The screen of Kai's phone flickered. The viewer count was no longer sitting at 1. It was ticking up—14... 42... 105...—fueled by the sheer audacity of his stream title.
"Candidate 4092! Turn off that device and descend!" the guard roared, his hand clamping onto Kai's shoulder like a vice.
Kai didn't flinch. He looked directly into his phone's camera, his eyes reflecting the bruised-purple glow of his interface. "The 10th Floor wasn't a victory," Kai said, his voice steady despite the adrenaline coursing through his veins. "It was a massacre. And Commander Vane didn't swing the sword—he just closed the door."
The Grand Hall went deathly silent. Up in the VIP box, Commander Vane stood up, his silver armor clinking. His eyes, usually filled with practiced heroic warmth, turned into cold slits of steel.
"The boy is delusional," Vane's voice boomed, amplified by his own mana. "He's suffered a mental break from a low-rank awakening. Guards, remove him for his own safety."
"Wait!" a voice yelled from the crowd. A young man held up his own phone. "Look at the stream! What is that... that static over the Commander?"
Through the lens of Kai's stream, the [Redacted Black Box] was now visible to everyone watching. It pulsed like a dark heart over Vane's chest, obscuring the medal of honor he wore so proudly.
[Viewer Count: 1,200 and rising!]
[Chat: "Is that a glitch?" / "Wait, I was at the 10th Floor... my brother never came back..."]
[Truth Points Accumulated: 450/1,000]
"Arrest him!" Vane screamed, his composure snapping.
The guard didn't just grab Kai this time; he pulled a stun-baton, the tip crackling with blue electricity. He swung with the force of a C-Rank warrior.
Kai saw it coming. Not because he was fast, but because the world slowed down into frames of data.
[Skill Activated: Manual Redaction (Trial Version)]
Kai reached out his hand, not toward the guard, but toward the air where the baton was moving. In his vision, a line of code appeared: OBJECT_VELOCITY: 45m/s.
With a mental flick, Kai swiped his finger across the '45'.
[Redacted: 45 -> 0.1]
The baton hit Kai's chest with the force of a falling feather. The guard gasped, his momentum carrying him forward as if he'd hit a brick wall.
"What the—?"
"You're too fast," Kai whispered, his heart hammering against his ribs. "Slow down."
Kai turned back to the camera. "You want to know why there are no survivors from the 4th Division? Check the 'Sacrifice' log in the Tower's sub-menu. Oh wait, you can't. The System hid it. But I can see the ink."
[Warning: System Administrator 'The Architect' is watching your stream.]
[Alert: High-Ranker Vane is casting 'Heavenly Smite'!]
The ceiling of the hall began to glow. A massive spear of light formed in the air, aimed directly at the stage. Vane wasn't taking chances anymore. He was going to erase the evidence.
"Die, you F-rank cockroach!" Vane roared, his face contorted in madness.
The spear dropped. The crowd screamed, scattering for the exits.
Kai looked up at the descending divinity. His phone screen was melting from the heat of the mana.
[Truth Points: 1,010/1,000]
[Quest Complete: Reward Unlocked — 'Redact Environment']
"Redact," Kai commanded, his voice a low growl. He didn't target the spear. He targeted the [Floor] beneath him.
The spear of light hit with the force of a tactical nuke. The stage vanished in a blinding white explosion. Dust and debris choked the air. Vane stood at the edge of the VIP box, panting, a smug smile returning to his face. "Told you. Delusional."
But as the smoke cleared, the crowd gasped.
There was no body. Where the stage had been, there was now a perfectly square, bottomless [Void].
Kai was gone.
A mile away, in a grimy alleyway behind a convenience store, Kai tumbled out of a glitching hole in the air and hit the pavement hard. His phone was scorched, but the screen still glowed.
[Stream Status: LIVE]
[Viewer Count: 15,000]
[New Follower: 'The Mourning Widow']
[Message: "The truth must be told. Run, Censor. They are coming for you."]
Kai gripped the phone, his knuckles white. He looked at his status window. His F-rank was gone. In its place was a flickering, unreadable symbol.
"The Tower wants a show?" Kai spat blood onto the asphalt and stood up. "Fine. I'll give them a horror movie."