I woke up to the color of blood.Not on my sheets. Not on my hands.Inside my eyes.The familiar, comforting blue glow of the System Interface was gone. In its place, a jagged, pulsing crimson window hovered in my vision.[System Reboot Complete.] [Operating Mode: Survival (Critical).]I blinked, trying to clear the red text, but it stayed burned into my retina. It felt hostile. It felt like the System wasn't working for me anymore, but at me.I sat up. My body didn't hurt. In fact, I felt lighter than I had in months. But it was a hollow lightness, like a balloon that had lost half its air.I looked at the counter in the top right corner.[Current Lifespan: 0 Months, 29 Days, 04 Hours.]My stomach dropped.Twenty-nine days.I had traded a year of my life to delete the Angel. I had survived the battle, but I had lost the war against time.(I’m going to die in a month. I haven't even finished my bucket list. I haven't even been to Hawaii.)A new icon pulsed on the crimson map. It looke

"We're going to the beach."I announced this with the gravity of a general declaring war.The harem stood in my bedroom, looking at the map spread out on the silk sheets."The beach?" Ayaka frowned, leaning over the map. "Renji, that coordinate is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It's the 'Devil's Triangle'. Ships disappear there.""Disappearances are merely unauthorized relocations," I lied, buttoning my coat with trembling fingers. "The first Fragment lies beneath the waves. In the Sunken City."(It lies in a place called 'R'lyeh'. Which sounds terrifyingly Lovecraftian. But I have 29 days to live, so I'll fight Cthulhu if I have to.)"A Sunken City?" Melody's eyes lit up. "My home! I can guide us! The currents there are spicy!""Spicy currents?" Sae adjusted her glasses, looking skeptical. "Technically, international waters are outside my jurisdiction. But since I'm already an accomplice to burglary and heresy... I suppose maritime trespassing won't hurt.""I will sever the ocea

The limousine didn't land. It drifted.We were floating in a void that wasn't black, but a blinding, static white. Below us—if "below" even existed anymore—massive islands of obsidian rock floated in the nothingness, tethered by chains of grey mist."Gravity systems failing," the driver announced, his voice trembling. "I have no control.""We are here," Claire whispered, clutching her seatbelt. "The Sea of Nothingness. The place where God stopped writing the code of the world."(That sounds bad. That sounds like a glitch level in a video game.)The limo touched down on the largest island with a soft, impossible thump. It didn't bounce. It just stuck, as if the ground decided to be magnetic for a second."Out," I commanded, suppressing the urge to vomit again. "The air inside is stale."We stepped out.The atmosphere was thin, cold, and smelled of... memory? It smelled like old books and rain."Master," Runa drew her new titanium dagger. "I sense... hostility. But there are no enemies.

"And you don't even have seven minutes."The Doppelgänger stood there, black void energy swirling around his hand. He wore my face. He wore my coat. He even had the exact same terrified twitch in his left eyelid that I was currently suppressing."Who are you?" Runa shouted, stepping in front of me with her dagger raised. "An illusion? A mimic?""I am the Truth," the Copy sneered. "I am the Renji Amagiri who didn't hesitate. The one who embraced the role."He snapped his fingers.[Skill Activated: Aura of the Sovereign.]BOOM.A wave of pressure exploded from him. It wasn't fake. It wasn't a bluff. It was S-Rank intimidation made manifest."Gah!" Runa dropped to her knees, clutching her chest."Heavy..." Ayaka gasped, falling beside her. "I can't... breathe..."Even Melody and Claire collapsed. The sheer weight of his "Presence" pinned them to the floor like insects.(He's using my move. But he's using the version of it that everyone thinks I have.)The Copy walked toward me. He didn't

I held the silver USB drive in my trembling hand.It was cold. Colder than the grave I was standing in. The skeleton of the Previous User seemed to be grinning at me, mocking my curiosity."Master?" Runa whispered, stepping closer to the pedestal. "What is that artifact? It hums with... sorrow.""It is a memory," I lied, my voice quiet. "A testament to the one who came before."(It's a black box recording from a crashed plane. And I'm the next pilot.)I tightened my grip on the drive.[System Alert: Data Fragment Detected.] [Initiate Interface? Y/N]"Yes," I breathed.HUMMM.The drive dissolved. It turned into a stream of silver light that shot straight into my forehead.I gasped, stumbling back.The light didn't fade. It expanded. It filled the chamber, coalescing into a figure standing on the pedestal where the statue used to be.It was a man. He wore a tuxedo that looked like it was made of starlight. He held a cane in one hand and a mask in the other. He looked exactly like me, bu