The monster screamed. The storm froze. The clock shattered.

"That panic fire? That hesitation?" She nodded toward the mountain where the clock loomed. "That's the first sign. The Loop is trying to reject you. It means you're not just code."

A floating hologram flickered to life:

Leo looked at his hands. They were still blocky, still digital. But beneath the polygons, he felt a thrum—a real heartbeat, fighting against the machine's rhythm.

Leo's instincts kicked in. He sprinted toward a chest glowing under a nearby tree. He wrenched it open, found a grey-rarity pistol and a half-pot. The girl with the skull mask was already building a ramp into the sky.

"Why?" Leo croaked.

The screen didn’t just crash. It folded .

A girl with a neon skull mask and a jet-black ponytail ran up to him. "Don't just stand there, newbie. Grab a weapon. Any weapon."