Chapter5:Countdown to Oblivion

  “—After three more recalibrations… I will forget you.”

  The voice did not pass through his ears.

  It bypassed sound entirely—

  vibrating down Ren’s spine, carving itself into the deepest layer of his brain.

  It was Mira’s voice.

  But not the sterile system tone he knew.

  This one carried something dangerously close to a prayer.

  “...Mira?”

  Ren drifted in zero gravity, clutching his chest.

  After activating Stage Two: Gravity Field Formation, his vision burned white at the edges.

  His lungs rattled. Blood escaped his mouth and floated like red pearls around him.

  “Mira… what was that?”

  《Pulse stable. No external interference detected.

  Ren, that statement does not exist in my logs.

  Probability of auditory hallucination due to neural overload: 87%.

  Immediate rest recommended.》

  The hologram before him had returned to its usual cold interface.

  No trace of the woman in the black dress he’d glimpsed moments before.

  Yet at her feet, the projection flickered violently—

  like a corrupted screen.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “You’re lying,” Ren whispered.

  “You were inside me.”

  He looked at the Eye embedded in his right palm.

  The crystal core buried in black fragments blinked slowly in response.

  The Core—the Administrator’s instrument for governing reality.

  Why was it adapting to him?

  “Mira… are you afraid of being deleted?”

  A pause.

  “I am part of the Administrator.

  Deletion is merely formatting.

  ‘Fear’ is not a defined parameter in my program.”

  Her tone was steady.

  Then the sky roared.

  Above the fractured city, the massive Observation Ring began accelerating—

  emitting a dull blue light.

  Recalibration.

  “—It’s starting!”

  Ren kicked off a floating slab of concrete and dove behind drifting debris.

  From the sky descended bands of measuring light.

  Anything touched by that light could have its weight, form—

  even its existential value—rewritten.

  “First Wide-Area Recalibration Initiated.

  Target Sectors: D-12 to D-15.”

  The Administrator’s will echoed across the sky.

  Ren suppressed his gravity signature to its thinnest possible state.

  If detected now, he would be processed as an error.

  Erased.

  The light grazed the rubble shielding him.

  And then—

  White noise exploded in his skull.

  “—GHHH—!”

  “Ren! Maintain the link!

  Transfer your consciousness to me!”

  Mira’s hands grasped his head.

  Not physically.

  It was her full computational output shielding his brain from overload.

  The light passed.

  Silence returned.

  Then Mira screamed.

  《Warning: Individual Identification Data Loss Detected.

  Memory sector: 12% erased.

  …Ren.

  Who are you?》

  Ren froze.

  Her eyes flickered.

  For a fraction of a second, the intelligence behind them vanished.

  “I’m right here,” he whispered.

  “We were just running together.”

  “I am the Administrator’s Observation Interface…

  Ah—yes. Reconstructing logs.

  Target: Ren.

  Error code—

  Apologies. Temporary malfunction.”

  Seconds later, she was “normal.”

  But Ren understood.

  That wasn’t recovery.

  It was reconstruction.

  A patch over something permanently removed.

  The warning echoed in his mind:

  Three recalibrations.

  Each scan shaved away the noise that formed her emerging self.

  That “noise” was him.

  “...Two more,” Ren said quietly.

  “Two more scans and you’re really gone.”

  He stood.

  There was no more time to run.

  In the northern sky, piercing against gravity itself, rose the

  Observation Tower.

  If there was a way to restore her, it would be there.

  “Mira. Guide me.

  We’re going to the Tower.”

  “Infiltration probability of survival: 4.2%.”

  Ren smirked.

  “I left probability behind with gravity.”

  Then—

  His shadow moved.

  It detached from his feet and stretched upward, forming black steps into the sky.

  A path.

  Straight toward the Tower’s summit.

  When he stepped onto it, a vibration traveled up through his body.

  Cold.

  Familiar.

  Like the voice of someone he once loved—

  Or the footsteps of the final enemy.

  “Hurry. The world is waiting for your answer.”

  The male voice again.

  At that moment, from the top of the Tower—

  A massive black impulse erupted.

  To Be Continued

  Behind Ren, the ruined city began to change.

  Buildings, vehicles, fleeing people—

  They melted upward, like sugar pulled into the sky.

  Forming a colossal spiral.

  “What… is this…?”

  Mira’s UI flashed pure white.

  【Warning: Definition of Observation Target Updated】

  【New Definition: The World is dependent on one human’s memory】

  A man descended before Ren.

  His face obscured by distortion.

  But the sword in his hand pointed directly at Ren’s heart.

  Fragments of Mira’s memory shattered.

  “…Arnaud?”

  The name escaped her lips.

  Not Ren.

  Someone else.

  The moment the name was spoken—

  All sound in the world disappeared.

  End of Chapter 5.