It happened at 2:37 PM.
Kael was walking back from class, earbuds in, the kind of soft lo-fi beat that felt like background noise to life itself. He was halfway across the overpass when the sky split open.
Literally. Like glass.
A shattering crack echoed across the city—no thunder, no warning. Just a sound like a skyscraper collapsing in slow motion, drawn out and full of dread.
Kael stopped walking. He looked up.
The clouds had vanished. Replaced by a vast, glowing fracture line that stretched from horizon to horizon. Red light bled from the seams, and something was moving—squirming—behind it.
"What the hell—?"
The sky fell.
Chunks of something—not stone, not metal, but some alien crystalline debris—rained down. A nearby building exploded. Screams erupted from the street below.
And then it happened.
A ding sound rang directly in his head, high-pitched and electronic, like a video game UI.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZED.]
[CREATION SYSTEM UNLOCKED.][Welcome, Kael Ishiro.]
[You have received: 1,000 Creation Points.]
He staggered backward and nearly tripped over the guardrail.
"What? What the f—who said that?" he shouted, spinning around. The street was chaos. Cars crashed. People screamed. A guy near the stoplight was on fire.
Kael clutched his head, squeezing his eyes shut. Maybe he'd hit it. Maybe this was a stroke. A hallucination.
But when he opened his eyes…
The glowing screen was still there. Floating. Dead center in his vision. No matter where he looked.
[Access your system?]
[Y/N]
His heart was hammering so hard he thought he might pass out. And then a second screen popped up.
[RECOMMENDATION: Access Immediately. Threat Level: Catastrophic.]
He hesitated, sweat pouring down his neck.
"…Yes," he whispered, breathless.
[System Accessed.]
The sky pulsed again—this time, not red but black. A void opened like an eye above the city. Something crawled out of it. Something wrong.
Kael didn't even have time to scream.
The system did it for him.
[Incoming Threat Detected: Class-A Aberration.]
[DEFENSE OPTIONS SUGGESTED:]
Summon: Steel Sentinel (800 CP)
Construct: Titanium Barricade (300 CP)
Weaponize: Custom Firearm – Pulse Repeater (600 CP)
"What the f*** is happening?" Kael yelled, voice cracking as he ducked behind a wrecked bench. The air stank of ozone and burning plastic.
And above the mall across the street, the thing unfolded itself. Limbs too long. Mouths in places mouths shouldn't be. A face like a mask, smooth and eyeless, bleeding a steady stream of black ichor onto the shattered glass dome.
He blinked at the interface.
"Steel Sentinel. Do it. I—I pick one. Number one! Just do it!"
[Summoning: Steel Sentinel.]-800 CP
[Remaining CP: 200]
A circle of burning white light exploded on the overpass in front of him. Reality tore itself open like wrapping paper, and from it, a ten-foot armored humanoid rose—pure metal, angular and brutalist in design, its shoulders steaming and eyes glowing blue.
[Unit Online. Awaiting Commands.]
Kael gaped.
The robot—or golem, or whatever the hell it was—stepped forward and raised its left arm. A cannon unfolded from its forearm, hissed, and locked into place.
"Kill that thing!" Kael screamed, pointing at the monster.
[Command Accepted.]
It leapt off the bridge in one clean movement, and a second later the street below became a warzone of plasma and fire.
Kael couldn't move. He couldn't breathe.
His hands were shaking so hard he dropped his phone. He bent to pick it up, but then just… crouched there, arms over his head. The screams around him were muffled now, like underwater noise.
The system was real.
The apocalypse was real.
And he had 200 points left.
He dry-heaved. Nothing came up.
[Adrenaline levels dangerously high.]
[Would you like to construct shelter?]
"…Yes. Something. Anything," he muttered.
[Constructing: Safe Room – Level 1 (200 CP)]
[Remaining CP: 0]
A translucent grid spread out around him. Walls formed out of shimmering light, solidifying into matte-black metal. A dome closed overhead. The sound of the outside world muted in an instant.
It was quiet.
Kael collapsed onto the floor of the room—bare metal, cold, but solid—and curled into himself.
He didn't cry. Not at first.
But then his hands started shaking again, and the silence was too much. Too heavy. Too final.
"…What the hell is this…?"
No answer. Just the faint hum of the system. Waiting. Watching.
He had no more points. No weapons. No clue what had just happened. Only this strange room, and the fact that something out there had just killed hundreds of people like stepping on ants.
And he was still alive.
Somehow.
Alone in a cage he had created.