The System That Wanted Me Dead

Chapter six : Lawless

Kael’s hand touched the tower.

Nothing exploded.

No lightning.

No divine punishment.

Just cold.

The system anchor felt… empty. Like a shell still standing after the thing inside had fled.

The moment his fingers made contact, the pressure vanished.

Not faded.

Cut.

Every system panel in the plaza blinked out at once.

People froze mid-run.

A man’s flaming sword extinguished instantly. A healer screamed as her glow died in her hands. The air itself felt lighter unanchored.

Then the sound hit.

A deep, hollow thrum, like reality exhaling after holding its breath too long.

[SYSTEM LAW OFFLINE]

Zone Status: UNREGULATED

The words appeared only for Kael.

Then shattered.

The tower cracked straight down the middle.

Not collapsing splitting.

Red light leaked out like blood.

The city went silent.

Someone whispered, “My skills…”

Another voice, shaking. “They’re gone.”

Panic spread in waves.

Kael staggered back, knees buckling. His head pounded like he’d slammed into a wall.

Veyra caught him before he fell.

“You did it,” they said quietly.

Kael swallowed. “Is it over?”

Veyra didn’t answer.

They were staring at the sky.

So was everyone else.

Because the sky had changed.

The familiar golden lattice so faint most people never noticed it was gone. In its place was nothing but raw blue, uninterrupted.

Freedom.

And terror.

The system didn’t scream this time.

It went silent.

That scared Kael more than any alert.

“Lawless zones were theoretical,” one of the Erased muttered. “They said they couldn’t exist.”

Veyra’s voice was tight. “They can. The system just hates them.”

The ground trembled.

Not violently.

Purposefully.

Kael felt it through his bones.

“Something’s coming,” he said.

“Yes,” Veyra replied. “Something allowed to act without permission.”

A ripple tore through the plaza.

Space folded inward.

Then outward.

And stepped through.

It was humanoid but only in the most generous sense. Its body looked assembled from discarded concepts: armor without material, limbs outlined but never fully drawn, a face that shifted every time Kael tried to focus on it.

No system panel appeared.

No name.

No level.

Just presence.

The crowd screamed.

People ran.

Some tripped and didn’t get back up.

The thing looked at Kael.

And smiled.

“I exist,” it said, voice layered and wrong, “because you broke the rules.”

Kael forced himself upright. “What are you?”

The thing tilted its head.

“I am what happens,” it said, “when the system lets go.”

Veyra stepped in front of Kael.

“This is a Wild Outcome,” they said. “A possibility the system normally prunes.”

The creature’s smile widened.

“Correct,” it said. “And now I am free.”

The tower behind them groaned.

Cracks spread across nearby buildings as reality struggled to decide what applied here.

Kael’s hands trembled.

No pressure.

No guidance.

No future paths.

For the first time since the dungeon

The system wasn’t watching.

And that meant

This was real danger.

The creature raised a hand.

The air warped.

Kael stepped forward.

Veyra grabbed him. “You don’t know what it can do!”

Kael’s voice was steady despite the fear clawing at his chest.

“I know what I can do.”

He looked at the creature.

“You’re not inevitable,” Kael said. “You’re just unsupervised.”

The creature laughed.

And lunged.

The creature moved first.

Not fast.

Certain.

The air twisted as it stepped forward, space bending around its outline like reality couldn’t decide where it belonged. The ground beneath its feet didn’t crack it forgot to exist for a split second.

Kael reacted on instinct.

He dove sideways as the space where he’d been standing collapsed inward with a sound like snapping glass. Stone folded, compressed into nothing, then burst outward in a shockwave.

Kael slammed into the pavement, rolling hard.

Pain flared.

Real pain.

No system dampening.

No hidden reductions.

Just flesh and consequence.

He pushed himself up, chest heaving.

“So that’s it,” he muttered. “No cheats for anyone.”

The creature tilted its shifting head.

“This zone is honest,” it said pleasantly. “Everything ends when it should.”

Veyra shouted, “Kael don’t let it decide the exchange!”

Kael didn’t answer.

He was watching.

The creature wasn’t using skills.

Wasn’t invoking laws.

It was acting.

Every movement caused a reaction, not because the system enforced it but because reality itself responded.

Cause and effect.

Raw.

Kael swallowed.

This wasn’t something you outleveled.

You survived it.

The creature stepped again, raising an arm.

The air screamed.

Kael ran toward it.

Veyra cursed. “Idiot!!!”

The creature paused.

Just for a fraction of a second.

That hesitation mattered.

Kael felt it the absence of prediction. No pressure. No prewritten outcome leaning against his spine.

He moved wrong on purpose.

He stumbled.

Let his footing slip.

The creature struck where Kael should have been.

Nothing happened.

The attack tore through empty space.

Kael closed the distance.

He slammed his shoulder into the creature’s torso.

There was resistance.

Not armor.

Not flesh.

Density.

Kael was thrown back like he’d hit a wall.

He crashed hard, ribs screaming.

The creature laughed softly.

“You cannot invalidate me,” it said. “There is no system here.”

Kael coughed, blood spotting his lips.

“I know,” he rasped.

He forced himself up again.

“That’s why you’re dangerous,” he continued. “And why you’re sloppy.”

The creature tilted its head.

Kael spread his hands slightly.

“You’re not chosen,” he said. “You’re not optimized.”

He pointed at the fractured tower behind them.

“You’re just what leaks out when control breaks.”

The creature’s smile faltered.

Kael felt it.

Not fear.

Instability.

“You think freedom makes you strong,” Kael said quietly. “But without rules…”

He stepped forward.

“…you have no protection.”

The creature shrieked.

The sound wasn’t loud but it hurt, vibrating through bone and thought. Nearby windows shattered. People collapsed clutching their heads.

Kael pushed through it.

Step by step.

The creature struck again, space warping violently.

Kael didn’t dodge.

He fell.

Let gravity take him instead of intention.

The attack passed overhead.

Kael kicked upward.

His foot connected.

For a heartbeat

The creature was solid.

It reeled back, shocked.

Kael didn’t stop.

He lunged, driving his fist into the same spot again and again, not trying to deal damage

But to force consistency.

“Exist,” Kael snarled. “Or don’t!”

Reality chose.

The creature screamed as its form stabilized too much, edges locking in place like wet clay hardening too fast.

Cracks spread across its surface.

“No” it hissed. “This is incorrect”

Kael grabbed its arm.

The sensation was wrong cold, heavy, unreal but it held.

“You wanted a world without rules,” Kael said, breath ragged. “Welcome to consequences.”

He twisted.

The arm tore free with a sound like ripping fabric.

The creature collapsed, form unraveling violently.

The air snapped back into place.

Silence slammed down.

The Wild Outcome convulsed once

Then dissolved into red mist that evaporated into nothing.

Kael dropped to one knee.

His entire body shook.

That had taken everything.

Veyra rushed to him, gripping his shoulders. “Kael are you alive?”

He laughed weakly. “Unfortunately.”

Around them, the city slowly stirred.

People stared.

Not at the tower.

At him.

Someone whispered, “He killed it…”

Another voice, awed and terrified. “Without skills.”

System panels flickered weakly back to life at the edge of the plaza but not fully.

[SYSTEM LAW  PARTIAL RESTORATION]

WARNING: ANOMALY CONTAMINATION DETECTED

Kael looked up at the tower.

The cracks weren’t healing.

They were spreading.

Veyra’s voice dropped. “You didn’t just survive the lawless zone.”

Kael swallowed. “What did I do?”

Veyra met his eyes.

“You proved something worse than defiance,” they said.

Kael’s chest tightened.

“What?”

Veyra spoke softly.

“That even without the system… the world still bends for you.”

Far above

Something recalculated.

And for the first time

It couldn’t decide how to respond.