The moment he stepped in—
something changed.
The air felt heavy.
Not thick.
Wrong.
Each step pressed harder than it should.
His bones creaked.
Not from damage.
From pressure.
Ryuzen didn't stop.
His eye remained open.
Unblinking.
Abyssal Sense activated—
…and failed.
No red.
No heartbeats.
Only—
voids.
Black.
Silent.
Moving.
They didn't pulse.
Didn't exist properly.
For the first time—
he couldn't read.
"…So this is different."
The System reacted.
『 TARGET ANALYSIS: [ERROR] 』
『 ENTITY DATA: UNDEFINED // NULL // VOID 』
『 WARNING: SYSTEM INTEGRITY AT RISK 』
『 DATA CORRUPTION DETECTED 』
The text shook.
Overlapped.
Glitched.
『 …WITHDRAW… RECOMMENDED… 』
Ryuzen stood still.
"If you don't know…"
A pause.
"…then I'm alone."
A sound.
Not footsteps.
Not breathing.
Something else.
Like glass grinding against itself.
He turned.
It was there.
No form.
No face.
Just—
static.
A shape made of broken space.
Limbs shifting.
Not moving—
changing positions.
Closer.
It hadn't walked.
It was just…
there now.
Three steps closer.
It tilted.
Watching him.
Not hunger.
Not aggression.
Interest.
Ryuzen moved first.
Void-Step.
He vanished.
Reappeared behind it.
Struck.
His fist passed through—
CRACK.
His knuckles shattered.
The impact still happened.
But not on it.
『 DAMAGE TYPE: UNRECOGNIZED 』
『 PHYSICAL LAWS: INCONSISTENT 』
The entity didn't react.
It didn't dodge.
The space where it was—
shifted.
Rewritten.
Ryuzen stepped back.
A fracture spread through his arm.
It raised something like a limb.
Not moving—
appearing closer.
Attack incoming.
No pattern.
No timing.
For the first time—
he couldn't predict.
His body slowed.
Void-Step failed.
Too much distortion.
Too close.
Too late—
『 CRITICAL CONDITION MET 』
『 VESSEL NEAR-DESTRUCTION 』
『 UNLOCKING: SYSTEM FRAGMENT 』
『 [LOGIC INTERPRETATION] 』
Everything changed.
Not the world.
Him.
His eye widened.
Then—
focused.
The creature moved.
No—
It removed distance.
Point A—
Point B—
Connected.
Instantly.
"…Not fast."
A pause.
"…Skipping."
The limb came down.
Ryuzen moved first.
Not faster.
Earlier.
He struck—
not the body—
the break.
The glitch.
Impact.
Something burst.
Gray.
Not blood.
Dust.
Ash.
The entity recoiled.
For the first time—
it reacted.
It stopped.
Its form shifted.
Stabilized.
More… humanoid.
It looked at him.
A pause.
Longer this time.
As if—
memorizing.
A vibration.
Like a laugh.
Then—
it sank.
Into the ground.
Gone.
Silence.
The System flickered.
『 ENTITY CLASSIFICATION… 』
『 …FAILED 』
『 LOGIC FRAGMENT: STABILIZED 』
Ryuzen stood still.
His hand trembled.
Cracked.
Covered in gray.
Not fully healed.
Not stable.
But functioning.
His eye didn't blink.
"…So even this world…"
A pause.
"…doesn't understand itself."
The trench remained silent.
Watching.
Waiting.
[ END OF CHAPTER 6 ]