The grey-suited enforcers didn't speak. They moved with a synchronized, mechanical rhythm. One of them lunged, his hand-blade cutting through the falling rain.
Jin blocked the strike with his obsidian dagger. The impact didn't feel like metal hitting metal; it felt like a static shock.
"Mi-na, can you see their path?" Jin shouted.
Mi-na's pupils flickered with scrolling numbers. "They aren't real, Jin! They are just 'Sub-routines' of the city. If we destroy them, more will just spawn!"
"Then we run," Jin said. He grabbed Mi-na's hand and activated Phase Shift. They became a blur of red pixels, weaving through the frozen crowd of civilians.
They ducked into a narrow alleyway filled with steaming vents and neon signs. But the walls began to pixelate. The System was trying to "Rewrite" the alley into a cage.
"No you don't," Jin hissed. He slammed his dagger into the brick wall. [Skill: Delete Partition]. The bricks dissolved into a temporary hole, allowing them to slip through into an underground basement.
Inside the basement, the air smelled of old servers and ramen. A girl with purple hair and glowing goggles was sitting in front of a dozen monitors. She didn't look up.
"You're late, Glitch Hunter," she said, her voice robotic. "And your sister is leaking data all over my floor."