Chapter 5: The Hunters of Anomalies

A heavy silence settled over the forest. The wind carried an unnatural chill, rustling the leaves with a whisper that felt almost… sentient. Ethan's instincts screamed at him to move, but his feet refused to budge.

[WARNING: EXECUTORS DEPLOYED.]

The words flickered in his vision like a death sentence.

"Vance," Ethan muttered, his voice barely above a whisper. "What do we do?"

Vance didn't answer immediately. His usual relaxed demeanor was gone, replaced by something far more serious. "Running isn't an option," he finally said. "If they've locked onto you, they'll track you down no matter where you go."

Ethan swallowed hard. "Then fighting?"

Vance exhaled sharply. "You don't fight Executors, kid. You survive them."

A sudden shift in the air sent a jolt of unease through Ethan's body. It wasn't just a sound or movement—it was something deeper, a distortion in the very fabric of reality. The trees around them seemed to flicker, their positions shifting subtly as if the world itself had just glitched.

And then—they arrived.

From the shadows of the trees, figures emerged. Clad in sleek, obsidian armor, their faces obscured by featureless masks, the Executors moved without sound, their presence erasing even the natural ambiance of the forest. The moment they stepped forward, the system itself reacted.

[ERROR: UNAUTHORIZED ENTITIES DETECTED.]

Ethan's breath hitched. Even the system didn't recognize them.

One Executor raised a hand, and the air around Ethan tightened. The world blurred for a split second—his vision distorting like corrupted data. His body locked in place.

A system restriction.

"You are an anomaly." The voice that emerged from the masked figure was cold, devoid of any emotion. "Correction is required."

Ethan struggled, but his limbs refused to obey. A deep pressure bore down on him, like the very laws of the world were trying to erase him. His status flickered uncontrollably.

[Data Conflict Detected.]

[Stabilization Attempt in Progress…]

No. He wouldn't let it end like this.

Something inside him snapped—a resistance to the system's correction. The Mark on his forearm flared to life, the glow burning brighter than before. The crushing force around him wavered, just for a moment, but that was all he needed.

With a final push, Ethan broke free.

The world glitched.

For a split second, time itself stuttered. The trees flickered, the ground warped, and the Executors… hesitated.

Ethan didn't waste a second.

"Move!" Vance roared, grabbing Ethan's arm and yanking him back just as the Executors recovered. A pulse of energy exploded from them, tearing through the space where Ethan had just stood.

The forest shattered.

No, not shattered—desynchronized. The trees, the ground, even the air itself broke apart like fragmented code, leaving nothing but an empty void where reality had once been.

Ethan's mind reeled. They weren't just deleting him. They were deleting everything around him.

"We need to go. Now."

Vance didn't wait for a response. He dragged Ethan forward, weaving through the twisting landscape as the Executors moved in pursuit.

And in that moment, Ethan understood something terrifying.

The system didn't just see him as an anomaly.

It saw him as a threat.