I exhaled hard and nearly fell to my knees.
Training had pushed every muscle to its limit.My chest felt like someone had shoved a burning stone into it.My shoulders throbbed.My arms vibrated from strain.
But…
I did it.
My delay climbed from 0.1 to nearly 0.2 seconds.
And this time, it wasn't an accident.I felt space hesitate—a faint "click" before reality snapped back into place.
I sat on the bench, adjusting my breath.
The air around UFO Park wasn't normal.Something leaked from its center—a pressure, a thickness, a glitchy ripple.
A faint symbol flickered in my vision.Almost readable.Almost stable.
Then—
A distortion ripped across the park.
Something sprinted out.
Its skin looked like scorched plastic glued back wrong.Movements out of sync with its own body.
A Corrupted.
It lunged toward a mother holding her child.
I didn't think. My body moved.
"Come on—really—"
Time slowed.0.18… 0.19…Almost 0.20 seconds.
I pushed the mother out of the way—my shoulder tearing with pain.
The Corrupted's empty eyes locked on me.
And then—
A blade cut through the air.
Emilia.
Her speed was sharper than before.But this Corrupted was stronger.
She staggered back, blood at her temple.
"You're… faster than yesterday," she muttered.Genuine shock in her eyes.
The Corrupted pounced again.
My arm was numb, but my legs moved on instinct—stepping in front of her.
Her expression changed.A mix of disbelief and something unreadable.
"What are you?"
"I'd like to know that too."
The Corrupted dropped—
—and space folded.
A low hum.A snap.The creature was yanked backward as if grabbed by an invisible hook and slammed into the park.
It stopped moving.
Emilia froze.
Not because she feared me—but because she couldn't understand.
The Source Point in my chest pulsed—as if breathing.
Far away, ARC surveillance lit up.
B-39 fluctuating.Anomalies rising.Someone in a dark monitoring room adjusted their glasses.
"Not natural. Increase tracking."
An observer was already on the way to Slovakia.
Meanwhile, across the world—Taiwan's night burned.
Ayla stood over a fallen creature, blade stained, arm bleeding.Her voice cracked as she muttered:
"Jeff… don't you dare die before I get there."
She limped home, unaware that in distant Bratislava—the man pulling her fate forwardwas stepping deeper into the fracture of the world.