The Forgotten Supreme

[Astralis: Genesis - Twilight Plains]

The battlefield was eerily silent. The fragments of the Reality Stabilizer had already begun disintegrating, fading into the void as if it had never existed.

But Ethan was still there.

Still breathing.

Still existing.

He exhaled sharply, gripping the rusted sword that had become his lifeline. His body ached from the fight—he could still feel the residual energy of the Authority clash tingling beneath his skin.

"I actually won," he muttered.

It didn't feel real.

He had gone from being marked for deletion to overriding the system's rules in mere minutes. His heartbeat was still erratic, but beneath the exhaustion, something else stirred—a quiet, dangerous thrill.

He wasn't just a player anymore.

He was something the game couldn't define.

[System Instability - Unknown Entity Detected]

Then, a ripple passed through the air.

Ethan's instincts flared—something was wrong.

His UI flickered erratically. Golden glyphs—the same ones that had appeared when he first entered the game—began pulsing around him.

[WARNING: Entity does not match registered player database.]

[WARNING: Attempting to reintegrate user into world data…]

The world around him shuddered. The mist thickened, and suddenly, a wave of unseen force crashed into him like a tidal wave.

Ethan staggered, his vision warping. It felt as if his very existence was being rewritten in real-time.

Then, everything went black.

[Location Unknown - ???]

When Ethan opened his eyes, he was no longer in the Twilight Plains.

The air smelled damp. The distant crackling of a fire echoed around him. He was lying on something soft—a bed? His fingers brushed against coarse fabric.

Where the hell was he?

He slowly sat up, his head pounding. His surroundings came into focus—a stone-walled chamber, dimly lit by torchlight. It looked like an old-fashioned medieval inn, the kind found in most starter towns in RPGs.

He turned toward the source of warmth—a small fireplace, where a figure sat with their back turned to him.

A woman, wrapped in a cloak.

An NPC?

As if sensing his gaze, she spoke.

"You're finally awake."

Her voice was quiet, but there was something off about it.

Ethan tensed, his mind already analyzing the situation.

How did I get here? Who is she? Was I teleported? Is this a scripted event?

His UI flickered again.

[System Error: Location Data Not Found]

[System Error: NPC Classification Unknown]

A cold chill ran down his spine.

Even the system didn't recognize where he was.

[An NPC That Shouldn't Exist]

Ethan cleared his throat, keeping his expression neutral. "Where am I?"

The woman turned slightly, her face partially obscured by the hood of her cloak. "A place that shouldn't exist."

His grip tightened on the bedsheets.

Yeah. That sounded about right.

She turned to face him fully. For the first time, Ethan saw her eyes—flickering gold and silver, as if something inside her was breaking apart and reforming at the same time.

She wasn't normal.

His instincts screamed at him, the same way they had when he faced the Reality Stabilizer.

This woman was like him.

[Fragment of the Forgotten]

"I saw what you did," she said, her voice calm but layered with something unreadable. "You broke a rule that was meant to be absolute."

Ethan stayed silent. He had no idea who she was or what she wanted. But one thing was certain—she wasn't an ordinary NPC.

"Who are you?" he asked.

The woman tilted her head slightly.

"A remnant," she replied. "Like you."

His heart pounded.

She knew.

She knew what he was.

Before he could ask more, she raised a hand, and his UI glitched violently.

[ERROR: Memory Fragment Detected]

[WARNING: Restricted Knowledge Unsealed]

A flood of images burned into his mind—flashes of a world before the game, pieces of something that shouldn't exist. He gasped, clutching his head.

The woman watched him, her glowing eyes narrowing.

"If you wish to survive, you'll need more than just a sword," she murmured. "The world will not forget you now. And the system… will come for you again."

She stood, stepping toward the door. "You don't have much time."

Ethan forced himself to focus. "What do you mean?"

She glanced at him, her expression unreadable.

"The world is already starting to remember you."

Then—

She vanished.