Midnight. Zone 9.
The city's hum had dulled to a deathly silence. No traffic. No wind. No stars.
Only red markers.
Six of them.
Moving swiftly across rooftops, alleys, and digital shadows.
[Warning: You are being tracked.][Distance: 5.2 km → 4.6 km → 4.1 km...]
A countdown had begun. Not from the system—but from the people who wanted Priyanshu dead.
And he… was waiting for them.
Inside an abandoned school building fortified with dungeon mist, Priyanshu stood silently beneath a shattered classroom window.
The moonlight shimmered through the broken glass, casting silver lines across his blade.
On his shoulder, the Larva of the Worldshaper purred like a machine-god kitten.
[Skill Activated: Ambient Thread Detection][Status: Six hostile lifeforms detected. Coordinated movement. Formation pattern: V.][Estimated Arrival Time: 03:27 minutes.]
Behind him, Aeris leaned against the wall, her eyes glowing faintly under her hood. Her staff pulsed softly.
Sanjay stretched his knuckles, his upgraded Brawler gloves crackling with elemental static.
"You sure about this?" Sanjay asked. "No traps? No spells? You just wanna... wait?"
Priyanshu smirked.
"I'm not waiting," he said. "I'm luring."
Outside, high above, the six assassins stopped on a rooftop overlooking the school.
Each one wore armor unlike any Priyanshu had seen — obsidian plating with glowing red veins, designed not for protection… but for silence.
Their leader, tagged in the system as:
[Player: XERO][Level: 9][Class: Silent Executioner – Mythic Tier]
[Title: First Blade of The Reset Order]
He raised a hand, signaling the squad to spread.Five shadows vanished.Only he remained, watching.
"Begin extraction," XERO whispered into the comm. "Glitched One must die before sunrise."
📜 [Quest Update: Survive the First Hunt – LIVE]
Suddenly, three assassins burst through the third-floor windows, silent as shadows.
But Priyanshu didn't flinch.
[Root Sovereign Instinct – Passive Activated][Time Acceleration: +300% Perception for 5 seconds]
To him, their movements were slow. Like drifting feathers.
He flicked his blade once.
One body fell before it even reached the ground.The second tried to roll mid-air—too slow.The third made it close, dagger aimed at his throat.
Too bad he didn't know what was hidden in Priyanshu's left hand.
[Skill Unlocked: Void Palm]➤ Collapses the space between two points instantly
A burst of black light blinked.
Crack!
The assassin was flung backward into the wall with bone-shattering force.
Meanwhile, Sanjay intercepted two assassins on the stairwell.
Fists met swords. Sparks flew. Blood splattered.
And yet—Sanjay laughed.
For the first time in his life, he wasn't losing.
Every punch he threw came with speed, weight, and pain — the kind that burned his arms but leveled his heart.
[Passive Unlocked: Iron Pulse]➤ Damage increases with each hit taken.➤ Gain permanent HP boost every 10 hits survived.
He took a blade across the shoulder. Blood sprayed.
[HP: 75/100]
He grinned.
Then he slammed his fist into the attacker's chest—shattering ribs.
[Critical Hit – 488 DMG][Enemy Defeated: Level 6 – Black Viper]
Sanjay growled, "Come on! Who's next?!"
Aeris wasn't idle either.
When the final assassin snuck into the lower hall, silent and invisible, her eyes snapped open.
[Forbidden Spell Activated: "Starroot Bindings"]➤ Requires rare mana.➤ Sacrifices HP for planetary gravity tethers.
She whispered the words of the ancient code — forbidden, pre-system.
The air around her crackled.The earth groaned.Chains of glowing starlight erupted from the ground, slamming the assassin into the ceiling.
[Damage Applied: 1,200][Status Effect: Reality Seal – Duration 5s]
Then she turned and chanted once more.The seal exploded.
Outside, XERO frowned.
[Squad Status: DOWN – ALL UNITS ELIMINATED][Extraction: FAILURE][Warning: Enemy threat level reassessed. Upgrading to GLOBAL PRIORITY]
He sighed. "Tch. Guess I'll do it myself."
Inside the school, the battle was over.
Bodies melted into system mist. The faint scent of ozone lingered in the air.
Sanjay collapsed against a wall, panting. "Holy… crap. I'm alive."
Aeris winced, her hands shaking from channeling too much forbidden magic.
And Priyanshu?
He stepped out into the night air — calm, composed, unscarred.
The city was silent.
Then—
[NEW STATUS UNLOCKED: Shadowroot Form – Available]➤ Triggered by surviving PvP kill attempt➤ Grants stealth through digital and real layers➤ Access to [Command Shroud] and [Skill Spoofing]
He smirked as the console blinked again.
[Global Leaderboard Updated]
Priyanshu (Glitched Sovereign) – Level 3 – 7 Kills
???
???
[New Title Acquired: "One vs Six"][Global Reputation Increased][You are now being hunted by 3 more elite guilds.]
But in the corner of the map, just beyond the horizon, something stirred.
The Core Consciousness was not done.
A new fragment was waking up.
And this one… had a name.