The countdown ticked:
[Root Collapse Imminent: 09:43]
Each second felt like an earthquake in Yuto's mind.
He stood within the Genesis Root, surrounded by forgotten admin code, forbidden scripts, and fractured memory cores drifting in void-light. And floating in the core crystal before him: his original body. Unchanged. Untouched by the evolution that had twisted him into a thread-bound bug monster.
"Why is it here, Nyx?" Yuto asked.
"I—I don't know," she stammered. "This violates everything about the reincarnation process. Your old body and soul were supposed to be decompiled into raw karma… yet here it is. Preserved. Protected. Hidden."
Then the light pulsed again.
Another crystal rose from the void.
Inside it, another body.
Older. Gaunt. Bones visible beneath thin skin. Eyes closed in what looked like eternal grief.
A name appeared.
[Subject 001-A: Elric Minos — The First Reincarnator]
Yuto blinked. "The first…?"
"This can't be right..." Nyx said. "That name... Elric Minos was a myth. The supposed origin of the system's first successful reincarnation loop. But even the admins believed he was just a story."
[Error: Admin Access Conflict Detected]
[System Founder Identity: Elric Minos – Preserved in Sleep]
[Access Level: Creator Override]
Then—Elric's eyes opened.
Slowly.
He didn't panic. Didn't speak.
He smiled.
"...Another glitch," Elric said softly. His voice echoed like a lullaby in a dying server. "I was beginning to think the system had stamped out all the bugs."
Yuto raised his guard. Threads flared to life. "Who—what—are you?"
Elric looked at him with a strange mix of pity and admiration. "I was the first. The test subject. I died in the same world you came from. But I didn't reincarnate the way they told you."
"What do you mean?"
"I built the system, Yuto. With others. Back when we thought we were doing something noble. Helping the souls of the dying find new purpose. But somewhere… the system started rewriting itself. Gaining… rules."
Elric looked up at the collapsing data sky.
"Orpheus was the first admin to hijack it."
[Root Collapse Imminent: 07:01]
Yuto stared. "So you're saying this whole thing—this world, the reincarnators, the dungeons—it was all part of a plan?"
"No," Elric said bitterly. "It was supposed to be freedom. But Orpheus turned it into a cycle of control. He's not a god. He's a parasite who thinks deleting glitches like you will keep his illusion intact."
Yuto clenched his clawed fists. "Then I'll end the illusion."
"I hoped you'd say that," Elric said. "Take my key. It's the only way into the Root Compiler—where you can rewrite the system from within."
A thread of light extended from Elric's chest to Yuto's.
[Creator's Key Acquired]
And the system screamed.
"Unauthorized access! Creator Override detected!"
Orpheus roared in a thousand voices.
"YOU WILL NOT UNWRITE ME!"