Ethan's pulse remained steady, but he could feel it—the system had noticed.
The air around them shifted, thickening with something unnatural. The forest, once an expanse of darkened silence, now carried a presence. The leaves rustled, but there was no wind. The ground beneath his feet hummed with an unseen force.
Vance cursed under his breath. "It's reacting. Hard."
Ethan flexed his fingers, the lingering sensation of desynchronization still clinging to his skin. "Good. That means I'm getting somewhere."
Vance's expression was unreadable, but his stance tensed. "You don't get it, kid. The system doesn't just sit back and watch when someone breaks the rules. It corrects."
A low hum rippled through the air.
Then—
[System Stabilization Protocol Engaged.]
A cold wave of force crashed into them. Ethan staggered, his vision flickering as a sharp pressure pushed against his body.
It wasn't just an attack.
It was a rollback.
The system was trying to undo him.
Ethan gritted his teeth, planting his feet. He refused to move—refused to let it rewrite him. He reached out, grasping for the instability he had touched before, forcing himself to sync with it.
And then—
Everything split.
For a brief, excruciating moment, he existed in two states. One where the rollback succeeded, wiping away his presence—erasing him. And one where he fought back.
He forced himself into the second.
[Rollback Error. System Discrepancy Detected.]
The pressure shattered. Ethan gasped as the world snapped back into place around him. The system had tried to erase him—and failed.
Vance stared at him in stunned silence. "...Did you just resist a system reset?"
Ethan exhaled, his heart still racing. "Yeah. And it won't be the last time."
The presence in the forest grew stronger. Something was coming.
Ethan clenched his fists.
If the system wanted a fight, he was ready.