The red light pulsed brighter now, glowing up the steps like lava sliding through cracks in the earth.
Yuto's grip tightened around the shotgun. His finger rested near the trigger, but he didn't raise it yet. His eyes were locked on the pit.
Rin whispered beside him, "Yuto… what is that voice?"
"I don't know."
"It said something about your gun."
"I know."
"And retrieval. It wants to… take you?"
"Or the weapon."
Her voice dropped. "That's not a spell."
"Nope."
"Not even close."
Yuto took one slow step back. "Stay behind me."
"I'm not helpless."
"I never said you were. Just don't stand in the way if this thing gets ugly."
From below, metal clanked against stone. Not like armor. Heavier. Mechanical. Controlled.
Then a shape rose out of the dark.
It was big. Seven feet tall. Humanoid, mostly. A metal frame with no skin, just overlapping plates. A single red eye glowed in the center of its head. Its arms were too long. Its fingers ended in smooth, blunt tips instead of claws. No mouth. No sound. Just motion and heat.
Rin's voice cracked slightly. "That's… that's a construct."
Yuto raised the shotgun. "Not your kind, I'm guessing."
"That's not magic. That's… built."
"Yeah. I can see that."
The machine turned toward him, red eye focusing like a scope lens. It took another step up, not fast, not slow, just steady and deliberate.
Rin started forming a spell, but Yuto raised a hand quickly.
"Wait."
She froze. "What?"
"Let's see what it does."
"Are you insane?"
"Maybe. But I need to know if it shoots first."
The machine paused at the top of the steps.
Then it spoke again, voice low and smooth like it came from deep underwater.
> [ USER: UNREGISTERED. GUN SYSTEM: ACTIVE. CONDITION: STABLE. INITIATING COMPATIBILITY TEST. ]
Rin stared. "It's scanning you."
"Yeah. And I don't like where this is going."
> [ TESTING BEGINS. DEFENSIVE PROTOCOL ENGAGED. NON-LETHAL FORCE AUTHORIZED. ]
Yuto stepped sideways slowly. "I've heard 'non-lethal' before. Usually right before they break your spine."
The machine raised its arm.
The tip opened. Light gathered inside.
Yuto didn't wait.
He moved fast, yanking Rin back with one hand and pulling the trigger with the other.
BOOM.
The Crowburst fired. The blast slammed into the construct's shoulder, sending smoke and metal flying. It staggered slightly, one foot dragging back.
Yuto took cover behind a broken stone pillar. "Alright. It can take a hit."
Rin dropped beside him. "What is that thing guarding?"
"Could be old tech. Could be a system core. Maybe something it doesn't want me to find."
"Why you?"
"It recognized my gun. That means it's connected."
The machine raised its arm again. A flash of red burst from the center and scorched the top of the pillar Yuto was behind.
"Too close," he muttered.
Rin reached into her pouch, pulled out a glowing gem, and pressed it to her staff. "I can hit it with a binding spell, but only if you give me five seconds."
"Five seconds is a lot."
"I know. Don't die."
"I'll try to keep my schedule open."
He leaned out just enough to aim.
The system pinged.
> [ SYSTEM SUGGESTS: STAGGER AND FLANK. CROWBURST: RECHARGING (2 sec) ]
[ ARC PISTOL: READY ]
Yuto switched weapons instantly. The pistol slid into his hand, light humming at the core.
He dashed left, drawing the construct's aim. "Come on, come on, keep your eye on me."
The machine turned to follow.
Yuto fired once—blue energy bolt to the knee joint.
The leg jerked, but didn't fall.
He rolled behind another rock.
Rin shouted, "One second!"
"Make it count!"
She raised her staff, pointed forward, and a wave of silver light shot from the tip. It spiraled mid-air, then crashed into the construct's chest.
Chains of light wrapped around its body, locking the arms down tight. The red glow flickered, but didn't vanish.
"It's stuck!" she yelled. "But not for long!"
Yuto popped up, pistol aimed dead center.
"Let's see if you've got a heart."
He pulled the trigger twice.
CRACK. CRACK.
The first shot hit center mass—sparks flew. The second struck the eye. The red glow vanished instantly.
The construct froze.
Then it fell forward with a heavy slam that shook the ground.
Silence.
Yuto lowered the gun slowly.
Rin exhaled like she'd been holding her breath the whole fight. "Is it… dead?"
"No idea," Yuto said. "But it's not moving."
"Why did it recognize your weapon?"
"That's the part that worries me."
He stepped closer to the body. It wasn't like anything he'd seen on Earth. Too smooth. Too seamless. It didn't look manufactured—it looked grown.
The system beeped.
> [ FOREIGN TECH INTERFACE DETECTED. DATA CORE ACCESSIBLE. DOWNLOAD SYSTEM INFORMATION? ]
Yuto frowned. "Now that's new."
Rin looked over his shoulder. "What's it saying?"
"It wants to give me info. Like it's offering me a file."
"You're going to say yes, aren't you."
"Obviously."
He confirmed the prompt.
> [ SYSTEM DOWNLOAD COMPLETE. NEW ENTRY: ORIGIN TRIGGER NODE – LEVEL LOCKED ]
[ CLASS UPGRADE PATHWAY DISCOVERED. ]
[ WARNING: THIS PATH IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH KNOWN MAGIC SYSTEMS. ]
Yuto blinked. "Okay… now I have even more questions."
Rin was already looking at the glowing fragments near the construct's chest. "This core… I've never seen one shaped like this. It's not a crystal. It's like a lens."
Yuto knelt beside her. "Can you use it?"
"I can't even touch it. My mana gets rejected."
Yuto reached forward.
The second his fingers brushed the surface, the lens lit up. Soft blue glow. Like it recognized him.
Rin stepped back. "That thing wants you to take it."
"That's exactly what's scaring me."
The glow flickered—once, twice—then suddenly spiked bright.
The system chimed sharply in his head.
> [ GUN CORE IDENTIFIED – REACTIVATING FORGOTTEN MODEL... ]
[ SECONDARY WEAPON UNLOCKED: STORM FANG SMG ]
[ WARNING: ADDITIONAL ENERGY SLOT REQUIRED. BEGINNING ADAPTATION... ]
Yuto stumbled backward as the system flared red, then blue, then white.
He gritted his teeth. "What the hell is it doing?"
Rin reached for him. "Are you okay?"
He shook his head. "It's changing me. Adding something—rewriting—"
Then the pain hit.
Not sharp. Not burning.
Like electricity through his nerves. Buzzing. Pushing.
A second weapon slot opened on his system UI. A new gun formed in his hand, long and sleek with glowing vents along the side.
Rin's eyes widened. "Another one?"
Yuto stared at it, breathing hard. "Yeah."
He raised the gun. The lights on the barrel spun like turbines warming up.
"I think I just leveled up in a way no one's ever seen before."
Then a new sound echoed up from the ruin.
Another voice.
Not the machine.
Not the system.
Deeper. Human. Calm.
"Impressive," it said from the darkness. "Didn't think anyone would make it past the Warden."
Yuto turned fast, both guns raised.
Rin whispered, "That voice—there's someone down there?"
Heavy footsteps came up the steps.
Then the figure appeared.
A man in a black coat, eyes covered by a visor, hands glowing faint blue.
He wasn't armored. He wasn't afraid.
And he was smiling.
"You're not from this world either," he said.
Yuto froze.
"…What did you say?"
The man pointed at his gun.
"That thing doesn't belong here," he said. "Just like you."
Yuto didn't lower his weapon.
The man's voice still echoed faintly off the stone around them. Calm, relaxed, like he wasn't walking into a fight but into a café.
"You're not from this world either," the man had said.
Yuto didn't answer right away.
He just kept his aim steady. The shotgun in his left hand. The new SMG in his right.
"Wanna repeat that?" Yuto asked, eyes narrowing. "Because it sounded like you just said something very, very stupid."
The man stepped off the last stair and onto the ruin floor, arms raised loosely at his sides—not in surrender, just to show he wasn't holding anything. He wore a long coat, black leather, slightly torn at the cuffs. No armor. No staff. His boots were clean. Too clean for this place.
"I said it clearly," the man replied, still smiling. "That weapon in your hand doesn't come from this continent. Or this world. Which means neither do you."
Rin stepped closer to Yuto's side, whispering fast. "Who is this guy? He doesn't look like a knight, or a mage, or—anything."
"No idea," Yuto murmured. "But I don't like the way he's looking at us."
"You noticed that too?"
The man chuckled. "You don't have to act like I'm a threat. If I wanted to fight, I'd have attacked before saying hello."
"Yeah?" Yuto asked. "Well, if I wanted to shoot, I still could."
"I don't doubt that."
"So talk. Who are you?"
"Call me Dax."
"That a title or a name?"
"Does it matter?"
"Kinda."
Dax lowered his hands slowly and clasped them behind his back. "Let's just say I study things that don't belong. And you, friend, are one of those things."
Yuto's finger tightened on the trigger slightly. "I'm not your 'friend.'"
"Fair enough," Dax said with a small shrug. "But you are interesting. That alone earns you a little attention."
"I'm not looking for attention."
"Too late," Dax said. "You already fired something the world's never seen."
Rin spoke up finally, voice cautious. "You were down there the whole time? Watching?"
"More like waiting," Dax said. "You two tripped the trigger when you killed the Warden."
"That wasn't a monster," Yuto said.
"No," Dax agreed. "It was a machine. Older than any ruin on this continent. Buried under ten layers of stone and forgotten for centuries. But somehow… it woke up the moment you arrived."
"I didn't wake anything."
"Didn't you?"
Yuto's jaw clenched. "You're talking in circles."
"I'm talking in truths," Dax said. "You just don't like how they sound."
"Try me."
"That gun you carry isn't magic. The system inside you isn't mana-born. The enemies it targets, the way it levels, even the way it forms—none of it fits the balance of this world."
Yuto's eyes narrowed. "So what do you want?"
"To watch."
"Not an answer."
"To learn."
"Still not an answer."
Dax's smile faded slightly. "You're tense."
"I'm holding two guns. I call that prepared."
"And yet, you're hesitating."
"I'm still deciding if you're worth the shot."
"Then let me give you a reason to wait," Dax said. "You're not the first anomaly I've met."
That made Yuto pause.
Rin leaned in closer. "You think he knows about the system?"
Yuto didn't take his eyes off Dax. "I think he knows something."
Dax began to slowly walk along the edge of the ruin floor, keeping distance, like a lecturer pacing during a speech. "Most people here don't notice when something's wrong. Mana stops flowing in a forest? They blame spirits. A tower collapses overnight? They call it cursed."
"And you?" Yuto asked.
"I take notes."
"Notes on what?"
"On the way the world cracks when something foreign appears."
"You think I'm breaking the world?"
"No," Dax said, "I think you're proving it was never as stable as people believed."
Yuto shook his head. "That's still not telling me who you are."
Dax finally stopped moving. "I'm someone who noticed the moment your weapon fired. I felt the pressure ripple through three leyline nodes. I followed the signal here because I had to see what kind of man carried a god's engine in his hands."
"God's engine?" Rin repeated. "That's what you think his weapon is?"
"It fits," Dax said. "A relic with no casting time. No chant. No recoil. Just power, shaped by thought."
Yuto slowly raised the SMG. "It's not a relic. It's a gun."
"Same thing to the people who fear it."
"They can fear whatever they want."
"And what about you?" Dax asked, tilting his head slightly. "Are you afraid of what you're holding?"
Yuto didn't blink. "No."
Dax's smile returned. "Good. That's what makes you dangerous."
"I'm not trying to be."
"Oh, you will be," Dax said softly. "You just haven't seen how far this world will push you yet."
Rin stepped closer. "Enough games. Why are you really here?"
Dax looked at her, then back to Yuto.
"To give you a choice," he said.
"What kind of choice?"
Dax held up a single finger. "You can keep going alone. Hide your power. Pretend to be just another wanderer with a strange toy."
Yuto said nothing.
"Or," Dax continued, "you follow the trail of machines like the one you just broke. Dig deeper. Find out what they're really protecting."
"And what's down that road?" Yuto asked.
Dax's eyes gleamed under the visor.
"A way to understand who built your weapon. And why you're the only one who can use it."
Yuto's grip on both guns tightened.
"Why now?" he asked. "Why show up now?"
Dax turned toward the tunnel. "Because I won't be the only one who finds you."
The ground beneath them rumbled again.
Not from below this time.
From above.
Rin looked up sharply. "That's not an earthquake."
Yuto glanced at his system.
It pinged.
> [ WARNING: MULTIPLE ENERGY SIGNATURES DETECTED. MASSIVE SPELL DISCHARGE INBOUND. ]
[ UNKNOWN FACTION APPROACHING – NUMBERS: 6+ ]
[ INTENT: HOSTILE ]
Yuto raised both guns fast.
Dax chuckled once.
"See?" he said. "Told you. You're already too loud to hide."
Then he stepped back into the shadows of the ruin.
And vanished.
Rin spun. "He just disappeared—! Where did he go?!"
Yuto didn't answer.
Because something else was rising over the ridge now.
Figures in glowing robes. Faces masked. Floating slightly off the ground.
The air began to burn.
The first spell charged between their hands.
And they were aiming right at him.