The basement vanished in a blur of gold.
Jinsu's [Processing: 57] flared to its absolute limit, but the Ghost's speed was terrifying. The S-Rank claymore swung in a wide arc, tearing the air pressure apart.
Jinsu threw himself backward. The blade missed his throat by a millimeter, but the sheer kinetic force blasted him into the concrete wall. The wall didn't crack; it glitched, raw polygons exposing the structural code.
[WARNING: Physical Trauma Detected]
[Stability: 38% ➔ 34%]
Jinsu tasted copper. "Fast," he spat, wiping blood from his chin. "Your stats are maxed."
The Ghost didn't reply. It shifted its stance, the blue code in its eye sockets flaring.
"Error... File cannot be read... Delete... Delete..."
"You aren't a mindless program," Jinsu said, his voice cold and metallic. He slowly stood up, igniting The Eraser's Edge. The violet static illuminated the dark basement. "You left a paper trail."
The Ghost charged again. This time, Jinsu didn't dodge.
[Void-Step Activated: -1% Stability]
The S-Rank claymore cleaved cleanly through Jinsu's chest, but it hit nothing. For a single second, Jinsu was completely de-synced from reality. As the blade passed through his phantom torso, Jinsu stepped inside the Ghost's guard and drove his left hand directly into the golden tethers wrapping the man's chest.
"Erasure: 100% Output!"
Violet static clashed with golden System mana. The basement shook as a localized EMP wave shattered every lightbulb in the building.
The Ghost roared—a human scream buried under layers of digital distortion. The golden tethers around his neck snapped, turning to ash.
Jinsu was thrown back by the recoil, sliding across the floor. He looked up.
The Ghost had dropped his sword. He was clutching his head, the blue code in his eyes flickering, briefly revealing the brown eyes of a human man underneath.
"The... ink..." the Ghost stammered, his voice violently glitching between a monster's growl and a young man's whisper. "The ink... is still... wet."
Jinsu pulled out the leather-bound notebook and threw it onto the floor between them. "Page 12. You mapped the Low-Logic sectors. You told Elena to find the Null-Broker. Do you remember your sister?"
Jin-woo stared at the physical book. His hands shook. "Elena... B-Rank... Mage..." He fell to his knees, clutching his chest. "The System... it's burning my head. It's rewriting me. Too loud... it's too loud!"
"I know," Jinsu said, slowly walking toward him. "I see the code too."
Jin-woo looked up, tears of blue mana streaming down his face. "You're a Zero. You're the dead pixel I prayed for." He weakly pointed to the pedestal behind him. On it sat a glass jar filled with blue liquid. Inside the jar wasn't a machine. It was a perfectly preserved human heart, beating rhythmically.
"The Logic Core," Jin-woo gasped. "It's the heart of the First Chairman. The System uses it... to anchor the Optimization in Sector 02. Take it."
Jinsu stepped past him and grabbed the jar. The moment his hands touched it, his system UI screamed.
[WARNING: S-RANK ARTIFACT OBTAINED]
"Take it," Jin-woo whispered, his body beginning to dissolve as the System's auto-repair protocols tried to delete his rogue consciousness. "And Porter..."
Jinsu looked back.
"Erase me," Jin-woo begged, his voice finally completely human. "Don't let me go back to sleep. Delete my file."