The sea trembled.
Above the black ruins of the Forgotten Citadel, the water itself pulled back—as if something colossal was pushing through the threads of reality.
Hari sensed it before he saw it.
Not through his eyes.
But through the wound in the system.
---
> [SYSTEM THREAD ALERT: BREACH DETECTED]
Origin: Higher Plane
Entity Class: Weaver Executioner – Level ???
Estimated Arrival: 00:00:39
The numbers ticked down.
He didn't run.
Didn't hide.
He stepped to the center of the citadel's gate.
> "Let it descend."
---
The sky split.
Light fell like a sword through the ocean.
And from it… descended a figure made of pure thread and logic.
No eyes.
No face.
Only lines.
Spinning. Binding. Calculating.
It floated above the ruined city like a divine puppet master.
And it spoke—directly into his bones.
> "Unregistered anomaly."
"System Rewrite Initiated."
"You are an illegal evolution."
"Prepare to be unmade."
Hari smirked.
> "Then start trying."
---
The fight began.
The Weaver didn't move. It rewrote.
Reality twisted.
Hari's leg vanished mid-stride — deleted from existence.
But his system pulsed:
> [Void Pulse – Activated]
A wave of pure null tore through the Citadel.
The deletion halted.
His leg reappeared, cracked and bleeding—but real.
He launched forward, claws glowing with Bloodbrand Surge.
The Weaver countered by folding space itself — pulling Hari backward in time by 0.5 seconds.
But Hari adapted mid-glitch, using Refraction Dash to leap forward the moment he phased.
Blades clashed.
Cloth met claw.
---
> [Evolution Surge Detected]
Trait Awakening: Eclipse Overdrive – Stage I
— At critical system tension, body unlocks 40% of latent hybrid mutations
— Speed x2
— Reaction x3
— Resist nullification
Hari's veins burned violet.
His wings spread — half-shadow, half-code.
And for the first time, the Weaver hesitated.
---
> "Impossible."
"Your form is unstable."
"You should not be alive."
> "That's what they told the first monster too," Hari growled.
---
He pierced the Weaver's chest.
System sparks bled from the hole.
The executioner began to unravel.
But before it died, it whispered something that shook Hari to his core:
> "He watches you… from beyond the Pattern."
> "The True Architect has noticed the glitch."
The Weaver imploded.
Light. Threads. Gone.
Hari collapsed to his knees, eyes wide.
The system blinked.
> [SYSTEM OVERRIDE REPAIRED: TEMPORARY STABILITY]
[You Have Killed a System-Class Entity: +1 Forbidden Core Acquired]
Forbidden Core → Useable for Tier-III Evolution Paths
---
But more than the loot…
Hari now knew this was no longer a game.
This was war.
And the True Architect?
That wasn't a boss.
That was the creator.
---
Far above, beyond stars, in the fractured silence between realms…
A single glowing eye opened.
Vast.
Timeless.
Unblinking.
And somewhere in Neavo…
A child with silver eyes was born.
Marked with a single glowing sigil:
A broken circle wrapped in threads.
The next hunter.
Or the next weapon.
---
To be continued in Chapter 21: Fractured Worldlines
---