The temperature dropped the moment Kael and Silica stepped into the new corridor. Not from cold—but from absence.
No ambient mana. No echo. No System notifications.
Just silence.
And then it appeared.
A towering figure cloaked in flowing black fractal data, its body a shifting mosaic of glitched lines and shuddering geometry. A single eye glowed where its face should be—red, mechanical, and ancient.
> [System Alert: System Reaper Class — ENVOY OF PURGE has entered the field.]
> [Warning: Class Tier — Apex Guardian.]
[Level: ???]
[Directive: Erase memory-broken entities. Target identified: Kael Arin.]
Silica raised her blade, instinct roaring. "That thing… it's hunting you."
Kael stepped forward, already drawing an engraving line midair.
"No. It's judging me."
—
The Reaper's voice boomed—not aloud, but directly into Kael's code.
"Kaelum Ardentis. You broke the Directive."
Kael's engraving hand twitched. "I forged the Directive. I have the right to reshape it."
The Reaper extended its hand, and from its palm bloomed a blade forged of pure system null—antimatter to code.
> [Skill Used: Memory Blade – "Version Erase"]
[Effect: Strikes the user's core and removes all code history prior to contact. One hit = permanent reset.]
Silica screamed, "Move—!"
But Kael didn't dodge.
He stepped into it.
The blade pierced his chest—and stopped.
> [System Interference: Trait "Flame of Rejection" activated.]
[Nullification Radius Expanded to 10m.]
[Effect: Reaper's blade dissolved.]
The Reaper's eye flickered.
"Impossible."
Kael pulled the blade's fading handle out of his body.
"No," he said, blood dripping. "It's engraved."
He raised his hand.
> [New Skill Engraved: "Mirrored Judgment"]
[Copies a hostile system directive and turns it back once.]
[Target: System Reaper — Initiating Directive Reflection.]
A circle of light bloomed under the Reaper.
Its own blade reformed—this time inverted—and struck it in the chest.
The Reaper shuddered, staggered, and began to disintegrate.
> [System Reaper – Core Process Damaged.]
[Returning to Origin Node.]
[Warning: Judgment incomplete. Higher Order will be notified.]
The shadows vanished.
And Kael fell to his knees.
Silica rushed to him. "You're bleeding internally. That thing nearly unmade you."
Kael coughed, then smiled faintly.
"Then we're even. I nearly unmade it."
She stared at him, trembling. "What are you becoming?"
Kael looked at his hands. They were glowing with deep runic light, his veins now marked with pale engravings.
"Something the System fears," he said. "Something it tried to erase."
—
> [System Notice: Class Evolution Imminent.]
[Talent Engraver → Origin Caster]
[Warning: You are approaching Class Deviation.]
[System AI Override may initiate if instability persists.]
> [New Side Quest Unlocked: "Awaken the Others Who Were Erased."]
[Some were burned from memory. Not all are lost.]
—
Far above, in a system citadel beyond the stars, nine cloaked figures stirred.
> "The Origin Burner lives."
"Dispatch the Black Echo."
"And summon the Architect's Shadow."
—
Kael's war wasn't just against monsters or rules anymore.
It was against memory itself.
And it remembered him.
—
💬 Author's Note from Talent Engraver:
We're officially in the next major arc! Kael has evolved beyond being just a Talent Engraver—he's becoming something the System itself fears.
This chapter was wild to write, and if you're enjoying this journey:
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Next up: Chapter 32 – "The Architect's Shadow"