The road west cut through fields of ash and forgotten stones. It was a silent land, where even the crows seemed to fly lower. Lysa, Kael, and Andrel had walked in silence for hours, their thoughts as heavy as the weapons at their sides. The wind blew from the east, carrying the metallic scent of cities burning too far to see, yet close enough to remind them the world was on fire.

  “The next renegade is two days away,” Kael muttered, eyeing a marker on the runic map Andrel had activated earlier.

  “If we make it there alive,” Andrel said with weary sarcasm. “After Telran, the System is collapsing routes. I saw portals being blocked. Code lines being forcibly overwritten. They’re desperate.”

  Lysa led the way. Her eyes were darkened, more from tension than exhaustion.

  “Something’s coming,” she said suddenly. “The System is... too quiet.”

  Kael looked up.

  “Silence can be worse than an alert.”

  And then they heard it.

  A step.

  Then another. Heavy. Slow. But steady. Like the sound of hammers rhythmically striking living stone.

  From atop a low hill, cloaked in dust and shadow, the figure appeared.

  Thorne Varkas.

  He wasn’t riding now. He walked.

  His black armor looked like living metal, rune marks glowing like embers across the plates. His Life Value flickered like a defiant beacon:

  Life Value: 92

  Class: System Executor

  Status: Authorized for Total Suppression

  In his right hand, he held a longsword with a pure crystal core, its blade vibrating with stable energy — a weapon of pure code, forged directly by the System.

  Thorne stopped twenty meters away. He looked at the three, his eyes locking on Lysa.

  “So this is it? Three mistakes against a perfect order?”

  Lysa stepped forward.

  “You speak as if you still believe in it. But you've seen too much to stay loyal.”

  Thorne raised his sword.

  “I’ve seen what happens when order breaks. Cities turn to jungles. Monsters emerge from the absence of control. And I’ve seen what you are. A cancer in the world. A glitch with body and soul.”

  Kael and Andrel were already in position.

  “We won’t let you touch her,” Kael said seriously.

  Thorne cracked his neck, unhurried.

  “You don’t need to. I’ll cut you all down. One by one.”

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  The silence that followed was funereal.

  And then the battle began.

  Kael moved first.

  He surged forward like an arrow, short swords in hand, feet gliding over the earth as if weight didn’t touch him. His blades aimed at Thorne’s flank — a dual strike, fast and precise. But Thorne was already in motion.

  He twisted his body, blocking the first blade with the flat of his sword, deflecting the second with his armored shoulder. The impact hurled Kael five meters back.

  “You’re fast. But not fast enough.”

  Lysa struck.

  She activated her newly acquired skill — Quick Adaptation. In seconds, her legs responded to the impulse with amplified force, and she slid laterally, appearing behind Thorne with her dagger in hand.

  She aimed just below the chest plate — the junction between two armor pieces. A narrow gap.

  Thorne felt it. Turned just in time.

  Her blade scraped the metal but didn’t pierce. His sword came down, and she dodged at the last second, rolling along the ground and feeling the air slice past her ear.

  Then Andrel intervened.

  His fingers traced an interruption seal — code that created momentary glitches in the enemy’s internal systems. Runes floated between him and Thorne, creating an illusion: multiple copies of Lysa appeared around the Executor.

  “Level three distraction activated!” Andrel shouted.

  Thorne paused.

  But only for a second.

  He muttered a word.

  “Debug.”

  A wave of bluish energy swept the field. The copies vanished. Andrel’s seal exploded in sparks. He screamed, falling to his knees with his mind aflame.

  “What was that?!” Kael shouted, rising again.

  “He used a direct System command,” Lysa answered, sweating. “Cleansed the battlefield code.”

  Thorne advanced.

  Too fast.

  His sword struck Kael’s shoulder, slamming him against a tree. The sound of bones breaking was muffled by a cry of pain. He didn’t black out, but the bleeding was severe.

  Lysa rushed to cover him.

  Thorne spun toward Andrel, who was trying to recharge a mental seal. But the Executor was fast. Already on him.

  Lysa screamed — and activated her new ability:

  Root Echo — Active

  Time slowed by fractions. She sensed the world’s code around her — the lines that governed movement, gravity, inertia. And she saw where to strike.

  She threw the dagger.

  But not at Thorne’s body.

  At his shadow.

  The blade pierced the exact point where a movement subroutine anchored. For a second, Thorne stumbled. The impact was minimal — but enough.

  Andrel rolled aside and launched a dart of raw electricity.

  Thorne was struck in the left shoulder. The armor held, but the impact forced him back.

  “Now!” Lysa yelled.

  She ran, grabbed Kael’s fallen sword, and aimed at the same spot she’d tried before — the junction beneath the shoulder blade.

  The blade pierced.

  Slightly. But it pierced.

  Blood flowed.

  Thorne roared.

  Not in pain.

  In fury.

  He spun with the force of a hurricane. A blow struck Lysa’s abdomen, launching her against a rock. The pain was like fire in her bones. The System flashed red.

  Internal fracture detected

  Vitality: 34%

  Kael, bleeding, pulled his second sword and rose with effort.

  “You... won’t win.”

  He ran, injured, and struck at Thorne’s flank. The Executor blocked — but Kael didn’t stop. Blow after blow, even knowing he’d lose.

  Then, Lysa did the unthinkable.

  She activated the hidden command the Aemorr sphere had left in her code:

  Essence Theft II — Synchrony Mode

  She pulled not a full Value — but a reflection. A fraction of Thorne’s skill, stolen through direct combat.

  New Skill: Living Hammer Style I

  Strength increased

  Impulse speed +10%

  She ran again, sword in hand.

  Thorne turned.

  But too late.

  Lysa screamed — and drove the blade into his wounded flank. This time, even the armor gave way.

  He grunted. But didn’t fall.

  Thorne’s hand struck her chest with absurd force.

  She felt ribs break.

  But she smiled.

  “Now.”

  Kael and Andrel, in sync, activated combined seals. A mental paralysis rune, followed by a containment spell.

  For two seconds, Thorne was frozen.

  Two seconds.

  Enough time for Lysa to retreat — and for all of them to escape.

  They crawled down the hill, wounded, nearly unconscious. Behind them, Thorne roared but did not pursue.

  Had he let them live?

  No. He was just reconfiguring.

  “That... was only the first,” Lysa said, spitting blood. “Next time... we won’t escape.”

  Kael nodded, carrying Andrel.

  “But we survived. And that... is already an insult to the System.”

  She laughed. A weak laugh — but a real one.