Chapter 7: The Unwritten Path

Ethan's heart pounded in his chest as the forest settled around him, whole once more. The night was still, as if the world itself had forgotten what had just happened. His breath came in ragged bursts, but the Mark on his arm burned hotter than ever.

Vance's grip on his shoulder tightened. His eyes scanned the surroundings, as if expecting the Executors to glitch back into reality at any moment. But nothing came. The system had rewritten itself—resetting the world to before the hunt began.

Ethan swallowed hard. "What… what did I just do?"

Vance let out a low breath, his voice strained. "You forced a rollback. The system patched the anomaly... by including you."

Ethan's pulse quickened. That shouldn't have been possible. The system had tried to erase him—he'd felt it pulling him apart. But the Mark had pushed back, bending the rules in a way even the Executors hadn't anticipated.

He looked down at his arm, the glowing symbol still faintly pulsing beneath his skin.

[Override Request: Accepted.]

[Directive Unwritten.]

"Unwritten?" Ethan muttered under his breath.

Vance's eyes flicked toward the Mark. "That's… not supposed to happen."

Ethan clenched his fist, staring at the flickering message. The Mark hadn't just protected him—it had forced the system to acknowledge him as part of the world. But something told him this wasn't a victory. The system hadn't saved him...

It had absorbed him.

"What does it mean?" Ethan asked, his voice low.

Vance's gaze stayed locked on the Mark. "It means you're in uncharted territory, kid. Whatever you are now—you're not bound by the same rules as the rest of us."

The realization settled heavily in Ethan's chest. If the system couldn't correct him… then it would watch him. Adapt to him.

He wasn't just breaking the game anymore. He was rewriting it from the inside out.

A flicker of possibility stirred in his mind.

Exploits.

He had always thought of the system as something rigid—a machine built on unyielding logic. But if he could glitch the world... if he could make it rewrite itself around him...

He could bend reality.

Vance must have seen something in his eyes, because his expression darkened. "I know what you're thinking, kid. Don't."

Ethan's heart thudded louder. "Why not?"

"Because the moment you start pulling those threads, the whole damn world will unravel." Vance's voice was low, almost pleading. "The Executors are just the system's cleanup crew. You push too far... and the real architects will come for you."

Ethan's fingers twitched at his side. He had already been Marked. Already hunted. The system had tried to erase him—and failed.

He couldn't turn back now.

"If the system's going to watch me," Ethan said slowly, eyes fixed on the glowing Mark, "then I'll give it something to watch."

Vance's smirk returned, faint but edged with something colder. "You're going to get yourself killed."

Ethan met his gaze. "Not if I break the rules first."

The forest stretched silent around them, the weight of their pact sinking into the air.

In the shadows, something shifted—faint, almost imperceptible. The system was still watching.

And Ethan was ready to rewrite everything.