The violet rays refracting from Leonardo's blade performed a sinister dance across the darkened room. The crimson interface of the System still hovered before his eyes, a relentless reminder that his time was slipping away.
[Warning: Time remaining 00:45 seconds...]
Officer Weaver's calm eyes remained fixed on Leonardo. There was no trace of fear in them; instead, they held a flicker of pity. He knew exactly what kind of agony Leonardo was enduring. Weaver whispered again, "Leonardo, if you let this screen win today, you'll never be able to look at your own reflection in the mirror again."
Leonardo's hands were trembling. That excruciating pain returned to his skull, as if thousands of needles were piercing his brain simultaneously. The System was coercing him. If he didn't kill the officer now, he would lose all his hard-earned 'Shadow Mastery.' He would revert to being that weak, insignificant boy everyone used to despise.
"I... I don't want to be weak anymore," Leonardo growled through gritted teeth. His pupils began to take on a faint violet hue.
The System's voice echoed: [Execute the target. Final warning.]
Leonardo raised his sword. Outside the outpost, the howling of the wind grew even more violent. Suddenly, in a blurred flash of motion, he lunged toward Weaver. But instead of plunging the blade into Weaver's chest, he slammed it with all his might into the ground. The stone floor shattered into pieces. A wave of violet energy surged throughout the entire room.
"NO!" Leonardo screamed. "I will not be a puppet of any System!"
Instantly, the screen began to vibrate violently. The red hue shifted, darkening into a pitch-black void. Leonardo felt as if someone was ripping the very heart out of his chest. The veins in his body began to turn black. His levels, his skills—everything was being erased in a single breath.
[Penalty Initiated: Resetting Shadow Mastery...] [Error! System integration failing...] [Subject Leonardo has defied the Prime Objective.]
Leonardo collapsed to the floor. His vision was blurring. He could feel the supernatural power draining from his body. Officer Weaver rushed forward to catch him. "You did the right thing, Leo," Weaver's voice sounded like a distant echo from far away.
But then, an extraordinary thing happened in the corner of the room. From the shattered System window, a thick, dark smoke began to billow out. The System wasn't just the source of his power; it was a parasite that had fused with his soul. Now, as the System punished him, it was awakening something dormant deep within him.
Suddenly, a new voice resonated in Leonardo's ears. It wasn't the robotic, mechanical voice of the System. It was far deeper and colder.
"Did you seek freedom, Leonardo? Or did you just want to change the cage?"
Despite the agony, Leonardo forced his eyes open. He saw the red screen before him tear apart, forming a massive gateway. From within that abyss, three blue moons appeared—but they weren't in the sky; they looked like the pupils of some ethereal entity.
[System Rebooting in 'Chaos Mode'...] [New Interface Unlocked: The Forbidden Path] [Level: Null]
Leonardo felt that his lost power wasn't returning; instead, something entirely new and dark was flowing into his veins. This wasn't power granted by the System; it was power born from his defiance of it. Weaver backed away in terror. He saw Leonardo's shadow detach itself from the floor and begin to swirl around him.
"Leonardo? What... what is that in your eyes?" Weaver asked, his voice trembling with panic.
Leonardo stood up. The pain was gone. He could feel every molecule of air rushing through the cracks of the outpost. He could sense the heartbeat of every predator hiding deep within the forest. He looked down and saw that the rusted old sword in his hand had transformed into a shard of black crystal.
A new screen flickered to life before him. It wasn't blue or red. It was completely transparent.
[Quest Update: The Unshackled] [Task: Destroy the remaining monitors of the outpost.] [Reward: True Freedom.]
Leonardo looked at Officer Weaver. "Weaver, you were right. The screen couldn't defeat me. But what I've become now... is it even more terrifying than before?"
Weaver couldn't find the words to answer. Leonardo was no longer that ordinary boy. He was now a 'Glitch' born of the System—a cursed warrior. Leonardo swung his sword. The whistling sound of the blade seemed to carry an ethereal laughter.
The three moons in the sky looked different tonight. Leonardo realized that what he had called the 'world' until now was perhaps nothing more than a vast prison. And today, he had broken the lock of that prison with his own hands.
He stepped toward the outpost door. With every stride he took, the dust on the floor seemed to come alive. The System had intended to punish him, but by mistake, it had handed him the key to a unique power—absolute control over the shadows, a power that would obey no System laws.
Leonardo gazed out the window toward the dark forest and reached out his hand. "From now on, the game will be played by my rules."
A final line drifted across the transparent screen:
[The First Shadow King has awakened.]