD:
Biomass reacting to corrosive agent. Efficiency: 87%
PANEL 19 (FINAL STRIKE)
Dagger morphs, stabs second insect underbelly. It dies.
PAGE / SCROLL 8 — AFTER THE FIGHT
PANEL 20 (ROCKY BREATHING HEAVY, BIOMASS DISSOLVING)
Marks pulse, warm presence under skin.
PANEL 21 (SORCERER AWESTRUCK)
"You… you're not a Warrior. You're not anything. The system… glitches."
ROCKY:
"Are you hurt?"
SORCERER:
"Mana burn… came from a rift down the street."
PAGE / SCROLL 9 — SYSTEM ALERT
PANEL 22 (BLUE SCREEN / HUD)
[Anomalous Combat Event Logged]
[Non-standard Entity Participation Confirmed]
[Dispatch Directive: Sentinel]
[ETA: 120 seconds]
SORCERER:
"Sentinel… hunters for anomalies. If they're coming…"
ROCKY (GRIMLY):
"Come with me if you want to live. Or don't. I'm not here to be verified."
PAGE / SCROLL 10 — HUNT BEGINS
PANEL 23 (ROCKY RUNNING THROUGH RUINS)
Sorcerer scrambling behind him. City a mix of powers, chaos, and destruction.
ORION HUD:
NULL status + CRACKER biology = blind spot. Break line-of-sight. Access minor system node.
CAPTION:
The hunt was on.
END OF CHAPTER 3