The mission scroll was sealed in black wax.
Objective:
Investigate the ruins of Vel Hollow, a village marked for re-occupation.
Status: Abandoned
Threat Level: Unknown
Assigned: Operative Kael Veyron — Chain Division
Notes:
Local rumor reports undead.
Survivors claim to see "the faces of the dead."
Kael knew the name Vel Hollow too well.
In his past life, it was the first village to fall to the enemy.
He remembered flames. Screams. And a girl whose hand he never let go of — until she turned to ash in his arms.
I never saved them. Maybe this time, I can.
He pulled his cloak tighter and set out alone, heading southeast.
Snow crunched under his boots.
The path was silent.
No birds. No animals.
Just whispers in the wind.
[System Notification]
Region: Vel Hollow – Abandoned Zone
Sync Surge Imminent (High Emotional Resonance)
Emotion: Dread + Resolve = Awakening Trigger Nearby
The village appeared as a smear of black against the snow.
Collapsed homes. Burned fields. A broken well. Wind whistled through hollow buildings like ghosts crying through bone.
Kael walked slowly, hand on his sword.
Every corner felt like it was watching him.
This place didn't just die… it was erased.
Then he saw her.
A girl.
Standing in the center of the ruins.
Back to him. Long hair. Torn dress.
Familiar.
"...Elya?"
His voice cracked.
The girl turned — and Kael's heart stopped.
It was her.
Same face.
Same eyes.
But her skin was pale grey, her irises glowing faintly blue.
She opened her mouth — but no sound came.
Just static.
Her body flickered like a bad signal.
Then—
SCREEEECH.
From the earth, corpses erupted.
But not just bones.
Ghost-blooded.
Twisted revenants that held faces from Kael's past — warped, broken, and hostile.
His old teacher.
The baker who gave him food.
The child who'd once asked to play sword-fight.
All dead.
All wrong.
All charging at him with blackened blades and gaping mouths.
Kael didn't scream.
He drew steel.
And roared.
[Emotion Sync Surge Triggered]
Level Reached: 60%
Emotion: Pain + Memory Rejection
Trait Unlocked: Future Memory Integration Lv.1
➤ Passive: Fragments of past life surface mid-combat
➤ Boost: Mental resistance to illusions, fear, and mind magic
➤ Passive Skill Acquired: "Ghost Sense" — see soul anchors, cursed auras
Time slowed.
Kael saw it now — the thin strings of curse-mana anchoring each revenant to the earth.
He changed his stance.
No longer defensive.
Now… surgical.
He struck through joints, not flesh. He shattered skulls with blunt guard-blows, then sliced through the magic cords that fed them.
Each kill broke a whisper.
Each whisper faded a face.
He reached the center.
The girl — Elya — still stood, unmoving.
Her head tilted slightly.
"You let me die," she whispered.
Kael didn't move. "I remember."
"You said you'd come back."
"I did."
"You're too late."
"No," Kael said, stepping forward. "I'm just in time… to free you."
The ground exploded.
A figure rose — twice his height — wearing a warped human face stitched to a shadow's body.
It was not Elya.
It was what consumed her soul.
The Echo Reaper.
[System Scan Initiated]
Entity: Echo Reaper
Type: Curseborn Manifestation
Tier: Unknown
Weak Points: Soul Core (Buried)
Immunities: Fire, standard magic
Unique Trait: "Guilt Mirror" — Uses victim's memories to break targets
Kael gritted his teeth.
The Reaper roared — and the world blurred.
He was no longer in Vel Hollow.
He was in a burning field.
Screams around him.
He saw himself, younger, bleeding, crawling toward Elya's body.
Saw his own face — crying, useless.
The Reaper whispered, voice splitting in two:
"You failed.
You'll always fail.
You were born to watch others die."
Kael dropped to one knee.
Pain behind his eyes.
Blood from his nose.
But his hand still gripped his blade.
[System Trigger]
"Strategic Awakening" Trait Upgrade Unlocked: Lv.2
➤ Gain ability to plan two moves ahead in combat
➤ Shorten cooldowns during high-threat states
➤ Temporary resistance to illusion
Kael roared and shattered the illusion with one thought.
The Reaper screamed in return — but Kael was already in motion.
He sidestepped a sweeping claw, rolled beneath a tendril lash, and drove his sword straight through the black mass beneath its ribs.
That's not enough… where's the anchor?
Using Ghost Sense, he spotted it — buried beneath the well behind the Reaper.
He bolted — the monster lunging after him.
Kael jumped into the frozen well, sword first, channeling raw instinct.
CRACK.
The blade hit something solid.
Glass?
A buried soulcore, glowing blue and twitching with whispers.
He struck again.
And again.
And on the third hit — it shattered.
The Reaper shrieked.
Its body twisted violently — tendrils flailing, human faces screaming and melting into smoke.
Kael crawled out of the well.
Stood in the snow.
Watched it collapse into ash.
And with it… Elya's ghost faded.
But this time, she smiled.
"Thank you," she said softly.
Then she was gone.
[System Update]
Mission Complete: Vel Hollow
Entity Vanquished: Echo Reaper
Memory Purge Level: 1 Cleansed
Sync Level: 63%
New Title: Breaker of Echoes
Ghost Sense Lv.2: Can now detect active hauntings and trapped souls
Trait "Future Memory Integration" stability increased
Kael sat alone on the edge of the ruined well.
The snow fell silently again.
But it didn't feel empty now.
It felt… clean.
Back in Frosthold, a robed figure scribbled in a dark book.
"Took the bait," the voice whispered. "The Echo Reaper failed, but the data is good."
A woman's voice replied. "He's syncing faster than projected. Time-Touched are unpredictable."
A third voice — cold, ancient — hissed from the shadows.
"Then send the next chain.
He remembers what he shouldn't.
Let's see what else he's hiding."
Next Chapter: "The Price of Power"