My finger twitches.
The option pulses.
The knocking inside my skull gets louder.
"Arjun!"
The sound hits me like a slap.
Not from the system.
From her.
Real. Human. Desperate.
"Arjun, what are you doing?!"
I flinch.
My name anchors me for half a second.
Just enough to hesitate.
The door behind us explodes inward.
Wood splinters into needles.
The thing crashes through, dragging half the frame with it, limbs snapping against desks, that mouth stretching wider than bone should allow.
I don't think.
I hit it.
[UNLOCK: ECHO STEP — ACCEPTED]
Too late.
Or exactly on time.
The world tears sideways.
I don't move forward.
I don't move at all.
But suddenly—
I'm standing somewhere else.
Same room.
Different angle.
The creature lunges—
And misses me by a full meter.
Because I'm not where I was.
"Arjun—?!" she gasps.
Her voice sounds wrong.
Delayed.
Like it's echoing through water.
My body jerks.
Pain spikes behind my eyes.
[ECHO STEP ACTIVATED]
Cost: Identity Fragment — 1%
Status: Unstable
"Identity… what?" I whisper.
The creature doesn't hesitate this time.
It twists mid-air.
Finds me again.
It learns fast.
Too fast.
It lunges again.
I try to move—
But my legs don't respond.
For half a second…
I'm still standing where I used to be.
And also here.
Both.
The thing snaps at the wrong version of me.
Its teeth pass through air—
Then it glitches.
Just like me.
Its body flickers.
Like it doesn't understand which one is real.
"ARJUN MOVE!" she screams.
I fall forward.
Not a step.
A collapse.
My body re-syncs violently.
Vision doubles.
Then slams back together.
I hit the ground hard.
Roll.
Grab a broken chair leg.
"Stay back!" I shout, even though she already is.
The creature twitches.
Head jerking between two empty spots.
Confused.
Good.
Stay confused.
I push up, breathing hard.
"Okay… okay… I can use this…"
[WARNING: ECHO INSTABILITY RISING]
"Yeah, I noticed."
The creature recalibrates.
Its mouth tightens.
If that's even a thing.
Then it charges again.
I force it.
Fear spikes.
[Panic Dash ACTIVATED]
I burst sideways—
Then trigger it.
[ECHO STEP]
Reality splits.
For a heartbeat—
There are two of me running in opposite directions.
The creature hesitates.
Chooses wrong.
I slam the chair leg into its side.
It connects.
Hard.
But not where I thought.
The impact lands twice.
Half a second apart.
First hit.
Then—
Second hit.
From the other me.
The creature shrieks.
"Wait—did you just—" the girl stammers.
"I don't know!" I snap. "I don't know what I just did!"
The creature recoils.
But it doesn't bleed.
Doesn't slow.
Instead—
Its body adjusts.
The limbs twist tighter.
More efficient.
Less human.
"Oh come on," I breathe. "You adapt too?!"
It lunges again.
Faster.
I react late.
Too late.
Its arm slams into my chest.
I go flying.
Crash into a desk.
Something cracks.
Ribs. Definitely ribs.
Air vanishes from my lungs.
"Arjun!" she shouts, rushing forward.
"Don't!" I choke. "Stay back!"
The creature turns toward her.
No.
No no no.
I force myself up.
Vision swimming.
"Hey!" I shout, louder than I feel. "I'm the problem, remember?!"
It pauses.
Head tilting.
Good.
Look at me.
I step forward.
Slow.
Deliberate.
"Come on," I mutter. "Come chew on the glitch."
It charges.
I wait.
Too long.
"Arjun, MOVE—!"
Now.
[ECHO STEP]
The world tears again—
But this time—
It doesn't snap cleanly.
I land wrong.
Half inside a desk.
Pain explodes through my leg.
"AH—!"
[ERROR: POSITION DESYNC]
[CORRECTING…]
My body jerks free violently.
Too violently.
Something stays behind.
I don't look.
I don't want to look.
The creature is already mid-lunge.
I can't dodge again.
Cooldown.
Too slow.
"Get down!" the girl shouts.
I don't.
Instead—
I swing.
The chair leg cracks against its jaw.
Nothing.
Its mouth opens—
Right in front of my face.
Time slows.
I see inside it.
Not flesh.
Not teeth.
Hands.
Dozens of human hands clawing inward.
Grabbing.
Pulling.
"Yeah," I whisper. "That's worse."
It snaps shut.
I flinch—
—and something intercepts.
A blur from the side.
A metal rod slams into the creature's head.
Hard.
It screeches, thrown off balance.
A guy steps in.
Tall. Broad. Bleeding from the forehead.
"Move, idiot!" he barks.
"I was handling it!" I shoot back automatically.
"You were about to get eaten!"
"Semantics!"
He swings again.
Better angle.
Cleaner hit.
The creature stumbles.
"Names later," he grunts. "Fight now!"
"Arjun," the girl blurts.
He glances at me. "Of course it is."
"What does that mean?!"
"No time!"
The creature recovers.
Faster now.
It doesn't hesitate anymore.
It splits.
Not fully.
But its limbs—
Detach.
Two arms peel off and crawl independently across the floor.
"Okay that's new," I say.
"Kill the main body!" the guy shouts.
"Which one is the main body?!"
Good question.
The torso lurches forward.
The detached arms skitter toward the girl.
"Nope!" I snap.
I push forward—
Ignoring the pain—
[Panic Dash — STRAIN]
My vision darkens at the edges.
I reach the torso—
Swing—
Miss.
It ducks.
Actually ducks.
"Why are you smart?!" I shout.
Behind me—
The girl screams.
I turn.
One of the detached arms wraps around her leg.
Dragging.
She claws at the floor.
"Get it off—!"
I run.
Too slow.
The second arm lunges for her throat.
I trigger it.
[ECHO STEP — FORCED]
Something resists.
[WARNING: IDENTITY BELOW SAFE THRESHOLD]
"Don't care!" I hiss.
The world fractures again—
But worse this time.
I don't split cleanly.
I smear.
Like my body is stretched between two points.
I grab the arm—
At both positions.
Rip.
The limb tears apart.
The creature screams.
All of it.
Every piece.
The sound drills into my skull.
The knocking returns.
Louder.
Faster.
"Arjun!" she gasps, scrambling back.
"You're—your face—"
"Not the time!" I snap.
The torso lunges again.
Desperate now.
The guy meets it head-on.
Metal rod swings.
Cracks something.
But the creature doesn't stop.
It grabs him.
Pulls him close.
"Oh, hell no—" he growls.
The mouth opens—
I move.
Last push.
[Panic Dash — CRITICAL]
My body screams.
Something tears inside.
I reach them—
Grab his shoulder—
"Duck!" I shout.
He actually listens.
I trigger it.
One last time.
[ECHO STEP — LIMIT BREACH]
Everything breaks.
Sound vanishes.
Color drains.
For a moment—
There is only white.
And in that white—
I see them.
Not the creature.
Not the room.
Others.
Versions of me.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
All mid-motion.
All fighting.
All breaking.
One of them looks at me.
Directly.
He smiles.
Then—
impact.
The creature's head snaps sideways.
It collapses.
Still.
Silence slams back in.
I drop to my knees.
My body feels wrong.
Lighter.
But also…
less.
"Is it dead?" the girl whispers.
The guy nudges it with his rod.
No movement.
"Yeah," he says slowly. "I think… yeah."
We don't celebrate.
We just breathe.
Or try to.
My vision flickers violently.
[LEVEL UP DETECTED]
[LEVEL 2 → 3]
"Of course," I mutter.
[REWARD: MUTATION AVAILABLE]
"…That doesn't sound good."
The girl looks at me. "Mine just gave me 'Speed Boost.' What's yours?"
I hesitate.
Then read it.
[MUTATION: Echo Fragment Integration]
Enhance Echo abilities by permanently binding a secondary instance.
Side Effect: Loss of Synchronization Risk
Warning: Self-Overlap May Occur
The guy whistles. "That sounds… incredibly unsafe."
"Yeah," I say. "That's the theme."
Before I can think—
The corpse twitches.
All of us freeze.
"No way," the girl breathes.
The creature doesn't get up.
Instead—
Its chest splits open.
Something crawls out.
Smaller.
Thinner.
Faster.
It looks around.
Then—
It looks straight at me.
Not with a mouth.
With a face.
My face.
"Arjun," it says softly.
And my system screams.
[CRITICAL WARNING]
[DUPLICATE ENTITY DETECTED]
[SOURCE: YOU]
The thing smiles wider than I ever could.
"Wait," I whisper. "What… did I just create?"