[SSS-RANK SYSTEM ACTIVATED]
[WELCOME, RECKONER]
Kai gasped as air flooded back into his lungs like a dam had burst. The invisible grip on his throat was suddenly… gone?
He rolled onto his side, coughing up blood and bile, his body still trembling from the integration.
New text scrolled across his vision:
[Analyzing threat level...]
[B-Rank Echo detected: Phantom Lord]
[Threat Assessment: LETHAL]
[Initiating Balance Protocol...]
"What…" Kai tried to speak, but his voice came out as a rasp.
He felt the world shift.
It wasn't a physical change as the ruined hospital was still falling apart, and the strange, clicking 'Echoes' were still in the distance. But something deep had shifted, like the world had been knocked sideways.
Kai felt it in his bones, in the way the air tasted different, and in the way his Shard… no, that doesn't feel like his Shard. Something else was throbbing in his chest.
