The air itself felt heavier. Je's chest rose and fell in sharp, uneven gasps as the invisible weight pressed down on him.

  [System… Stabilization Attempt #3… Failed.]

  The voice cracked, not with weakness—but with fear.

  Then came the sound.

  A rattle. Like iron dragged across stone. But there was no iron, no stone—only the suffocating black pressing against his vision.

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  And yet Je knew.

  He was hearing the chains.

  The very ones he had glimpsed in his fractured visions.

  A cold realization sank in: they were not symbols. They were real. And they were moving.

  [Warning: Dimensional Anchor Breach — 0.1%]

  The system's voice dissolved into static before continuing, slower this time, as though something forced it to speak against its will.

  > "If they break… the door opens."

  The whisper from before—ancient, mocking—slithered into his mind again.

  > "Every lock rusts, every seal weakens. And every 'system'… eventually falls."

  Je's vision blurred, not from exhaustion, but from a pressure that did not belong to this world. He staggered back, yet the shadows followed his step like hungry beasts.

  The system fought to speak once more, words fractured.

  [Je… never… Void of… De—]

  The voice cut off entirely.

  And in that moment, Je realized he was truly alone.

  Not even the system could protect him.

  ---