The ranger station was half‑collapsed, the air thick with dust and distortion. Carter stood in the center of the ruined room, breath steady, dagger glowing faintly with the same energy pulsing through his veins.
The correction agent — the higher‑tier one — straightened its fractured body. Its prism‑like head rotated with a grinding hum, recalibrating.
REI hovered beside Carter, her glow sharp. "Your evolution is complete. Your stats have increased significantly. You can fight this."
Carter flexed his fingers. His body felt lighter, sharper, like every nerve had been rewired for speed and precision.
"What path did I pick?" he asked.
REI's eyes flickered. "You chose the Path of the Divergent Blade."
Carter nodded once. "Good."
The agent stepped forward, each movement bending the air around it.
"Deviation strength increased. Correction priority escalated."
Carter raised his dagger. "Come try."
The agent lunged.
But this time, Carter moved first.
He vanished in a burst of speed — not teleportation, but something close. His body blurred, momentum snapping like a whip as he reappeared behind the agent.
A new instinct guided his hand.
He slashed.
A crescent of compressed force erupted from his blade — sharper, denser, faster than any Energy Slash he'd ever used.
It carved straight through the agent's torso.
The correction entity staggered, its form glitching violently.
REI's voice rose. "Carter — that was Divergent Edge! Your new primary skill!"
Carter didn't stop.
He pressed forward, momentum carrying him into a second strike. His dagger hummed with energy, the air warping around it.
The agent recovered instantly, its arm stretching into a blade of warped space. It swung.
Carter ducked — barely — the distortion slicing a clean void through the wall behind him.
He countered with a rising slash.
Divergent Edge — Second Form.
The blade of energy curved upward, catching the agent under the chin and snapping its head back with a burst of static.
The correction agent reeled.
Carter felt the shift — the opening.
He moved.
His body flowed into a motion he'd never practiced but somehow knew. A spinning step, a downward cut, a burst of kinetic force that cracked the floor beneath him.
Twin Arc — Evolved.
Two intersecting blades of energy slammed into the agent's chest, carving an X‑shaped fracture through its core.
The agent convulsed, its form collapsing inward.
"Deviation… unacceptable…"
Carter stepped forward, dagger raised.
"Too late."
He drove the blade into the center of the fracture.
A shockwave of violet and white light exploded outward, ripping the agent apart. Its body shattered into shards of distortion that dissolved into the air like dying sparks.
Silence fell.
Carter stood in the center of the ruined station, chest rising and falling, dagger still glowing.
REI floated closer, her voice soft with awe. "Carter… you defeated a fully manifested correction agent."
He exhaled slowly. "Yeah."
The System chimed.
> [CORRECTION ATTEMPT #2 — FAILED]
> [USER STATUS: STABLE]
> [NEW SKILL ACQUIRED: Divergent Edge]
> [NEW SKILL ACQUIRED: Blade Momentum]
> [PASSIVE UNLOCKED: Temporal Resistance I]
Carter wiped dust from his face. "REI… how long until the next one?"
Her glow dimmed. "I do not know. But they will escalate again."
Carter sheathed his dagger. "Then we need to move."
He stepped outside into the cold forest air. The sky was gray, heavy with clouds. The world felt quieter — but not safer.
REI hovered beside him. "Where will we go?"
Carter looked toward the distant mountains.
"Somewhere the Guild won't find me. Somewhere the correction forces can't reach easily."
He tightened his grip on his pack.
"And somewhere I can get stronger."
REI nodded. "Then we begin the next phase."
Carter took a step forward.
The System pulsed.
A new quest appeared.
> [NEW QUEST: Divergent Ascension]
> Travel to a Rift outside Guild jurisdiction
> Survive the anomaly within
> Unlock the next stage of your evolution
>
> Reward: Divergent Blade — Tier II
Carter smirked.
"Looks like we're going dungeon diving."
He walked into the trees.
The world had tried to erase him twice.
Now?
It was his turn to strike back.