2025-10-16 00:24:40Rain of data fell from the broken sky, each drop a flash of red code that hissed when it hit the ground.
Jayden stood amid the ruins, chest heaving, ash and pixel-light clinging to his clothes. “Eli!” he shouted into the smoke. “Answer me!”
No reply, only the hum of static where a friend should have been. He turned, jaw tight. The message burned into the cracked street still pulsed faintly: “Welcome to the Core Tower, Code Breaker.”
His fists clenched. “Code Breaker… what does that even mean?”
A soft chime answered from within his mind: [New Quest: Enter the Mirror Tower. Reward, Truth Fragment.]
He stared at the words, anger and dread twisting together. “Truth, huh? Then you’d better be ready for mine.”
The Tower rose in the distance, a black spire splitting the clouds. Every wall reflected fragments of the city, each reflection showing a different version of him, smiling, bleeding, dying.
He stepped inside. The door sealed shut with a metallic sigh. “System,” he muttered, “scan for threats.”
[Warning, Environment unstable. Psychological hazards detected.]
Great. Psychological. Just what he needed. A voice echoed down the corridor, soft and mocking. “Jayden Cross… hero of Zone Two, savior of the ghosts. Tell me, do you even know who you’re saving?”
He spun around. “Show yourself!”
The mirrors lining the hall rippled. Out stepped another Jayden, same face, same eyes, but his smile was cruel. “What is this?”
“I’m you,” the reflection said. “The version that stopped pretending.”
Jayden raised his sword. “You’re not real.”
The other smirked. “Real enough to bleed you.”
They clashed, steel against steel, sparks scattering across the mirrored floor. Every movement echoed like thunder.
“Why fight yourself?” the reflection taunted. “You wanted power. You wanted to win. Admit it, you like killing.”
“Shut up!” Jayden shouted, striking harder.
The mirror version caught his blade bare-handed. Blood, real, red, dripped onto the floor. “See? Even now, you hesitate. That’s why she’ll die.”
Jayden froze. “She?”
“Luna,” the reflection whispered. “She’s fading faster every minute you waste.”
Jayden’s heartbeat thundered. “Where is she?”
The reflection smiled sadly. “Ask the one who made this world.”
The walls trembled. Lines of code crawled across the mirrors. One by one they shattered, revealing endless copies of Jayden staring back.
He fell to one knee, clutching his head. Voices overlapped, his own voice, hundreds of it. “You failed. You couldn’t save her. You don’t deserve to leave.”
“System!” he gasped. “Override! Purge memory loop!”
[Denied. Host must confront himself.]
“Fine,” he growled. “Then I’ll face it.”
He slammed his sword into the ground. Light exploded outward. Each reflection screamed as it dissolved into white dust.
Silence returned, until footsteps echoed from deeper inside. Jayden looked up. Luna stood there, pale and shaking, her eyes glassy. “Luna!”
Relief flooded his chest. He ran forward, but stopped. Something was wrong. Her movements were too smooth, her smile too empty. “You came,” she said softly. “You always come.”
He swallowed hard. “You’re not her.”
“Does it matter?” she whispered, stepping closer. “You need me. You can’t fight alone.”
He backed away. “Where is the real Luna?”
The copy tilted her head. “Real? She’s code now. Like everything else you love.”
Rage flashed in his eyes. “You’re lying!”
She reached out, touching his face. “Then prove it. Kill me, if you can tell the difference.”
Jayden’s grip trembled on his sword. Her voice, her warmth, it felt too real. The system pulsed.
[Warning: Emotional Corruption at 70%.]
He shouted through clenched teeth, “Get out of my head!”
The fake Luna smiled sadly. “You already let me in.”
She lunged. He barely blocked, sparks flying. Her strength was inhuman. Every strike forced him backward until his back hit the mirror wall. “Stop!” he yelled. “I won’t fight you!”
“Then die,” she whispered, blade aimed at his heart.
At the last instant, Jayden twisted, catching her wrist and plunging his sword through her chest. Her eyes widened. “Jayden.”
The image flickered, breaking apart into light. Her final words were a whisper. “Find me… before he deletes me.”
The light burst, shattering every remaining mirror. Jayden fell to his knees, breath ragged, sword dripping with pixel-blood.
[Mirror Trial Completed. Reward, Truth Fragment Unlocked.]
A small crystal hovered before him, glowing softly. Inside it, Luna’s face. “System,” he said hoarsely, “play it.”
The crystal projected a recording, Luna, alive, terrified. “Jayden… if you’re seeing this, I’m trapped in the central core. The system, my brother’s mind, it’s rewriting Eden. It thinks pain makes people evolve. Please… stop him.”
The image vanished. Jayden gripped the crystal, tears burning his eyes. “I swear… I’ll bring you back.”
A low laugh filled the air, smooth and metallic. [You still believe you can save her? How touching.]
Jayden looked up, fury replacing grief. “Game Master.”
[You’ve proven strong, Code Breaker. Strong enough for the next layer.]
The ground split beneath his feet, forming a spiral of light. [Welcome to the Sky Isles, where even gods fall.]
Wind roared upward. Jayden tried to resist, but the pull was too strong. The crystal slipped from his fingers as he was dragged into the vortex. “Luna!” he shouted as the world dissolved into blinding white.
The last thing he saw was the crystal shattering, and her voice, faint but clear, echoing through the storm. “Don’t forget me.”
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 267
BANG! HSSSSSS.A thick, blinding cloud of thick grey smoke exploded from the grenade. It filled the entire church in two seconds. The Loyalists coughed and swung blindly in the fog.Maya grabbed Jayden’s arm and dragged him toward a small wooden door at the back of the church.They burst out into a back alley, leaving the screaming, fighting Loyalists behind in the smoke.The hunt outside was fully awake now.High above them, a massive, sleek black corporate helicopter shined a blinding white spotlight down into the streets."There he is! In Sector 4!" a voice boomed from the helicopter loudspeaker.Three men in high-tech, black corporate armor dropped down on ropes from the helicopter. They carried advanced stun rifles. They were private mercenaries hired by a billionaire CEO to claim the prize."Run!" Maya shouted.Jayden forced his broken legs to move. He sprinted down the alley, slipping on the ice. He had no magical speed. He just had the burning pain in his lungs.A mercenary ai
Chapter 266
Jayden stopped. His human heart, even without the magic, ached with pity. He saw the hungry child. He instinctively took a step forward, wanting to help. He wanted to offer them his coat.The father looked up. He saw Jayden standing in the snow.The father’s eyes locked onto Jayden’s torn grey coat. He looked at Jayden’s face. He saw the dried blood.The father did not smile. He did not look relieved to see the famous Halo.The father’s eyes went completely wide. A look of desperate, wild hunger filled his face."It's him," the father whispered.The mother gasped. She grabbed the little boy and pulled him behind her. "Are you sure?" she asked, her voice trembling."It's the Halo," the father said loudly. He reached into his coat. He did not pull out a piece of bread to share. He pulled out a bright orange flare gun."Wait!" Jayden said, holding his hands up. "Please, I am not a threat. I just want to pass.""Five billion dollars," the father cried, tears freezing on his cheeks. "My so
Chapter 265
The dirty water in the New York sewer was freezing cold. It smelled like old garbage, wet mud, and rust.Jayden lay flat on his back on a narrow concrete walkway next to the black water. He was shivering violently. His teeth chattered together. Clack, clack, clack. His breath came out in small, weak clouds of white fog.He was mortal now. The blue chemical from the sniper bullets had killed his magic. The golden Immortality Lock inside his chest was silent. Every broken rib, every torn muscle, and every deep cut sent waves of absolute, terrifying human agony through his brain.Maya knelt beside him. She was the survivor from the Analog Underground. She wore a heavy green military jacket covered in dirt."Hold still, kid," Maya ordered. Her voice was rough and tough.She pressed a thick, white cotton bandage hard against the bullet hole in Jayden’s stomach."AGGGGH!" Jayden screamed. His body jerked upward. He grabbed Maya’s wrist, trying to pull her hand away. The pain was blinding.
Chapter 264
"AGGGGGHHHH!" Jayden screamed. It felt like hot, jagged iron was tearing through his guts. His shoulder burned with a sickening, grinding fire. His leg throbbed with a heavy, crushing ache.He was bleeding. Real, dark red human blood poured out of the bullet holes, staining the white snow beneath him.For the first time since he had awakened the System in the fighting pits of Eden, Jayden felt pain without a response.The pain meant nothing. It did not make him stronger. It did not build a shield. It did not send a message to his followers.It just hurt. It hurt so much he wanted to die.He curled into a tight ball in the snow, shaking violently. Tears streamed down his dirty face. He gasped for air, but his punctured lung made a terrible, wet sound. He was totally, completely mortal.Captain Cole walked slowly toward him. The snow crunched under his white boots.Cole looked down at the bleeding, screaming man."Target is suppressed," Cole said calmly into his radio. "The chemical ro
Chapter 263
"We are mapping his threat radius," Cole said. "We are going to drop sensors closer and closer to him. We will find out exactly how close we can get before the magic wakes up. We do not strike until the math is perfect."Jayden limped out of the alley. He stepped into a massive, abandoned train yard.The yard was filled with dozens of old, rusted American cargo trains. They sat on broken steel tracks, covered in thick snow. The space between the trains was wide and open.Jayden stopped walking.He saw three more black sensor spikes sticking out of the snow, forming a perfect circle around him.He looked up. There were four silent drones hovering in the grey sky.He was completely surrounded. They had boxed him in. They were herding him like a sheep into a pen.Jayden was so tired of running. He was tired of hiding in the dark. He was tired of people treating him like a monster or a bomb.He looked at his hands. They were trembling from the freezing cold. He did not feel any golden lig
Chapter 262
Jayden opened his eyes. His head pounded with a terrible, heavy ache. His vision was blurry. He was lying on a hard, freezing concrete floor.He slowly pushed himself up. His arms shook. He touched his chest. He felt the small, sharp holes where the tranquilizer darts had hit him. The powerful sleeping chemicals were still thick in his blood, making his brain feel like it was wrapped in heavy wet cotton.He remembered the dark subway room. He remembered the six mercenaries pointing their guns at him.But most of all, he remembered Leo.He remembered the young boy’s face. Leo, the boy he had loved like a little brother. Leo had betrayed him. Leo had led the hunters right to him, just to get a warm bed and some food for his family.A single tear rolled down Jayden’s dirty face. The emotional pain in his heart hurt far worse than his broken ribs or his crushed spine."How did I escape?" Jayden whispered to the empty dark.He looked around. He was still in the underground subway tunnels
You may also like
VINCENT MILES: AND THE FIST OF FIRE
Kurt Dp.17.2K viewsVengeance of The Reborn Heir
Cindy Chen15.0K viewsMon'Ter
ReinStriver28.3K viewsHealing God's Heir: Abandoned Son-in-law
Abysalyounglord38.0K viewsI Destroy the Empire
Infared1.2K viewsTHE ALMIGHTY WAR GOD
Ardy-sensei3.0K viewsTHE KING WHO HAD NO MAGIC
Joe615 viewsThe Celestial Tyrant
Untamed man125 views