When Rex opened his eyes again, the sky was red.
Not sunset — red like corrupted code, the kind that bled through the edges of a broken simulation.
Wind carried fragments of floating memory — blurred scenes of a city, people, voices — looping and fading in endless sequence.
He stood on cracked pavement. Then he blinked… and he was back again. Same place. Same second.
[System Log: Loop Sequence Active. Escape Probability — 0.04%]
Rex clenched his jaw. "A time trap."
He started walking through the ghostlike streets. Every few minutes, the world reset — dust re-forming, broken lights flickering back on, even his heartbeat syncing to the loop's rhythm.
But something felt off.
Each reset, the loop changed slightly. A sound that wasn't there before. A shadow that moved faster.
And every time, a single figure appeared at the end of the street — a woman with short silver hair, watching him.
Lira…
He ran toward her.
But before he could reach, the loop snapped again — everything rewound.
After fifty-two loops, Rex had stopped counting.
He smashed walls, rewired street terminals, even rewrote local data with his power — all useless.
The system always restored the world.
On the seventy-third loop, he noticed a flicker behind a billboard — a hidden access point, disguised in the loop's reset code.
"So that's your weak spot," he muttered.
He reached into his Rewrite Core, pulling out a blade made entirely of data — glowing with fractured symbols that bent reality.
[Reality Rewrite: Cut Path — Data Breach Mode.]
He slashed the air.
The world froze. For the first time, the loop didn't restart.
A deep hum vibrated through the ground. The air thickened.
Then she appeared — fully this time.
Not a ghost, not a fragment. A real digital consciousness.
Lira.
Her eyes shimmered with static blue light. "You shouldn't have found this place, Rex."
Rex's voice shook — not from fear, but from memory. "You were gone."
"I was rewritten," she said, stepping closer. "The system used my code to stabilize the loop. I'm its anchor now."
He swallowed hard. "Then I'll free you."
Lira smiled faintly — not with hope, but resignation. "If you destroy the loop… you destroy me with it."
For a long moment, neither spoke.
Then the world trembled. Sirens blared above them — the system had detected the breach.
[Security Override Initiated — Guardian Unit 03 Incoming.]
Rex raised his weapon, eyes locked on Lira. "Then I'll find another way."
She shook her head. "You don't have time. Run, Rex. Before it resets again."
The light intensified. The loop began collapsing, data fracturing like glass.
Rex grabbed Lira's hand — or what felt like one. "I'm not leaving you."
[Warning: Loop Collapse Detected.]
A surge of blue and red energy ripped through the street, consuming everything.
When the light faded, Rex found himself falling — into a void filled with fragmented memories.
And somewhere in the echoing dark, he heard her voice — faint but clear:
"If you want to save me… find the Core Rewrite."
Then everything went black.