100 years left: The Unseen Executioner

> [SYSTEM SYNC ONLINE]

Echo Variant: 005A

WARNING: Archive Access Detected.

System Note: "This asset has breached Origin Memory."

Response Status: Pending…

…

Pending…

…

PENDING…

—

The world felt slower now.

Not because he was tired.

But because something massive had started watching.

Every step echoed too loud. Every breath felt traceable. As if the walls themselves had been listening. For the first time in years, the MC felt something he didn't have a word for.

It wasn't fear.

It was scale.

Something ancient had opened its eyes.

—

He left the cryo-vault through a tunnel that hadn't been used in decades. Dust didn't rise — it clung to the air like a warning. The deeper he went, the worse it got. The lights didn't flicker — they refused to turn on. Power here wasn't broken.

It was suppressed.

Like the area itself was being erased in real-time.

> [Warning: Echo Signal Being Traced]

Source: Unknown. Not from the Grid. Not from Spire.

He paused mid-step.

Even the system was confused.

That never happened.

> [Unknown Trace Signature Detected: 𝛚-Level Observer]

…

ERROR. SIGNAL DOES NOT ORIGINATE FROM ANY RECORDED REALM.

"Echo Variant 005A has crossed divergence limit."

Emergency Thread Opened: SPACIAL AUTHORITY BACKCHANNEL

That wasn't supposed to exist.

Spacial Authority? There was no such designation in any Earth-aligned database. No reference in war logs. Not even whispers in forbidden zones.

And still—

> "Thread Access: Approved."

Incoming Protocol Override:

"Seal the Variant."

"Collapse the Zone."

"This asset is not meant for linear containment."

He ran.

But the tunnel didn't end where it should.

It opened into a corridor that hadn't existed an hour ago. Clean metal. Alien curves. Surfaces that shimmered like water held in place by gravity fields.

And at the center—floating just above the floor—a figure.

Not human.

Not synthetic.

A presence shaped like a man, but without a face. Black lines of code bled from its body like dripping ink, and where it stepped, space itself warped.

> "Echo Variant 005A," the figure spoke without moving its mouth.

"You are exceeding the limits of your code. Return to stasis."

"Or face cosmic correction."

The MC drew no weapon.

He couldn't.

He wasn't allowed.

Every time he tried to reach into his system interface, the menu flickered and locked. Even breathing felt like a courtesy, not a right.

This wasn't a system agent.

This was a Warden.

Something built not to fight anomalies—but to erase them from time entirely.

> [Override Signal: Rejected]

[Disruption Blink Disabled]

[Shadow Step Disabled]

[Neural Reweave: Locked]

"Compliance Required. You are Echo. You are a failure. Return."

The MC took a single step forward.

The lights dimmed.

Space rippled.

Time slowed.

And something inside him cracked open.

> [Origin Pulse Activated.]

[Unknown Core – Decryption in Progress]

"Rewriting Detected..."

ERROR.

ERROR.

ERROR.

"This Echo does not recognize containment."

"This Echo remembers being real."

Suddenly, he could move.

The Warden staggered.

Its shape twisted—like a glitch in a simulation.

For the first time in its existence, it hesitated.

> [Permission: Restored]

[Echo Variant 005A: Fully Autonomous]

[Silent Fang Path Evolution: Tier II Branch Triggered]

The MC lunged. Not with speed. Not with force.

But with rejection.

Every time the Warden tried to touch him, its hands passed through. Not because of defense—but because the MC no longer existed inside its version of time. The Echo had become untethered.

> "Containment impossible," the Warden said.

"This... thread has splintered."

The MC drove a forged shadow blade into the creature's chest.

Not to kill it.

To mark it.

> [New Perk: Existential Tagging – Interdimensional targets may now be tracked outside system space.]

The Warden exploded silently into ribbons of light and vanished.

And for a moment…

There was nothing.

Then—

> [World Layer: Resetting]

[System Sync Attempting to Normalize Reality Thread…]

Everything returned.

Lights. Walls. Gravity.

But something had permanently changed.

He hadn't escaped the system.

He had left its domain.

And returned.

—

> [New Path Branch: Echo Sovereign – Unlocked]

Perks:

– Dimensional Evasion

– Path Immunity (Tier I)

– Partial Rewrite Resistance

– Origin Memory Resonance (Locked – 3%)

System Note: "You are no longer invisible. Higher

Eyes now see."

He didn't breathe.

He didn't blink.

He just walked toward the surface.

No longer a cleaner.

Not even an assassin.

Now… something else.

Something the world wouldn't be ready for.

Not even the stars.