Chapter 6: The System’s Judgment

The forest blurred past them as Ethan ran, his breath ragged, his mind racing. The air itself warped in response to the Executors' presence, space twisting unnaturally as reality struggled to correct itself. Each step felt like running through unstable ground, the world shifting unpredictably beneath him.

Vance was ahead, his movements fluid and precise despite the chaos. "Keep moving, kid! Don't look back!"

Ethan didn't need to be told twice.

Behind them, the Executors moved with eerie precision. They didn't run—they simply existed forward, flickering from one position to the next as if obeying a logic beyond normal perception.

Then—reality trembled.

A pulse of power exploded from the Executors, and the world around them glitched. Trees dissolved into static, the ground flickered between textures, and suddenly—the path ahead was gone.

Ethan skidded to a halt just inches before stepping into… nothing.

A vast emptiness stretched before him—a void where the world should be. The ground, the sky, everything in that space had simply ceased to exist. The Executors weren't just altering reality—they were deleting it.

A cold realization settled in.

If they caught him, he wouldn't just die. He'd be erased.

"Vance—!"

Vance acted instantly, grabbing Ethan's collar and hurling him sideways just as the void expanded, swallowing the spot where he'd just stood. The Executors advanced, their presence bending the world further, forcing more of reality into corruption.

Then, for the first time, the system spoke directly to him.

[Final Warning: Unauthorized Data Detected.]

[Executing Judgment Protocol.]

A sharp chime rang through the air—cold, absolute.

And then it appeared.

The sky split apart as a towering sigil of pure energy formed above them, pulsing with the weight of something ancient and absolute. Its very presence sent waves of pressure crashing down, forcing Ethan to his knees.

[System Guardian: Omen-Class Deployer.]

Vance cursed. "No. No, no, no. This is bad."

The sigil twisted, forming into something that wasn't supposed to exist—a mass of jagged, shifting structures that never held a single stable shape. And yet, despite its constantly mutating form, it radiated a singular, terrifying purpose:

Execution.

Ethan barely had time to react before the sky crashed down.

A force beyond comprehension slammed into him, ripping apart everything in its wake. He felt his very being unraveling, his existence fraying at the edges as the system tried to force him out of reality.

And then—

The Mark burned.

A pulse of defiance surged through him, clashing against the system's command. For the briefest moment, the execution stalled.

Ethan's vision blurred. His thoughts fractured. He was somewhere else and nowhere at the same time.

And in that liminal space, a single message flickered into existence.

[Override Request: Accepted.]

[New Directive Imposed.]

Ethan's body snapped back into place. The world reformed around him, and the crushing weight vanished. The sigil above shuddered—as if hesitating.

Vance's eyes widened. "What the hell did you just do?"

Ethan didn't know. But whatever had happened, he had altered the system's judgment.

And the Executors knew it.

For the first time, they moved with something close to urgency. The lead figure raised a hand, the void around them expanding—

But before it could complete its action, the entire system froze.

And then—

Everything reset.

Ethan felt the shift rather than saw it. The forest reappeared, intact as if nothing had happened. The sky was normal again. The void was gone.

The Executors? Gone.

Vance grabbed Ethan by the shoulder, his expression a mix of shock and something close to fear. "Kid… whatever just happened, whatever you did—you forced the system to rewrite itself."

Ethan clenched his fists. He didn't fully understand it yet, but one thing was clear.

The system didn't erase him.

It adapted to him.

And that meant one terrifying truth—

He wasn't just an anomaly anymore.

He was something else.