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Eastern Sky, 3:03 A.M.
Lightning tore through the heavens, painting the sky in fractured gold. Beneath the storm clouds, a silhouette stood atop a cathedral spire—long coat rippling, mask carved with ancient runes.
He had awoken.
The System Hunter.
Not a legend. Not a myth.
A being engineered by the World Core itself, activated only when anomalies crossed the lines drawn by fate.
And Harvey Azrael had just crossed every single one.
---
Back in Zenith Academy
Harvey stared at the notification hovering in front of him, its edges trembling unnaturally.
> [System Notice: Untraceable Anomaly Detected – Class: S (Divine Intervention Suspected)]
[Warning: You have been marked for Surveillance.]
His fingers twitched. The system he wielded—a relic of his past life—should've been beyond detection.
But now?
It had pinged something ancient.
And the moment that happened, he felt it—a cold pulse in the fabric of reality. Like something had turned its attention toward him.
Something old.
Something trained to kill things like him.
---
The Forbidden Archives
That night, Harvey returned to the underground chamber hidden beneath the library—a place only accessible by breaking three seals and invoking his past self's name.
Torches ignited as he entered.
He walked past shattered mirrors that reflected past versions of himself—some cruel, others kind, all dead.
At the heart of the chamber was a pedestal.
On it, a black cube pulsed.
> "You've triggered it early," the cube spoke.
Harvey nodded. "The System Hunter?"
> "Yes. Your regression was not clean. Too much power leaked."
> "Can I win?"
> "No. But you can learn."
The cube split apart, revealing a scroll written in blood.
> [Skill Unlocked: Echo Trace – Learn abilities by analyzing combat impressions.]
Harvey placed a hand over it, absorbing everything.
> "Then I'll learn faster than they can chase."
---
Meanwhile, in the Capital
A secret council gathered. Seven figures sat in a circular chamber built from starlight and bone.
> "Harvey Azrael has awakened the Archive."
> "He defied fate once. We cannot let him do it again."
> "Dispatch the Hunter."
Far away, the masked figure standing atop the cathedral finally moved.
His eyes glowed red as thousands of systems deactivated themselves around him—instinctively retreating from his presence.
He hunted systems. He devoured power.
And now, he would hunt Harvey.
---
Aira's Warning
The next day, Harvey sat beneath the Academy's training cliff, alone. His wounds from the duel with Riven were nearly gone, thanks to his regenerative skill, but something else gnawed at him.
Footsteps approached.
Aira sat beside him without a word, tossing a sealed scroll into his lap.
> "A contact from my family sent this. You've been flagged."
> "I know," Harvey said quietly.
> "You should leave. Disappear. You're not ready."
Harvey didn't look at her. Instead, he stared at his reflection in the lake's surface.
> "I didn't come back just to hide again."
Aira gritted her teeth. "They'll erase you. Even I might not be able to help."
> "Then stay out of my way."
Silence stretched between them.
Until finally, she stood.
> "Fine. But if you die, I won't forgive you."
He watched her leave, expression unreadable.
> "I already died once," he whispered. "Now I'm just correcting my own eulogy."
---
The System Hunter Arrives
As night fell, storm clouds gathered unnaturally above Zenith Academy. Students sensed it. Professors grew tense. Magical beasts in the forest howled and scattered.
And then—
A single flash.
Boom.
The barrier surrounding the Academy shattered.
And the System Hunter walked in.
Tall. Silent. Surrounded by particles that devoured mana on contact.
A professor moved to intercept him.
He vanished in a blink, turned to ash by the hunter's mere gaze.
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