The air felt heavier.
Riven leaned against the alley wall, chest rising and falling like he'd just sprinted a marathon. His hand still glowed faintly red, the code pulsing like a heartbeat. It didn't hurt. Not physically. But something had been taken. Or maybe… awakened.
[User sync: 100% complete.]
[Execution Code]
[Abilities unlocked:Scan | Red Judgment | Code Compression]
"Red judgement?" Riven muttered.
The voice—the system—wasn't human. It wasn't AI either. It felt digital yet alive. Watching.
He replayed it in his mind.
Jason Vega didn't die like a normal person. No blood. No body. Just… erased. Like the system had overwritten his existence. Deleted him from reality.
no one noticed.
Across the street, the police were still investigating. Jason's car sat untouched. His clothes were gone. His body no where to be found.
It was as if the world itself didn't remember him.
Riven stared blankly.
He stumbled back to his apartment, drenched, silent.
The city continued. Neon signs. Dripping gutters. Gunshots two blocks away. Life in New York went on like always. Broken, rotting, uncaring.
Riven locked the door and slumped onto the floor.
His sister's picture sat on the shelf. He stared at it.
"I wish you were here, Kira."
Silence.
No regret. No satisfaction either. Just a hollow ache.
Then, the system pinged again.
[New Target.]
[Name: Elijah Roth.
[Location: Skyline Tower, Penthouse 77.]
[Execution: Mandatory.]
Mandatory?.
What is this? .
Riven closed his eyes.
He hadn't asked for this. But the system chose him. And the city kept producing monsters.
If this was justice… he'd become the devil to carry it out.
He stood, the red mark burning faintly on his palm like a cursed halo.
[Target: Elijah Roth
[Location: Skyline Tower, Penthouse 77 | Defense Level: High]
The Skyline Tower loomed like a glass fang stabbing into the clouds. Riven stood across the street in a hooded jacket, eyes scanning the building's security layout from his System's overlay.
Armed guards. Biometric locks. Surveillance drones.
None of it mattered.
[Skill Activated: Scan]
A red pulse expanded from his body like sonar scanning the building.
[Target Confirmed: Elijah Roth]
Riven cracked his knuckles. "Time to erase another monster."
22:47 P.M. | Interior - Skyline Tower
The guards never saw him.
He reached the elevator shaft and climbed manually, gripping onto the steel ladder with ease. His body moved differently now—quicker, stronger.
He grunted. " I'll kill him fast."
Penthouse 77
Elijah Roth sat in luxury. Whiskey in hand. Neon city lights casting purple shadows over half-naked girls wired to virtual reality pods. A devil in a silk suit.
[Commence Execution]
Riven stepped from the shadows.
"Elijah Roth," he said, voice low. "You've been judged."
Roth stood, confused. "Who the hell—?"
[Skill Activated: Red Judgment]
Riven's hand glowed blood-red.
Suddenly, Roth dropped his glass and clutched his head. Screaming. Blood leaking from his ears. His skin began cracking, not from wounds—but from data tearing his soul apart.
In one final gasp, Roth's eyes rolled back and his body glitched—visibly fragmenting like broken data. Then… gone.
Not a single trace left.
The girls ran away in fear half naked. Leaving their clothes in the apartment.
Riven stood alone in the penthouse, the room eerily quiet. The System's voice rang again:
[Execution Complete.]
[Executor level up C rank]
Riven's eyes narrowed
> [Unknown energy signature detected nearby.]
His heart raced.
He was being watched.