I exhaled the last bit of air,
and my knees almost buckled.

Training to the limit left my chest burning,
shoulders aching,
arms trembling like the muscles were tearing apart.

But…

I did it.

I pushed my delay from yesterday’s 0.1 seconds
to almost 0.2.

And it felt real.
Clear.
Like someone grabbed time itself for half a second
and let it go.

I sat on a bench at the edge of the park,
breathing hard.
The air wasn’t right today—
not wind,
but something leaking out from the park’s center.

I shut my eyes, fighting a headache.

“As expected… it’s getting stronger.”

When I opened them,
a faint symbol flashed.
Like language—
but not.

Instinct made me want to reach for it.

I barely lifted my hand when—

A sharp, tearing screech broke from the park’s depth.

I jerked my head up.

It came out.

The thing’s skin looked burned and reattached wrong,
its movements misaligned
like a broken projection.

A Corrupted.

It lunged at a mother holding her child.

No thinking—
my body moved first.

“Oh come on… for real?”

Time dragged—
almost 0.2 seconds.
My shadow stretched unnaturally,
my limbs dragging through thick water.

I shoved the woman aside.
My shoulder tore with pain,
numbing my whole chest.

The Corrupted lifted its head—
empty eyes meeting mine.

I was dead.

Then—

A blade flashed.

Emilia.

Faster than last time,
precise and brutal.
But the Corrupted was stronger too.
It forced her back—
blood tracing down her temple.

She saw me and froze.

“You… you’re much faster than yesterday…”

Shock cracked her voice.

The Corrupted leapt again.

My arm was numb,
but my legs moved—
stepping in front of Emilia.

Her expression shifted—
layers of disbelief folding over each other.

“You… what are you?”

I let out a shaky laugh.

“I wish I knew.”

The moment the Corrupted fell—

The world shook.

A deep vibration snapped outward.
The creature twisted—
reordered—
as if flagged as an error file
and dragged violently backward
into the park’s depths.

Emilia froze.
Not in fear—
but in utter incomprehension.

The pressure in my chest surged again—
a Source point breathing.

She steadied the shaken mother and child,
voice going cold and official:

“B-39 vitals stable…
but Source fluctuations are increasing.”

She didn’t realize I heard her.

B-39.
That’s me.

When I left the park,
a rustle sounded from the bushes.

Patch jumped out, staring at me.
His eyes weren’t afraid.
Not uncertain.

They were confirming.

You’ve changed.

A chill slid across my spine.

…Am I really just a normal person?

Meanwhile — somewhere deeper in Europe.

Cold light illuminated rows of monitors.
Waveforms, distortion metrics, energy patterns—
all shifting.

A man in a plain shirt stood at the center,
glasses reflecting the screens.

A code blinked on his tablet:

B-39
Fluctuation increasing.
Rapid.

He adjusted his glasses.

“Four percent increase…
Definitely not natural.”

He zoomed in on the park.
A path pulsed—
someone’s movement.

“Clearer and clearer…”

His tone was flat—
like reading temperature—
but held dangerous curiosity.

He lifted a hand
and issued a short command.

Moments later,
an ARC observer headed toward Slovakia.

The man stared at the code again.

“Track him.”

The B-39 marker flickered—
as if echoing a distant resonance.

Meanwhile — Nantou, Taiwan.

Mist covered the mountain town.
Metal scraped against stone in a narrow alley.

Ayla stood in the dark,
weapon dripping with alien residue.
A Corrupted corpse split at her feet.

Her shoulder was torn,
blood soaking her sleeve.
She tied the wound tight,
breathing hard.

But when she looked up,
her eyes burned with resolve.

“JEFF…
wait for me.”

She limped toward her home.

Tomorrow,
she would buy a plane ticket.

She didn’t know—

In faraway Bratislava,
the person pulling at her fate
was walking straight toward the heart of the fracture.

Creator’s Notes

This chapter is a major power-jump moment.
Jeff crosses the 0.2s threshold, faces his first real Corrupted,
and we see ARC + Ayla both moving into position.
Perfect for Tapas readers who enjoy escalation.