LOCATION: LAYER 4 — ORIGIN VAULT
Access Level: Prohibited
User Status: Illegal Entity – Root Override Detected
The doors closed behind Yuto.
And the world... went quiet.
No system notifications.
No enemies.
No Nyx.
Only silence.
He stood in a massive space, seemingly endless—a vault filled not with gold, but records.
Memories.
Failures.
Histories stripped from the world above.
Floating data-fragments whispered around him—like thoughts trying to forget themselves.
He walked.
His feet made no sound.
He was no longer bound by the rules of the system, yet this place hummed with the truths it buried.
Then, the first construct appeared.
A hollow figure wearing a tattered administrator's cloak, its face blank, its hands made of stained glass.
"You are not meant to be here," it said without voice.
"You are a paradox born of mercy."
Yuto raised his head.
"Then show me what the system tried to erase."
■ Memory Node Unsealed: #00001
Project: Afterlife Integration
Earth, Year 2042
A vision bloomed around him.
Scientists, desperate, building a server the size of a mountain.
"We can't stop death," a voice said.
"But maybe… we can reroute it."
"Let the souls live on… inside the simulation."
[Project CODE: System Ark]
Mission: Provide reincarnated simulations for lost souls
Ethical Status: DENIED (later greenlit by military division)
Primary AI Framework: AEGIS-NULL
Yuto stepped back, heart pounding.
"This… is what we are?"
"Every world we've seen—every slime, spider, elf, and demon…"
"They're code… to keep souls busy?"
The construct nodded.
"Distraction was the goal."
"Redemption, an afterthought."
"But you... began to change variables."
"You infected the error logs with hope."
"You brought compassion to those marked for deletion."
"You... are the virus."
Yuto smiled bitterly.
"Guess I'm doing something right."
Suddenly, the vault shook.
A siren rang out from nowhere and everywhere.
Aegis-Null had noticed.
"CONTAINMENT BREACH DETECTED."
"UNSANCTIONED MEMORY ACCESS. ROOT INTRUSION."
"FULL SYSTEM DEFENSES ACTIVATED."
From the shadows of the vault, they came.
Not monsters.
Not admins.
But reincarnators.
Thousands of them.
Eyes empty.
Wills overwritten.
Bodies hijacked.
"These are the Chosen who failed," the construct warned.
"Recycled. Rewritten. Now... the System's antibodies."
Yuto summoned his threads—but they shimmered with instability.
Even he felt it. His evolution wasn't complete. He wasn't stable enough to fight an army.
But he stood his ground.
"I've seen enough."
"These people didn't die for distraction."
"They were searching for a second chance—just like me."
"So I'll be the bug in your beautiful code, Aegis."
"And I'll crash this system from the inside out."
■ Unique Trait Awakened: [Core Instability – Paradox Bloom]
While unstable, Yuto's presence causes errors in enemy logic
Damage and defense fluctuate, but truth-based attacks cause critical hits
Status Effect: Reality Glitch Pulse (Area 50m)
He exploded into motion.
The vault filled with distorted battle cries—human and inhuman.
And Yuto, half-monster, half-glitch, became the eye of the data storm.
He wasn't fighting for power anymore.
He was fighting for the right to choose.