The universe, Jax decided with the weary certainty of a man perpetually screwed over by cosmic indifference, had a truly appalling sense of comedic timing. One second, he was contemplating the existential horror and potential payday represented by the pulsating sphere of impossible Aethelian tech humming against his back, basking in the dubious afterglow of disintegrating a killer robot panther with nascent reality-bending powers. The next, a chunk of the reactor control room wall ceased its scheduled decay and opted for explosive disassembly, showering him in permacrete dust and introducing two heavily armed Authority Enforcers into the already overcrowded equation.

  Their stark white-and-grey combat armor was immaculate, a jarring contrast to the grime and corruption of the Anomaly Zone. They moved with practiced, unnerving efficiency, heavy pulse rifles already leveled, targeting lasers painting dancing red dots on Jax’s chest. Their faceless helmets betrayed no emotion, only cold, synthesized intent.

  “Anomaly detected,” the lead Enforcer crackled, voice flat, filtered through a vox-caster. “Subject Designation: Architect Zero. Objective identified. Secure the asset. Terminate the anomaly.”

  Architect Zero? Jax blinked dust out of his eyes, every muscle screaming from the earlier fight, the partial energy recharge from Object Rho already feeling like a distant memory. Where do they come up with these names? Sounds like a bad synth-rock band. The ‘anomaly’ part, however, he couldn’t really argue with. Especially given the whole ‘disintegrating robots with focused entropy’ thing. And ‘terminate’ was usually Authority-speak for ‘make messy holes in’.

  He stayed pressed against the humming sphere – Object Rho, the ‘asset’ – acutely aware of the tactical nightmare he was in. Two heavily armed professionals versus one exhausted, injured scavenger with a knife, a dead pistol, and abilities that cost him dearly and might accidentally unravel reality if he sneezed wrong. Oh, and the sphere itself was apparently nearing a ‘Resonance Cascade’, which sounded less like a gentle musical performance and more like a prelude to everything going boom in a way that defied conventional physics.

  “Look, fellas,” Jax tried, forcing a nonchalant tone he absolutely did not feel, raising his empty hands slightly. “Must be a misunderstanding. I’m just… contracted sanitation. Place is a real mess, you know? Glitches everywhere.”

  The Enforcers didn’t react, their stances solid, rifles unwavering. The lead one tilted its helmet slightly. “Designation Architect Zero confirmed by unique Axiomatic resonance signature,” the synthesized voice stated calmly. “Subject is considered Class-Three Aberrant. Lethal force authorized. Secure Object Rho.”

  Axiomatic resonance signature? So they could detect the power? They knew, on some level, what had happened to him, what he could potentially do. That escalated things from ‘standard Authority brutality’ to ‘dissection on a cold slab in a black site lab’. Fantastic.

  The second Enforcer began advancing slowly, methodically, rifle tracking Jax, while the lead one maintained covering fire position. Standard room-clearing tactics. Jax’s mind raced, fueled by the dregs of the stim-chew and pure panic. Direct confrontation was suicide. Escape required getting past them and through the door he’d barely managed to unlock. That left… chaos. His only real ally in this glitching hellhole.

  He needed a distraction. Something big. His eyes flickered to the wreckage of the chrome panther construct he’d decommissioned. Its power core, though likely damaged, still pulsed with a faint, unstable energy signature visible to his Axiom-sight. An idea, ludicrously dangerous but potentially effective, formed.

  He focused, digging deep past the exhaustion, past the throbbing pain, latching onto the memory of the console interface, the diagrams hinting at energy manipulation. He didn't try to control the power core, just to agitate it. He visualized Axiomatic static, interference, pushing chaotic energy into the damaged core, encouraging overload. “Come on, kitty,” he thought desperately. “One last trick.”

  The drain was immediate, fierce. Black spots danced in his vision. His nose started bleeding again, hot and viscous. The whispers screamed warnings. “Fool! Overload! Feedback loop!”

  Ping!

  [WARNING: Reckless Energy Manipulation Attempt Detected!]

  [Core Destabilization (External Influence): 78% Probability]

  [Backlash Damage Sustained: Minor Neural Strain]

  Neural strain? Sounds delightful. But across the room, the ruined construct spasmed violently. Sparks erupted from its chassis, its internal temperature spiking visibly in Jax’s perception.

  The Enforcers paused, their attention momentarily diverted by the unexpected development. “Secondary anomaly detected?” the advancing Enforcer queried.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Irrelevant,” the lead one snapped. “Maintain focus on Architect—”

  BOOM!

  The construct’s power core detonated, not with the clean blast of conventional explosives, but with a messy eruption of raw energy, superheated shrapnel, and localized reality distortion. The shockwave slammed into Jax, throwing him hard against Object Rho. The sphere pulsed violently, absorbing some of the impact but sending jarring vibrations through his body. Consoles exploded along the wall, raining sparks and debris. The already unstable lighting failed completely, plunging the room into near-total darkness save for the pulsing azure lines on Rho, the sickly glow of the alien fungi, and the cold blue optics of the Enforcers.

  The Enforcers had been closer to the blast. Jax saw, through the swirling dust and Axiomatic static, one of them staggering back, armor scorched, weapon arm hanging limp. The other had deployed a personal energy shield – a shimmering hexagonal field – which had absorbed the worst of it but flickered erratically now, clearly damaged.

  Opportunity.

  Jax didn’t hesitate. Ignoring the agony flaring through his bruised body, he pushed off Object Rho and sprinted towards the buckled blast door, using the chaos and darkness as cover.

  “Target moving!” the shielded Enforcer yelled, firing blindly into the dust cloud. Pulse bolts, bright streaks of contained plasma, sizzled past Jax’s head, impacting the wall with explosive force.

  He reached the door, fumbling for his pry-bar. He needed to wedge it open further, create enough space to slip through before they regrouped or the room decided to collapse entirely due to the increasing Resonance Cascade warnings still flashing intermittently at the edge of his awareness.

  [WARNING: Localized Spacetime Instability Increasing!]

  [Gravitational Flux Detected!]

  He felt it a split second before he saw it. The floor beneath him tilted, gravity shifting sickeningly. He stumbled, nearly falling. Behind him, he heard a surprised yell from one of the Enforcers as they too fought the sudden gravitational shear. Object Rho pulsed erratically, the azure lines flickering like dying stars, the spectral Axioms above it swirling into chaotic vortices. The deep hum of the room rose in pitch, becoming a grating whine.

  The cascade was accelerating. The explosion must have pushed Rho, or the entire localized reality anchor system, past some critical threshold.

  Jax jammed the pry-bar into the door gap and heaved, ignoring the screaming protest of his muscles. The metal groaned. He needed more leverage, more force. He glanced back. The shielded Enforcer was advancing again, firing methodical bursts, the pulse bolts impacting closer now. The other Enforcer was struggling with their damaged arm but trying to bring their sidearm to bear.

  Think, Jax, think! He needed to widen the gap now. He looked at the buckled metal of the door, at the stressed support frame around it. Axiomatic sight showed intense red stress lines, points ripe for failure. He remembered the Hound’s leg. Break.

  He focused, channeling everything he had left – the dregs of Rho’s energy boost, his own dwindling vitality, sheer desperate will – into the concept of Entropy, aimed at the most stressed point of the door frame near his pry-bar. “Give way! Crumble! Cease!”

  Agony ripped through him. It felt like tearing something fundamental inside himself. His vision went completely white for a second. He tasted copper. The whispers reached a fever pitch, promising oblivion, promising power, promising anything to make him stop.

  Ping!

  [CRITICAL ACTION: Axiomatic Deconstruction (Major Structural Element)]

  [Backlash Damage Sustained: Severe Systemic Strain! Vitality Critical!]

  [Axiomatic Control (Entropy Application) +0.5!]

  [WARNING! RESONANCE CASCADE IMMINENT! STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY FAILURE!]

  With a screech of tortured metal that momentarily overshadowed the building’s groans, the section of door frame he’d targeted didn’t just bend – it dissolved. Metal slumped like wet clay, losing cohesion, turning grey and brittle before crumbling into dust. The heavy blast door, its upper support gone, sagged violently outwards, widening the gap significantly.

  Jax didn’t wait to admire his handiwork or register the alarming skill increase notification. He threw himself through the enlarged opening as pulse bolts scorched the metal where he’d been standing. He landed hard in the maintenance tunnel outside, rolling, the impact knocking the wind out of him.

  Behind him, he heard an intensified roar from the control room, the shriek of tortured metal, and a synthesized scream cut short. The floor vibrated violently. The entire structure felt like it was tearing itself apart. The Resonance Cascade.

  He scrambled to his feet, ignoring the fire in his lungs, the blood streaming from his nose, the feeling that his own internal structure was about to unravel. He had to get out, away from the epicenter. Survival first, understanding the cryptic LitRPG bullshit later.

  He glanced back towards the control room door, now sagging open wider, revealing glimpses of swirling energy, collapsing consoles, and… was Object Rho pulsing light now, expanding slightly? He couldn't tell for sure through the dust and distortion. Retrieving it now was utterly impossible, suicidal. The job was blown. Fingers and his anonymous client could go glitch themselves.

  He turned and ran, stumbling deeper into the relative darkness of the maintenance tunnel system, away from the escalating catastrophe in the reactor control room. He followed his memory of the schematics, hoping the tunnels themselves weren't about to collapse. Every tremor in the deck plating sent fresh waves of terror through him. The Axiomatic structure of the tunnel walls flickered alarmingly around him.

  He rounded a corner and skidded to a halt. His path was blocked. Not by a collapse, but by a shimmering, translucent wall of pure energy, crackling with multi-colored static. It hadn't been there on his way in. Reality, spurred by the cascade, was actively rewriting the map, boxing him in.

  Trapped between a reality-ending cascade behind him and an energy barrier of unknown properties ahead. No backup, no working pistol, running on less than fumes, bleeding, and possibly starting to understand why the Authority designated him 'Architect Zero'.

  “Oh, just brilliant,” Jax gasped, leaning against the vibrating tunnel wall, a truly manic, humorless grin spreading across his bloodied face. “Absolutely perfect.” The universe wasn't just playing jokes anymore; it was going for high farce right before the final curtain call.