■ Location: System Labyrinth – Floor 3
Access: Unlocked via Dream Purification
Threat Level: Unknown
Warning: Presence of "Unbound User-Class Entity" Detected
The ground shifted beneath Yuto's feet.
He was no longer in the twisted dream of Kovalein.
Now, the air was clinical. Sterile.
Code ran along the walls like veins.
Giant glass pillars floated midair—each containing fragments of worlds.
Nyx's voice was tight.
[This floor wasn't meant for creatures like us. It's an archive.]
[Of all the Users… who broke their own systems.]
"Welcome, Bug."
A voice echoed—human, but mechanical beneath the surface.
Yuto turned.
Standing at the center of a glowing circular chamber was a man—mid-twenties, long coat, half his body made of translucent code.
His eyes were binary spirals.
On his chest: a glowing User Interface Core.
"You're like me," the man said.
"Or… like I was."
"A former 'player.' Reincarnated. Gifted."
"Until the world turned me into something else."
[Name: Aegis-Null]
Former Reincarnator
Current Title: System Master – Floor 3 Warden
Race: ???
Class: Administrative Root
Alignment: Neutral Hostile
Threat Level: ■■■■■
Nyx whispered:
[He's not just a reincarnator. He merged with his world's system code.]
[He is the floor now.]
Aegis-Null walked slowly.
"I remember Earth. Rain. Coffee. That feeling before finals."
"But I gave all of that up to stop being a puppet."
"You? You're still dancing, little bug."
Yuto's eyes narrowed.
"You call yourself free, but you're chained to the code more than anyone I've met."
Aegis smiled thinly.
"Better to be the jailer than the prisoner."
"Now, show me what kind of god your suffering has made you."
■ Trial of the Third Floor Initiated
→ Objective: Survive 3 Administrative Executions
→ Condition: No external interference (Nyx: Locked)
→ Bonus: Defeat the Warden to gain Class Evolution Node
Aegis raised his hand.
The sky tore.
From it fell three constructs—fragments of his past victims, bound into executable avatars.
Each one mirrored a failed reincarnator.
A sword saint who lost his body.
A priestess who drowned in karma.
A child who grew old in a broken time loop.
"Face your future, Yuto Arakawa," Aegis said.
"Face what happens when the system eats you."
Yuto raised his arms.
His thread flared—silver-blue, burning from inside.
"I don't fear failure," he said.
"I already died once."
"But I'll burn this whole code-cage down before I become you."