Noah hadn't moved for almost a minute after Ezra stepped out of his room.
His fingers were still resting on the black card.
His name—Noah Carter—looked back at him in silver letters.
Someone had chosen him.
Someone who knew exactly what they were doing.
Someone powerful enough to steal a living System from Ezra Black… and give it to a dying boy on a rooftop.
His heartbeat echoed in the silence.
The room felt smaller now.
Tighter.
Not because Ezra had been here—
but because the truth had.
Noah slowly clenched his fist around the card.
For the first time since getting the System…
he felt something he hadn't expected.
Fear.
Not fear of Ryan.
Not fear of Adrian.
Not fear of the tournament.
This was fear of losing himself.
"Claim the System…" he whispered.
The words felt heavy.
Ezra said it so casually, as if claiming a living being was something normal.
Noah exhaled shakily.
He didn't even know what that meant.
---
A cold electric pulse ran across his chest.
"Not now," Noah muttered.
But the System didn't listen.
The blue screen flickered violently like a dying heartbeat.
The air went silent.
Noah froze.
Recon…sidering?
"You dare?" he whispered, stunned.
He had fought.
He had bled.
He had survived impossible battles.
He had changed his entire life.
And it still wanted to leave him?
A strange coldness began to spread through Noah's chest.
Not fear.
Not anger.
Something sharper.
A cold clarity.
"You're mine," he said quietly.
The screen pulsed.
Noah swallowed.
"What do I need to do?"
There was a pause.
Then—
A chill passed down Noah's spine.
The System wanted him to go into it.
Not physically.
Mentally.
Spiritually.
He tightened his hold on the black card.
Ezra's voice echoed in his mind:
"Go inside your own mind and drag the System to your side.
Or it will consume you first."
Noah slowly sat on the floor.
Crossed his legs.
Closed his eyes.
And whispered:
"…Take me inside."
---
THE WORLD DISAPPEARED.
---
He opened his eyes again—
And the first thing he felt was pressure.
An ocean of it.
He stood in a pitch-black void.
No sound.
No air.
No echo.
Just darkness stretching infinitely.
Then he heard it—
A heartbeat.
But it wasn't his.
THUMP.
THUMP.
A blue pulse lit the darkness.
Something massive was floating in the void.
A heart.
A heart made of glowing fractal energy, like cracked crystal veins pulsing with blue light.
The System's core.
Noah took a shaky step forward.
"So this is you," he whispered.
The heart throbbed, almost offended.
Then a voice—a distorted, metallic whisper—filled the void.
"YOU ARE NOT EZRA BLACK."
Noah's jaw tightened.
"No.
I'm Noah Carter."
The blue light flickered aggressively.
"YOU ARE NOT THE ORIGINAL HOST."
"I don't care."
The heart vibrated violently, the void shaking around him.
"YOU ARE NOT WORTHY."
Noah didn't flinch this time.
He stepped closer.
"Maybe not," he admitted quietly.
"But I'm still the one alive."
Silence.
The void froze.
Noah looked at the glowing heart, eyes narrowing.
"You came to me on the rooftop.
You didn't pick Ezra.
You didn't return to him.
You watched me fight every day.
You watched me almost die.
You watched me rise."
His voice grew colder.
"You followed me.
You chose me."
The heartbeat stopped.
Then the heart spoke again.
Softer.
"PROVE IT."
Noah inhaled slowly.
Then—
"…Fine."
He placed his hand on the glowing heart.
It burned.
His skin blistered instantly.
Agony shot through his arm, chest, skull.
Memories crashed into him—
Ryan beating him.
Sophia lying.
Mira's smirk.
Jace's fist.
Ezra's golden eyes.
Adrian's smile.
Daniel Ross's name.
Warehouse 12.
His own screams on the rooftop.
He held on tighter.
The heart pulsed wildly.
"LET GO."
"No."
"YOU WILL BREAK."
"Let me."
Noah leaned closer, voice a whisper:
"If you want me to be worthy—
then make me worthy."
The void shattered.
Blue light swallowed him whole.
---
The last thing Noah felt before everything went white—
Was power.
Cold.
Alive.
Breathing.
And responding to him.
For the first time.
---