The stars disappeared.
One by one.
Kael stood upon the rooftop of the eastern residence tower, his sword drawn as he stared into the sky.
The moon remained.
But everything surrounding it had changed.
The darkness above Aetheris Academy was no longer the darkness of night.
It was something else.
Something vast.
Something alive.
Kael’s grip tightened around his sword.
“What…”
His voice barely escaped his throat.
The clouds had stopped moving.
The wind had stopped blowing.
Even the distant sounds of Eldoria had vanished.
It was as though the entire world had held its breath.
Then—
A pair of enormous eyes opened beyond the clouds.
Kael froze.
They weren’t red.
They weren’t golden.
They weren’t even any color he could properly recognize.
They looked like two endless voids filled with faint silver sparks.
And they were looking directly at him.
Not at Aetheris.
Not at Eldoria.
At him.
Pi trembled on Kael’s shoulder.
“Pi…”
Kael swallowed.
“System.”
Nothing.
“System!”
Still nothing.
For the first time since its appearance, the Karma System gave him no sarcastic remark.
No vague response.
No notification.
Nothing.
Kael’s face became pale.
“You’re scared too?”
The system window finally appeared.
But the text was unstable.
[WARNING.]
The letters flickered.
[WARNING.]
Then—
[ERROR.]
Kael stared.
“Error?”
Another line appeared.
[The System cannot properly identify the entity.]
Kael’s heart sank.
“Can’t identify it?”
[Correct.]
“Then analyze it!”
[Analysis failed.]
“Again!”
[Analysis failed.]
“Again!”
The window disappeared.
Kael’s expression hardened.
“You’re kidding me.”
A sound suddenly echoed across the sky.
Not a roar.
Not thunder.
A breath.
A single, enormous breath.
HOOOOOO…
The clouds were pushed apart.
Kael’s hair whipped backward.
Pi clung tightly to his shoulder.
Then something descended.
A massive silhouette emerged from beyond the clouds.
Kael couldn’t comprehend its size.
Only fragments could be seen.
A long, indistinct body.
Several enormous shapes resembling wings.
Countless strands of silver light trailing behind it.
The creature wasn’t falling.
It was descending deliberately.
Toward Aetheris.
Kael’s eyes widened.
“It’s coming here.”
Then—
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The academy’s defensive barrier activated.
A gigantic translucent dome appeared above Aetheris Academy.
Thousands of magical symbols formed across its surface.
The entire capital of Eldoria lit up.
People poured into the streets.
Guards drew their weapons.
Mages looked toward the sky.
Alarm bells began ringing throughout the city.
DONG!
DONG!
DONG!
Kael stared at the enormous barrier.
He had never seen anything like it.
And yet—
The thing above them didn’t stop.
It simply continued descending.
The barrier began to crack.
Kael’s eyes widened.
“No…”
A crack spread across the magical dome.
Then another.
And another.
The academy’s barrier, which was supposedly capable of resisting catastrophic magical attacks, was breaking apart.
Kael couldn’t even imagine the amount of power required to do that.
Then—
A voice echoed inside his head.
[Emergency Alert.]
[Aetheris Academy’s Primary Defense Barrier has sustained critical damage.]
[Estimated collapse: 38 seconds.]
Kael’s eyes widened.
“Thirty-eight seconds?!”
[Correction.]
[37 seconds.]
“That’s not a correction!”
[The System values accuracy.]
Kael looked around.
Students were flooding out of the residence towers.
Professors were shouting orders.
Magical circles appeared across the academy grounds.
Knights formed defensive formations.
The entire academy had become a battlefield before anyone had even understood what they were fighting.
Then a familiar voice shouted from below.
“KAEL!”
Kael looked down.
Elena stood in the courtyard.
Her silver hair whipped violently in the wind.
“Get down here!”
Kael didn’t hesitate.
He jumped from the rooftop.
“KAEL!”
Elena’s eyes widened.
Kael landed hard.
BOOM!
The impact cracked several stones beneath his feet.
He rolled his shoulder.
“Ow.”
Elena stared at him.
“You could have used the stairs!”
Kael looked at the tower.
Then back at her.
“Stairs were slower.”
“You’re insane.”
“Probably.”
Before Elena could respond, a massive magical circle appeared above them.
“Everyone!”
A professor shouted.
“Prepare defensive formations!”
Kael looked around.
Leon Ardent was among the students gathering near the central courtyard. New chapters come out on g.com first.
The golden-haired protagonist’s expression was completely different from the friendly face Kael had seen earlier.
His sword was drawn.
His blue eyes were fixed on the sky.
Mira stood several meters behind him, gripping a spellbook tightly.
She looked terrified.
Kael couldn’t blame her.
This wasn’t an entrance examination.
This wasn’t a monster.
This wasn’t something a seventeen-year-old student was supposed to fight.
Then Leon noticed Kael.
“Kael!”
Kael looked at him.
Leon ran over.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m alive.”
“That’s a pretty low standard.”
“It’s been a strange day.”
Leon almost laughed.
Almost.
Then another crack appeared in the barrier.
CRAAAAACK!
The sound echoed across the academy.
Everyone looked upward.
The enormous eyes beyond the clouds slowly closed.
Kael’s expression changed.
“Why did it close its eyes?”
Leon frowned.
“What?”
Kael pointed upward.
“It was looking at us.”
Mira’s face became pale.
“At us?”
Kael nodded.
Then—
The eyes opened again.
But this time—
They weren’t looking at Kael.
They were looking at Leon.
Kael’s blood ran cold.
Leon froze.
The enormous entity stared directly at him.
Then a voice thundered across the heavens.
“There you are.”
Every person in the academy heard it.
The voice wasn’t loud.
It didn’t need to be.
It simply existed everywhere.
Leon raised his sword.
“What are you?”
The creature didn’t answer.
Instead—
The barrier shattered.
KRAAAAAAAAAASH!
Thousands of fragments of magical light rained across the academy.
Students screamed.
Professors immediately raised protective spells.
A powerful shockwave swept across the grounds.
Kael was thrown backward.
He slammed into the stone wall.
His vision blurred.
For several seconds, he couldn’t breathe.
Then—
“Kael!”
Someone grabbed his arm.
Mira.
She pulled him upright.
“Are you injured?”
Kael coughed.
“I’m fine.”
Mira looked toward the sky.
“That’s not something anyone should be able to say after that.”
Kael almost smiled.
Then his system appeared.
[New Mission.]
[Karma Event: Protect the Protagonist.]
Objective: Prevent Leon Ardent from suffering fatal injury.]
Reward: 250 Karma Points
Kael stared.
“Protect Leon?”
[Correct.]
“Why?”
[Because his death would create an unacceptable distortion in the world’s Karma.]
Kael frowned.
“So he’s important.”
[Very.]
Kael looked at Leon.
The protagonist stood in the middle of the courtyard.
Alone.
His sword pointed toward the heavens.
Then something descended.
A single strand of silver light.
It moved slowly.
Almost gently.
Toward Leon.
Kael’s eyes widened.
“Leon!”
Leon looked upward.
The strand suddenly accelerated.
Kael ran.
“GET OUT OF THE WAY!”
Leon raised his sword.
The silver strand struck.
BOOM!
A tremendous explosion swallowed the courtyard.
Kael was thrown backward again.
“Leon!”
Smoke filled the area.
Kael pushed himself up.
His heart raced.
The system flashed.
[Target’s life force detected.]
Kael exhaled.
Then the smoke cleared.
Leon stood at the center of a crater.
His sword was embedded in the ground.
A faint golden aura surrounded his body.
He was alive.
But barely standing.
Kael stared.
“What just happened?”
Mira answered quietly.
“His sword.”
Kael looked at Leon’s weapon.
The blade was glowing.
“It protected him?”
Mira nodded.
“That sword contains a powerful defensive enchantment.”
Kael looked upward.
The creature was still watching.
Then another notification appeared.
[Warning.]
[Entity has identified the Host.]
Kael’s blood froze.
“What?”
The enormous eyes shifted.
Back toward him.
[Correction.]
[Entity has identified both Host and Protagonist.]
Kael’s expression darkened.
“Why?”
The System didn’t answer.
Instead, another voice echoed inside Kael’s mind.
Not the creature.
Not the System.
A whisper.
You are changing things.
Kael’s eyes widened.
He looked around.
Nobody reacted.
Only him.
Then the whisper continued.
You were never supposed to be here.
Kael’s breathing stopped.
Almost identical to the Observer’s warning.
He looked toward the rooftops.
The Observer was there.
Black cloak.
Silver mask.
Crimson eyes.
Watching.
Kael shouted.
“YOU!”
The Observer raised one hand.
Three fingers.
Then it pointed toward the sky.
Kael understood.
Three.
The three irregularities.
But before he could ask anything—
The creature above Aetheris moved.
One enormous wing shifted.
The resulting wind swept across the academy.
Students were knocked off their feet.
Several towers began collapsing.
Kael grabbed Mira and pulled her away from falling debris.
“Run!”
Mira followed him.
Elena was already casting a spell.
“Leon!”
Leon looked toward her.
“Get everyone into the eastern hall!”
“What about you?”
“I’m staying here.”
Leon shook his head.
“No.”
Elena glared at him.
“You don’t get to argue with me right now!”
Kael stared at them.
This was different.
In the original novel, Leon would eventually become a hero because of moments like this.
But this event hadn’t happened.
Not now.
Not this early.
Something had dragged the story away from its original path.
Kael suddenly remembered the Observer’s words.
This world was never the story you remember.
Then he understood something.
The original story wasn’t being rewritten.
It was being overwritten.
Someone—or something—was introducing new pieces onto the board.
And Kael was one of them.
A roar suddenly erupted from beneath the academy.
ROOOOOOOOOAR!
Everyone froze.
Kael looked downward.
The ground trembled.
Not from the creature above.
From beneath them.
The sealed staircase.
The thing that had awakened beneath Aetheris.
It was responding to the entity in the sky.
Kael’s face changed.
“There are two of them.”
Elena looked at him.
“What?”
Kael pointed downward.
“Whatever is beneath the academy…”
He looked upward.
“…and whatever is above us.”
His grip tightened around his sword.
“They’re connected.”
Then—
The ground split.
A massive wave of black energy erupted from beneath the central courtyard.
The academy’s remaining magical formations collapsed.
Students screamed.
Professors were forced backward.
Something emerged from the underground darkness.
A hand.
Then an arm.
Then a figure.
A humanoid silhouette covered in black armor.
Its face was hidden behind a cracked white mask.
Kael stared.
The figure slowly lifted its head.
Its eyes opened.
Crimson.
Exactly like the Observer’s.
Kael’s heart stopped.
“No way.”
The figure looked directly at him.
Then it smiled.
Not at Leon.
Not at the professors.
At Kael.
A single sentence escaped its mouth.
“Found you.”
Kael’s eyes widened.
The Observer appeared on the rooftop again.
For the first time—
It looked genuinely alarmed.
“Run.”
Kael stared at it.
“What?”
The Observer pointed at the masked figure.
“That isn’t the third irregularity.”
Kael’s stomach dropped.
“Then what is it?”
The Observer’s voice became almost a whisper.
“It’s the reason there are irregularities.”
Silence.
The masked figure raised its hand.
The sky above Aetheris distorted.
The creature beyond the clouds suddenly opened its enormous eyes.
The two beings looked at each other.
For one terrifying moment—
The entire world seemed frozen between them.
Then the System appeared.
Not one window.
Not two.
Dozens.
They covered Kael’s vision.
[CRITICAL WARNING.]
[Karma System integrity: 71%.]
[Worldline stability: 54%.]
[Original Timeline: No longer accessible.]
[Host’s fate: Uncalculable.]
Kael stared at the final notification.
His hands slowly tightened around his sword.
For the first time—
The system didn’t know what would happen next.
And somehow, that frightened Kael more than anything else.
Then another notification appeared.
[Hidden Condition fulfilled.]
[The Villain Has Become an Irregularity.]
[New Title Acquired.]
[Title: The One Outside the Story]
Kael’s eyes widened.
“Outside…”
He looked at Leon.
At Elena.
At Mira.
At Pi.
At the Observer.
At the masked figure beneath the academy.
Then finally—
At the impossible creature in the sky.
A faint smile appeared on Kael’s face.
“If I’m outside the story…”
He raised his sword.
“…then maybe I don’t have to follow its ending.”
The masked figure laughed.
The creature above the academy spread its wings.
And beneath Aetheris—
Something ancient began to wake.
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