The black pillar of fire didn't produce heat. It produced silence. The wind stopped. The crying of the villagers ceased. Even the glowing red weapons of the Seven Shadows seemed to dim as the Void energy swallowed the light.
[System Warning: Absolute Limit Exceeded!]
[Berserk Sovereign Mode: ACTIVE.]
[XP Drain: 90% (Level 8 -> Level 1 in progress...)]
[Current Status: 'God of the Void' (Duration: 180 Seconds)]
Shadow One, the leader of the assassins, landed softly on the obsidian sand.
He tilted his head, his mask shifting as he analyzed Han.
"Sacrificing your levels for a moment of power?" Shadow One chuckled.
"You're more of a fool than the First Sovereign was. At Level 1, your body will collapse before you even touch me."
"Then I'll make sure you're deleted before I hit the ground," Han said.
His voice was no longer human. It sounded like the grinding of tectonic plates.
"Rin! Get them'into the Forge!" Han shouted without turning back."
"Han, you're Level 1! Your HP is only 50!" Rin screamed, her hands shaking as she herded the 'Un-Deleted' children toward the back of the cave.
"If he grazes you, you're dead!"
"I won't be grazed," Han replied.
[Skill: Sovereign's Step (Berserk Version)]
[Distance: Infinite within line of sight.]
"Flash!"
Han didn't move; he simply wasn't there anymore.
He reappeared an inch away from Shadow One's face.
"What—?"the assassin gasped.
Han didn't use his sword. He grabbed Shadow One's throat with his bare hand.
[Skill: Forced Deletion.]
"Wait! My armor! My [Indestructible] trait!" Shadow One yelled.
His eyes widening behind his visor.
"Deleted," Han whispered.
The Level 75 Legendary Armor began to flake away like burnt paper. The red glow of the assassin's weapon sputtered and died.
"Shadow Two! Shadow Three! Kill him now!"
Shadow One choked out, his feet dangling off the ground. The other six assassins moved in perfect synchronization. Six red blades converged on Han's back from six different angles.
"HAN! LOOK OUT!"
Leo yelled from the forge entrance.
Han didn't turn. He didn't have to.
[Passive Skill: King's Domain (Berserk)]
[Command: 'STAY.']
The six assassins froze mid-air. Their boots were still inches off the ground, their blades frozen in the atmosphere as if the air had turned into solid diamond.
"My... my body won't move!"
Shadow Four groaned, his voice strained.
"My Strength stat is 200! Why can't I break this?"
"Because your stats are a permission granted by the System," Han said.
his golden eyes burning with a terrifying intensity.
"And I just revoked your permission to exist in my space."
Han squeezed his hand.
CRACK!
Shadow One didn't die. He fragmented. His body turned into a swarm of red and black pixels, swirling into a vortex before being sucked into Han's palm.
[You have deleted: Shadow One (Level 75).]
[Warning: Deleting a high-level entity without 'Containment' causes mental corruption.]
[Corruption Level: 12%]
Han dropped to one knee. Blood—dark, golden-flecked blood—poured from his nose and ears.
"Han!" Rin ran toward him, ignoring the six frozen assassins.
She knelt beside him, her [Data-Thief] HUD scanning his vitals.
"Stop it! Your heart is redlining! If you delete one more, your soul-print will shatter!"
"They... they won't stop coming," Han wheezed, his vision blurring."
"If I don't finish this... the village..."
"We aren't helpless, Sovereign," the old man from the forge called out.
He was holding a jagged spear made of the black flames.
"You lit the forge. Now, let us defend the fire!"
The 'Un-Deleted' villagers, once cowed by fear, began to step out from the shadows. They weren't high-level, but their bodies were made of the same glitchy energy as the Shadow Fold.
"Leo, now!"
the old man barked.Leo raised his wooden staff.
"Glitch-Trap: ACTIVATE!"
The ground beneath the six frozen assassins didn't break; it opened into a literal 404-Error zone. A pit of raw, unformatted data swallowed the frozen Shadows, dragging them down into the depths of the map.
"NO! THE GUILD WILL—"The last assassin's scream was cut off as the ground snapped shut.
Silence returned to the valley.
[Berserk Sovereign Mode: ENDED.]
[Current Level: 1]
[Experience: 0/100]
[Status: Critical Exhaustion / Coma Imminent.]
Han felt the world tilt. The black blade fell from his hand, clattering against the obsidian. He began to fall forward, but Rin caught him, her arms wrapping around his chest.
"You idiot," Rin whispered, tears blurring her neon-blue eyes.
"You're Level 1. You're the weakest person in the world right now."
"But the village... is safe?" Han asked, his voice a faint rasp.
"For now," Leo said, walking over and looking up at the canyon rim.
"But you just killed the Seven Shadows. The Silver Wing Guild won't send assassins next time. They'll send an Army.
"Han looked up at the purple code-sky. He was back at the bottom. No stats. No levels. Just a dying boy with a broken system.But as he felt his consciousness fading, a new screen appeared in front of his eyes. It wasn't gold. It wasn't blue. It was a deep, pulsing violet.
[Hidden Condition Met: 'Fall from Grace'.]
[You have died to the System and been reborn in the Void.]
[New Title Unlocked: The Un-Deletable One.]
[Hidden Perk: Stats can no longer be 'Read' or 'Modified' by the Global System.]
"Good," Han whispered.
"Let them... try to find me now."
He closed his eyes, falling into a deep, dark sleep.