The "REBOOT" command Mi-na sent through Rin's server didn't restart the world; it short-circuited the city's local reality . Outside, the neon towers of Shinjuku and Shibuya flickered and died, plunging millions into a digital darkness.
"What have you done?" Subject Zero roared, his golden aura cracking as the stable environment of the Mainframe began to lag .
"I didn't reboot the system," Mi-na whispered, her electric blue eyes now bleeding red data-streams. "I just deleted the floor."
Suddenly, the basement floor disintegrated into a sea of green binary code. Jin, Zero, and Mi-na fell through the data-void, landing hard on the roof of a moving bullet train (Shinkansen) speeding toward the Tokyo Central Tower.
Jin rolled and stood up, his obsidian Glitch Dagger sparking with emerald lightning. The wind at 300 km/h tore at his clothes, but his Level 45 stats kept his feet glued to the metal surface.
"You can't run from the Architects, Jin," Zero said, landing gracefully at the other end of the train car. He raised his golden blade, and the rain around him froze into sharp, golden needles. "In this city, every camera is an eye, and every wire is a leash."
"Then I'll cut the leash!" Jin lunged.
This time, he didn't use a standard skill. He reached into his connection with Mi-na and pulled a new power from her "Living Glitch" essence .
[NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: SYSTEM OVERLOAD - SHIBUYA DRIFT]
Jin's body split into ten flickering after-images, each one a different "Error" from his past. Zero's golden needles passed through them harmlessly as Jin closed the distance.
"Rin! Open the tower's backdoor NOW!" Jin shouted into his neural link.
"I'm trying!" Rin's voice crackled through the static. "But Zero isn't the only one guarding the core. The System Administrator has just authorized a 'Full-Format' of the train tracks! Get off the train, Jin! NOW!"
As Jin's blade is inches from Zero's neck, the tracks ahead of the bullet train simply... vanish. The train flies into the air, heading straight for a massive, glowing blue barrier surrounding the Central Tower.