(T/N): I'm still mourning phainon guys, amphoreus was so important to me it's not even funny૮(˶ㅠ︿ㅠ)ა
———————-
Mydei carried Elio, frantically navigating
through the intricate complex of buildings.
His footsteps were as heavy as drums, each one landing on the artificial concrete floor, echoing with a dull thud.
Behind him, there was no sound of pursuing footsteps, no clamor of shouts.
Yet, a malice from the entire world, like countless invisible needles, firmly pinned itself to his back, forcing him not to stop for a moment.
"Put... put me down..."
On his shoulder, Elio's voice was as faint as a wisp of smoke,
"If you keep jostling me... I'm going to throw up..."
Mydei's steps faltered, he looked around, then dodged into a prop warehouse.
He closed the heavy iron door behind him, cutting off external prying eyes, and then put Elio down.
The frail young man immediately collapsed to the ground, leaning against a stack of cold prop wooden crates, his face as pale as paper, his chest heaving violently as he gasped for breath.
"What... what exactly is going on?"
Mydei leaned against the cold iron door, trying to calm his burning mind.
He finally voiced the confusion that had been swirling in his heart.
"Those lights, those swords... and that guy named Rick, what exactly did he do to us? Has time... has time really stopped?"
"Because the rules... the 'rules' of another world are invading!"
Elio's body was still trembling, and he fumbled through his black backpack.
Eventually, he pulled out a thick script with curled edges.
"This world is a giant'simulated universe'... We, all of us, are just pre-set data... Except for Phainon, only he isn't."
"Rick is a Memokeeper, capable of intercepting time segments, pausing and replaying them! Just like a director editing a film!"
Elio explained, frantically flipping through the script, muttering to himself,
"No... no... this isn't right... this isn't right either..."
"The plot should be Phainon being subdued by Rick, then completely lost..."
His pupils suddenly constricted.
The words on the script, the words he had personally written, came alive.
They twisted, wriggled, and disintegrated like a swarm of black ants before his eyes, finally reassembling into meaningless gibberish, emanating an ominous aura.
The original plot was completely overturned the moment Phainon summoned Invasion Dawn.
"Damn it... the plot... it's collapsed..." Elio murmured to himself.
He let go, and the script fell to the ground with a "thud."
The young man clutched his head. He wasn't afraid; he had simply found a new way to solve the problem.
"What to do... without a script... how can I find the 'key' without a script..."
Mydei watched Elio's breakdown, his brows furrowed.
He knew about the "simulated universe," "data authority" – weren't these all settings from web dramas?
A moment later.
Mydei's mind was, without warning, engulfed in a sea of blood.
Burning domes, black scorched earth, collapsing royal cities.
Endless, tidal waves of black monsters surged from the horizon.
He stood alone on the deserted city wall, swinging his fists again and again, pulverizing those terrifying creations into dust.
Dying, then resurrecting.
Dragging his weary soul from the cold River Styx, running all the way back to the battlefield.
Round and round, endlessly.
Finally, a pitch-black greatsword pierced him precisely in the back.
The tenth thoracic vertebra was his only weakness.
Excruciating pain!
This was not a memory!
It was a real, soul-piercing sensation in that moment!
Mydei grunted, kneeling on one knee, cold sweat soaking his temples.
Why?
These scenes... weren't they just the plot of the web drama, the character "Mydei" he played?
It had already been filmed, hadn't it?
But why... was the despair of fighting alone so real, as if it were branded deep within his soul!
"For... tomorrow!"
A voice stirred a ripple in his sea of consciousness.
Boom—
An indescribable scorching torrent erupted from his heart, flushing through his limbs!
Crimson mysterious patterns, like burning brands, rapidly lit up beneath his skin, spreading, finally converging on his fists, igniting golden flames!
A powerful wave of air, centered on him, boomed outwards, sending all the wooden crates and miscellaneous items in the warehouse flying!
He felt it.
That familiar yet strange power, named "Strife," had awakened within him.
"This is..."
Mydei spread his hands in astonishment.
So... those weren't dreams.
So... the journey of chasing fire was not a web drama that had long since ended.
But a bloody destiny that he had truly experienced.
"It's coming... it's coming—!"
A scream interrupted Mydei's thoughts.
He turned back in horror.
He saw Elio's eyes wide open, bloodshot.
He picked up the script that had fallen to the ground and turned to a fresh, blank page.
Elio pulled out a pen and, without even looking at the paper, began to write frantically on it.
When the last stroke fell.
The pen snapped in two with a "crack."
Elio's body also went limp, his head lolled, and he fell backward.
Mydei lunged forward, catching his limp body steadily.
Elio pointed a finger towards the door, "You must... wake me up..."
With that, he completely passed out.
And at that very moment.
Rumble—!
The heavy iron door let out a terrifying roar, and the entire doorframe twisted violently.
The enemy had arrived.
Mydei settled Elio in the corner, clenched his fists, and stared intently at the door.
The next instant.
Boom—!!
The iron door exploded inwards, countless fragments, laden with dust, scattered in all directions!
From the dust, a figure rushed in.
Mydei was about to throw a punch, but he saw the face of the newcomer.
"Phainon?"
The newcomer was indeed Phainon, his eyes sharp as knives.
Mydei's fist stopped before Phainon's face, but Phainon didn't even look at him.
"I'm too late!"
Phainon's voice was low and taut, as he stared at the unconscious Elio.
"I caught up with Zandar, or rather, his data afterimage. He never intended to fight; he was just diverting my attention."
"He eventually transformed into a line of code and merged into the world."
"His target, from the beginning, was Elio."
Mydei's heart was violently shaken, unable to process the immense amount of information at once.
But he immediately reacted, pointing at Elio on the ground.
"He was very strange just now, kept shouting 'it's coming,' as if he had foreseen it! Then he wrote something, and then he fainted!"
"His last words were for us to find a way to wake him up."
Phainon quickly stepped forward, leaning down to examine him.
Elio's breathing was steady, but his mental world was firmly locked, isolating it from any probing.
"As expected..." Phainon's fist slowly clenched.
Zandar had sacrificed himself to trigger a higher level of "system authority" to eliminate Elio, the biggest "BUG."
"Elio knew he would be locked away..."
Phainon's gaze fell on the open script on the ground.
"Before being completely locked down, he left us the last clue."
Mydei also leaned closer, looking at the strange script.
On that fresh page, dense, frantic, and chaotic handwriting filled it.
And all the words pointed to the final two terms.
—Cyrene, Key.