Rewriting the Chains (Part 1)

The Sanctuary shook violently as the Enforcer-Null advanced. The air bent around it, heavy with suffocating pressure. Its chains rattled like the tolling of a death bell, each movement reverberating with malicious authority.

Noah’s fists tightened. The Guardians had been terrifying enough, but this thing… this thing was different.

It wasn’t just following the rules of the System.

It was the rules.

“Careful, kid.” Elias’s voice was sharp now, stripped of its usual mocking tone. “That’s not just another golden puppet. That’s a Null-class. The System doesn’t deploy those unless it’s panicking.”

Noah’s throat tightened. “Panicking? From me?”

Elias smirked grimly. “Congrats. You’ve officially scared a god.”

The Enforcer-Null’s head turned slowly toward Noah, its crimson eyes burning through him.

COMMAND: OVERRIDE SUPPRESSION.

TARGET: ANOMALY – NOAH.

The chains snaked outward, splitting like tendrils of corrupted lightning. They lashed through the collapsing chamber, seeking to bind him.

Noah shifted instinctively, flickering out of position as the chains cracked into the ground where he’d stood.

But unlike before, the attack didn’t miss.

The chains recalibrated mid-air, bending unnaturally, following his altered trajectory.

ADAPTIVE CORRECTION ENGAGED.

Noah’s eyes widened. “It’s… it’s learning my movements!”

Elias cursed. “Of course it is. That’s what a Null does—it learns your hacks and turns them useless.”

The chains came again, faster.

Noah flickered away, but they turned sharper, faster, cutting off every escape route.

One finally wrapped around his arm.

Agony surged through him.

It wasn’t just physical pain. His code itself burned, his body glitching violently as the chains dug into his existence.

SUPPRESSION ENGAGED.

ERROR STABILITY – 10% AND FALLING.

Noah screamed, dropping to one knee. His vision warped, everything fragmenting around him. The chains weren’t just holding him down. They were rewriting him out of reality.

He gasped desperately, his free hand clutching at the air. His instincts flared—reach deeper. Override. Rewrite.

OVERRIDE ATTEMPT FAILED. TARGET IMMUNE.

The words burned across his vision like mockery.

The Null dragged him forward, its crimson eyes gleaming with finality.

Elias stood frozen for a moment, then snarled. “Damn it, kid, don’t you dare give in!”

Noah’s body trembled. He couldn’t break free. The chains were absolute. His hacks weren’t enough.

And then, in the crackling chaos, he remembered.

That moment against the Guardians. The way he hadn’t just dodged—he had rewritten reality.

The Null was adapting to his movements, yes. But what if he didn’t move? What if he changed the rule of the chain itself?

Gritting his teeth, Noah closed his eyes.

His focus dove past the pain, sinking deeper into the chaos of the Sanctuary. He reached for the hidden code beneath existence, the tangled web of commands and laws.

And there—he found it.

The chain’s command line.

RULE: ALL ERRORS MUST BE BOUND.

Noah’s lips curled into a pained grin.

“Not… today.”

He forced his will into the code.

OVERRIDE: ERROR \= MASTER.

The Sanctuary screamed.

The chains flickered, resisting violently—then, abruptly, they reversed.

Noah’s body stopped burning. The shackles loosened. Then, like serpents turning on their master, the chains snapped back toward the Enforcer-Null.

The black titan reeled as its own weapons wrapped around it, binding its limbs with crushing force.

For the first time, the Null hesitated.