The leader of the Hunter squad didn't hesitate. To him, Kael wasn't a person; he was a "Null-born" anomaly in a zone that didn't allow for survivors.
"Target confirmed," the leader muttered, his voice cold behind a reinforced visor. "Execute."
The Hunter on the right lunged. He was a D-Rank Warrior, his speed boosted by a basic passive skill. In Kael's current, fragile state, the man moved like a blur. To any other civilian, this was certain death.
But Kael didn't see a man. He saw geometry.
He saw the flaws in the Hunter's stance. He saw the way the mana in the man's boots flickered before the jump. He saw the lag in the System's reinforcement.
⟦ANALYZING ATTACK PATTERN...⟧
⊘ ERROR: DATABASE MISSING
⚡ OVERRIDE: MANUAL INSTINCT ACTIVE
Kael didn't move until the blade was inches from his throat. Then, with a grace that shouldn't belong to a Level 0, he pivoted. It wasn't a dodge; it was a displacement. He used the Hunter's own momentum, his hand catching the man's wrist—not with strength, but with a precise strike to the nerve cluster.
The Hunter's grip failed. The blade fell.
Kael caught it mid-air.
The metal felt heavy. Pathetic. But it was enough.
Slice.
The blade didn't hit the armor. It found the thin gap at the neck—the "Zero Point" that every System-crafted armor possessed.
Blood sprayed across the gray ash.
▣ CRITICAL HIT! ▣
▣ UNAUTHORIZED KILL DETECTED ▣
▣ CALCULATING XP... ERROR ▣
The other hunters froze. Their teammate, a Rank-D Awakened, had just been dropped by a kid with no mana signature.
"What... what did you do?" the leader stammered, his confident stride breaking. He checked his device again. "You're a Null! You don't even have a Class!"
Kael wiped a streak of blood from his cheek. His eyes, once dull, were beginning to sharpen, reflecting the fractured red rifts above.
"The System told you I was weak," Kael said, his voice dropping into a register that made the air grow heavy. "You should learn that the System... lies."
⟦TITLE INTERFERENCE: ⟪THE TYRANT⟫ (SEALED)⟧
⟦LEAKING AUTHORITY: 0.0001%⟧
Suddenly, the pressure in the street changed. It wasn't mana—it was Will.
The hunters felt their knees buckle. Their HUDs began to scream warnings. Red text flooded their vision: ⚠️ WARNING: UNKNOWN ENTITY ⚠️.
"Kill him! All of you, at once!" the leader screamed, panic finally overriding his training.
Four hunters charged. Fireballs formed in the air; arrows of light whistled through the ash.
Kael didn't panic. He closed his eyes.
He reached into the "Void" of his own soul, searching for the fragment of the MERCY PROTOCOL and the REBIRTH data mentioned in his glitched title. He couldn't use magic yet, but he could use the Rules.
If the world is a game, Kael thought, I am the one who wrote the source code.
He whispered a single word in KØDEX:
"⊘ DÈLÈTÈ."
The incoming fireballs didn't explode. They dissolved into static. The light arrows turned into gray dust.
The hunters stopped, staring at their empty hands. They were powerless. For three seconds, Kael had stripped the world of its "System Logic."
In those three seconds, he moved.
He was a ghost in the ash. Thud. Crack. Slice.
When the three seconds ended, Kael stood behind the leader. The other three hunters were on the ground, clutching shattered joints and punctured lungs. They weren't dead—Kael needed them to spread the word.
He pressed the stolen blade against the leader's throat.
"Go back," Kael whispered into the man's ear. "Tell your 'Associations' and your 'Gods' that the registry made an error."
Kael's eyes flared with a cold, violet light.
"Tell them the Tyrant didn't die. He just... restarted."
Kael shoved the man away. The leader scrambled to his feet, sobbing in terror, and fled into the ruins, leaving his fallen comrades behind.
Kael stood alone in the silence. His body began to shake—the backlash of using even 0.0001% of his Will at Level 0 was agonizing. He coughed up a mouthful of dark blood.
▣ BATTLE ENDED ▣
▣ TOTAL XP GAINED: [REDACTED] ▣
▣ LEVEL UP! ▣
▣ LEVEL 0 → 1 ▣
▣ NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: ⟪EYES OF THE FLAWED WORLD⟫ ▣
Kael looked down at his shaking hands. A small, cruel smile touched his lips.
"Level 1," he breathed. "It's a start."
From the shadows of a collapsed skyscraper, a pair of glowing blue eyes watched him. A girl in a tattered cloak gripped her sword, her breath hitching. She had seen the whole thing.
She knew that name.
In the ancient Lyr'Aeil tongue of the Elves, she whispered:
"Ael'vara... Kael..."
Kael turned his head toward her hiding spot. Even at Level 1, his gaze felt like it was piercing her soul.
"Who's there?" he demanded.