Echo of Another Collector

The red warning words still pulsed in Kairn's vision, breaking the quiet of his cold victory.

[Warning! Rogue Debt Collector detected in Target World: Delta-7b. Anomaly Level: High.]

[New Contract Issued: Emergency.]

[Objective: Neutralize Rogue Collector "The Crow" and retrieve the "Echo of Time" he stole.]

"A rogue... collector?"

For the first time since his arrival in this world, a glimmer of genuine interest appeared in Kairn's cold eyes. His mission wasn't just to deal with a naive Incarnation following a script; it was to confront another entity of his own kind, one that had gone rogue from the System's control. This changed everything.

He thought for a moment about Isabella. She was just a simple variable efficiently neutralized. The System had left her to face the consequences of her actions in her collapsing world—bankruptcy, shame, and criminal suspicion. Her deviation had been "corrected."

"But this..." Kairn thought, "this is different. Incarnations like her who occupy bodies that don't belong to them... they are viruses, anomalies in the fabric of reality that shouldn't exist. Gentle correction isn't always the most efficient solution. Sometimes... complete deletion from existence is the only way to ensure the virus never returns."

He had grasped this principle through his interaction with the System. His task wasn't always to "fix" the target's life, but to "fix" the entire timeline. And if the target's existence was the problem, the most logical solution was... removal.

"The Crow," this rogue collector, certainly fell into that category. He wasn't just a deviation; he was a competitor, a direct threat.

[Loading Target File: "The Crow."]

[Known Abilities: Shadow manipulation, limited temporal echo absorption, high assassination skills.]

[Last Detected Location: Central Museum of Ancient History.]

[Stolen Objective: "Echo of the Arden Battle." A concentrated temporal energy residue left by a major historical battle in this world, carrying the essence of courage and despair of thousands of soldiers.]

"So he feeds on the echoes of major events to increase his power," Kairn deduced. "A chaotic and dangerous way to gain power, but effective."

Kairn wasted no time. He vanished from his luxurious apartment, reappearing moments later in a dark alley behind the Central Museum. The System had granted him the ability to instantly teleport to the vicinity of his emergency targets.

The museum was closed, steeped in the silence of the night. But Kairn, with his enhanced senses, felt a slight disturbance in the flow of time around the building, like ripples on the surface of a calm lake.

He moved like a ghost, scaling the walls with ease, and entered through a window on the upper floor. The interior was cold and dark, the air heavy with the scent of history and dust. Statues of ancient knights stared into the void, their rusty armor appearing as specters in the gloom.

He didn't need light. He saw faint energy flows in the air. He followed the temporal disturbance, which led him towards the main hall on the ground floor, the "Great Wars" hall.

When he reached a balcony overlooking the hall, he saw his target.

In the center of the hall, beneath the massive skeleton of a dinosaur, stood a man clad in a torn black cloak, a hood obscuring most of his face. He extended his hand towards a stone statue of an ancient commander, and from the statue, faint blue threads of light, like spirits, flowed towards the man's palm, which slowly absorbed them. This was the "Echo of Time."

Suddenly, the man stopped, turned slowly, and raised his head to look directly towards the balcony where Kairn was hidden in the shadows.

"Took you long enough, System dog," "The Crow" said, his voice hoarse and sarcastic. "I was wondering when they'd send another puppet after me."

Kairn stepped out of the shadows, standing on the edge of the balcony, looking down with divine coldness. "Contract #108. Target: Rogue Collector. Reward: Ten thousand Chrono Units."

The Crow let out a dry laugh. "You still think like a slave. Counting rewards, obeying orders. I, on the other hand, forge my own destiny. These echoes, this power... it should be ours, not that cosmic prison you call 'the System'."

"The destiny you forged for yourself is to be 'indebted' on my list," Kairn replied with the same calm. "And debts... must always be paid."

"Then pay it, pup!" The Crow shouted, and suddenly vanished into the shadow cast by the dinosaur skeleton. The next moment, he reappeared directly behind Kairn on the balcony, a dagger made of frozen shadow aimed at his heart.

His speed was astonishing, but Kairn's "Enhanced Temporal Perception" was faster. In his eyes, The Crow's movements slowed. Kairn dodged the fatal stab with a simple sidestep, grabbing The Crow's arm, feeling the deadly cold emanating from the shadow dagger.

"Interesting abilities," Kairn said, looking into The Crow's startled eyes beneath his hood. "But they lack refinement."

With immense force, Kairn broke The Crow's arm. The Crow shrieked in pain and dissolved into a cloud of shadows, attempting to escape.

But Kairn had anticipated this. He used his newly acquired skill: **"Minor Temporal Stasis."**

With a flick of his free hand, he unleashed an invisible temporal wave. It didn't affect The Crow, but it momentarily froze the shadow he stood on on the ground. When The Crow tried to merge with his shadow, he collided with it as if it were a solid wall.

"What...?!"

In that second of confusion, Kairn had moved. He didn't use a weapon. He didn't use a complex technique. Instead, he placed his open hand on The Crow's chest.

"Transgressors who occupy bodies that don't belong to them, and rogues who steal the power of time... they do not deserve correction," Kairn said, his amber eyes glowing powerfully in the dark. "You deserve... deletion."

Cold, grey energy flowed from Kairn's palm into The Crow's body. It wasn't energy that destroyed, but energy that "erased."

The Crow let out a terrifying shriek, not of pain, but of the horror of his very existence fading away. His body began to become transparent, like an old photograph fading under the sun. His memories, his power, even his existence in the timeline, were being disassembled and returned to primordial chaos.

[Deleting Anomaly: "The Crow."]

[Warning: Target resisting deletion...]

["Echo of the Arden Battle" retrieved.]

"Resist all you want," Kairn said coldly as he increased the energy flow. "You are merely an error in the equation. And errors... must be erased."

In his final moments, The Crow looked at Kairn and said in a fractured, distorted voice: "You fool... you don't know... there are others... 'The Shadow Collective'... they are..."

Before he could complete his sentence, he vanished entirely, leaving behind only his black cloak which fell to the ground, and a faint echo of his last words reverberating in the air.

Kairn stood, withdrawing his hand. The mission was complete. But The Crow's last words left a faint trace of doubt in his mind. "The Shadow Collective?"

[Target deletion complete. Remaining temporal energy assimilated.]

[Personal Debt: -9,876,530,300 Chrono Units.]

[System Note: Unknown entity detected attempting to interfere with deletion process. Intervention failed. Analyzing data.]

Kairn narrowed his eyes. Unknown entity? Was The Crow part of a larger organization? Was he merely a pawn?

He looked into the darkness outside the museum window. This seemingly simple mission in this quiet world had become far more complicated.

"So, the game is bigger than I thought," he mused, a hint of a cold, dangerous smile playing on his lips. "That's better. Hunting in murky waters... is always more exciting."