[System Time: 04:02:11]
Status: Dominion Stability – 74%
Anchor Point Integrity: 2/7 Compromised
ALERT: Non-narrative entity discovered within Dominion Core field.
Codename: DELTA_ZERO
Classification: System Enforcer
Objective: Exile Elimination – Tier 2 Noah Cross
Combat Scenario: Inevitable
The mess hall quieted.
Elias—no, Delta_Zero—stood still, holding a steaming ladle in one hand.
Behind him, frightened civilians froze mid-motion. The broken ration system flickered in the background, sputtering empty trays with hollow clangs.
Talia whispered over the comm crystal: "Confirmed visual. His Anchor is gone. Name's red. That's him."
Noah adjusted his interface. The Author's Voice trait was active now—allowing him to see through the false lines of dialogue and character masks Delta had constructed.
[TARGET: DELTA_ZERO – Infiltrated Identity: Elias]
Narrative Anchor: NULL
Combat Authority: SYSTEM-LEVEL
Traits:
– Line Erasure (Active)
– Retcon Entry (Used)
– Anchor Sever (Passive)
– Logic Immunity (Tier 1)
Weakness: Cannot withstand "Author-locked environments" for more than 7 minutes.
Suggestion: Lure into reinforced Anchor Zone.
Noah whispered back, "He can't stay long in scripted zones. We draw him out."
Seraphine responded instantly. "Kitchen has minimal reinforcement. I can get him to Training Deck Beta. That zone's got an Author Lock from our last session."
"I'm coming in," Talia said.
Noah opened his status window.
[Author Text Cooldown: 17:45:02]
Options: None.
He had no divine authority left. Only strategy—and time.
Time they didn't have.
Inside the mess hall, Delta_Zero finally turned.
His face was expressionless, as if generated by an old AI model. His eyes flickered lines of system script instead of irises.
He didn't speak. He didn't threaten.
He simply raised a hand—and a line of code followed it like a trail of ink.
[Engaging Line Erasure: Proximity Sweep]
The tiles under the nearest table began vanishing—text first, then substance.
Three civilians screamed as chairs disappeared from beneath them.
One girl nearly fell into an empty void until—
"Go, go, go!" Seraphine's voice barked across the hall.
She charged in through the west door, hurling a shockbolt from her halberd.
It wasn't meant to kill—just redirect.
The bolt struck the ceiling above Delta_Zero.
Tiles crashed down.
Dust exploded.
And the white-coated figure disappeared in the haze.
[Combat Initiated]
Sector Combat Zone: Kitchen Quarters
Narrative Integrity: Weak
Penalty: Logic attacks disabled
Objective: Evacuate civilians
Sub-Objective: Lure Delta_Zero to Anchor Zone Beta
Talia appeared in the dust cloud a second later, blades already mid-spin. Her twin sabers gleamed, dancing around Noah's shoulder.
She moved to his side, speaking low and fast.
"Two Anchor Points already collapsed. If he breaks a third—"
"The whole sector goes soft," Noah said.
Soft. Meaning unstable. Meaning any script-based order could collapse under paradox.
"We don't let that happen," he added.
The dust cleared.
Delta_Zero stood unharmed in the center of the hall, chair legs and bench frames floating mid-air around him like dismantled puzzle pieces.
His mouth opened.
His voice came out in two overlapping tones—one flat, one distorted.
"Your role exceeds your clearance."
Talia blurred forward.
[Combat Skill: Sabercross]
Target: Delta_Zero
Effect: Forced dislocation through speed disruption.
Her blades hit.
They passed through.
No contact. No clash. Just… absence.
Delta_Zero didn't dodge.
He wasn't there.
The code shifted again.
[Retcon Fragment Activated]
Event: "Talia Vynn never attacked."
Talia stumbled as her motion erased itself. For a brief second, the world forgot she moved at all. Even she forgot—her arms twitching in midair, confused by the lack of weight or impact.
"—What?"
"Run!" Noah shouted. "Get him to Anchor Zone Beta!"
Seraphine was already on the move, pushing civilians out through the west corridor.
Talia recovered, then turned on heel and sprinted.
Delta_Zero followed.
But not with footsteps.
He folded.
Folded into another sentence, stepping through a line of erased wall, and reappeared behind them.
Training Deck Beta – Anchor Zone
[Zone Status: LOCKED]
Narrative Anchor: ACTIVE
Script Reinforcement: Author Text (Previous – "This battlefield favors the defenders.")
The moment Talia and Seraphine crossed into the zone, the air shifted.
So did the System.
Delta_Zero stepped through—
—and faltered.
For the first time, he looked… human.
His eyes flickered violently. His hand trembled.
[System Error: Narrative Resistance Detected]
Internal Instability: +8% per minute
Estimated Containment Duration: 6:55
Noah entered behind them, sword in hand, interface open.
"Six minutes," he said. "That's all we've got."
Talia and Seraphine took flanking positions.
Delta_Zero scanned the zone, now slowed—his scripts catching on invisible seams of authored story.
"You cannot exist," he said flatly. "You were not meant to. Your words are unauthorized."
Noah narrowed his eyes.
"Then I'll write them myself."
[Combat Mode Engaged]
Participants:
– Noah Graves (Author-Tier)
– Seraphine Rael (Polearm Elite)
– Talia Vynn (Narrative Rogue)
– Delta_Zero (System Enforcer)
Zone Advantage: +20% to defenders
Narrative Lock: All attacks must follow logical causality
Weakness Exposed: Delta_Zero cannot erase within this zone.
Talia moved first—spinning around Delta, slicing his coat open with a scream of steel. Sparks burst. His side tore.
Seraphine didn't wait. She lunged, drove her halberd upward under his ribs. This time, it landed.
The white coat cracked.
Lines of admin-level system code spilled from the wound, like bloodless data.
Noah charged forward and struck.
Steel met resistance.
And for the first time since this began—
Delta_Zero staggered.
[Enemy Integrity: 78%]
Stability Loss Accelerating…
Delta's hands twitched.
A glitch opened beside him—a paragraph torn from the sky, trying to form a retcon bubble.
Talia shattered it with a throw-blade before it could stabilize.
Noah didn't stop moving.
He slammed his system window open.
[Command Access: Emergency Protocol – SEED REVEAL]
Unlock: Echo Seed Fragment 01
Use: Single-use disruption
He activated it.
The room shook.
Reality flexed.
The air around Delta_Zero turned black with collapsing letters—his own programming folding in on itself.
His voice cracked for the first time.
"—Requesting Rewrite—denied—"
Noah slammed his sword into Delta's chest, finalizing the command.
"Get out of my story."
[Narrative Lock Confirmed]
Retcon Loop Denied
Entity Delta_Zero: FORCED EJECTION
Return to System Root: 00:00:03…
Delta tried to speak.
Then burst into hundreds of ash-like glyphs.
Silence.
Then—
[Victory Condition Met]
Delta_Zero Expelled
Sector Stability Restored: 93%
Anchor Points Repaired: 2
Author Trait: Reinforced Influence +1
Later – Dominion Core Hall
Noah sat alone, staring at the blinking Author Panel.
He didn't smile.
He didn't relax.
Because something new had appeared under his system log:
[System Root has detected active resistance to enforcement.]
You are no longer a Reader.
You are now officially classified as:
"Narrative Hostile."