The ranger station shook as if something enormous pressed against reality itself. Dust rained from the ceiling. Wooden beams groaned. Carter backed away from the door, dagger raised, pulse hammering in his ears.
REI hovered close, her glow sharp and urgent. "Carter — brace yourself. This distortion is stronger than the last."
A low hum vibrated through the floorboards, rising in pitch until it felt like the air itself was screaming. The doorframe warped, bending inward as if pulled by invisible hands.
Then it tore open.
Not the door — the space around it.
A jagged tear split the air, violet light spilling through like a wound in the world. The distortion widened, crackling with static, and something stepped out.
Not a shadow this time.
A shape with form.
A humanoid figure made of fractured geometry, its body composed of shifting shards of light and void. Its limbs bent at unnatural angles, its head a faceless prism of glitching patterns.
A higher‑tier correction agent.
Carter's breath caught. "REI… that's not the same thing as before."
"No," she whispered. "This one is fully manifested. And it is far more dangerous."
The agent tilted its head, the motion sharp and unnatural. The air around it rippled, and the System flickered violently.
> [CORRECTION ATTEMPT #2 — ACTIVE]
> [THREAT LEVEL: CRITICAL]
The agent spoke — its voice layered, distorted, echoing from multiple directions at once.
"Deviation persists. Correction required."
Carter tightened his grip on his dagger. "You want me? Come take me."
The agent moved.
Not fast.
Instant.
One moment it stood at the doorway.
The next, it was inches from Carter's face.
Carter barely ducked as a blade of warped space sliced through the air where his head had been. The wall behind him didn't crack — it vanished, leaving a smooth void.
Carter rolled across the floor, heart pounding. "REI — I can't fight this thing!"
"You can," she said. "But not like this. You must choose a path."
"Now?!"
"Yes. Now."
The agent turned toward him, its body fracturing into multiple overlapping silhouettes.
"Return to your endpoint."
Carter scrambled backward. "REI — show me the paths again!"
The System pulsed, shaky and unstable.
> [CLASS EVOLUTION PATH]
> — Path of the Divergent Blade
> — Path of the Temporal Warden
> — Path of the Nullbound (Locked)
The agent raised its hand.
Reality bent.
The floor beneath Carter rippled like liquid.
"REI!" he shouted. "I need a path!"
"Choose!" she cried. "Or you will not survive the next ten seconds!"
The agent lunged.
Carter slammed his hand onto the interface.
"I choose—"
The agent's blade of distortion descended.
The System exploded with light.
> [PATH SELECTED]
> [EVOLUTION INITIATING]
A shockwave burst outward from Carter's body, hurling the correction agent backward. The ranger station shook violently, windows shattering, walls splintering.
Carter screamed as energy surged through him — burning, twisting, rewriting him from the inside out.
REI hovered above him, her glow blazing bright. "Hold on, Carter! The evolution is rewriting your core!"
The agent rose from the debris, its form flickering with static.
It stepped forward.
Carter's vision blurred.
The System chimed one last time.
> [EVOLUTION COMPLETE]
Carter gasped, eyes snapping open.
Power surged through him — sharp, clear, electric.
He rose to his feet.
The correction agent froze.
Carter's aura flared, bending the air around him.
REI whispered, awed and trembling.
"Carter… your evolution… it's stronger than expected."
The agent tilted its head.
"New deviation detected."
Carter lifted his dagger — now glowing with the same energy coursing through him.
"Yeah," he said, voice steady.
"Come correct me."