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The Aftermath
Sable's heart pounded in his chest as the world around him trembled. The instant his sword made contact with the core, a wave of violent energy surged outward, tearing through the labyrinth. The walls cracked, the ground shook beneath his feet, and for a moment, everything went white.
But it wasn't the kind of white that brought clarity. It was a blinding, disorienting flash, a wave of light that flooded his senses and left him gasping for air.
When the light faded, Sable's knees buckled beneath him, and he collapsed onto the floor. The maze had disappeared. The glitch was gone.
Or so it seemed.
The world was quiet. Too quiet.
He looked around, his eyes darting to the empty, desolate landscape. It was no longer a labyrinth, no longer the twisted realm he'd been fighting through. The atmosphere had shifted—almost as if the game had decided to reformat itself.
The entire environment had become a bleak, sterile landscape, almost like a virtual wasteland. Cracked fragments of code floated in the air, like shattered glass that couldn't quite fall apart. There were no other players here, no sign of life or movement. The world felt dead—nothing but echoes of what had once been.
Sable pushed himself to his feet, his sword hanging limply at his side. He couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right, that the game had become something far darker, something beyond his understanding.
---
The Cost of Power
Suddenly, the ground beneath him vibrated, and a low hum filled the air. Sable turned his gaze upward, his heart sinking.
A dark rift had opened above him, swirling with corrupted energy. It was like a wound in the fabric of the game itself, a tear that stretched across the sky.
"What have you done?"
Sable froze. That voice—he recognized it. It was Zeke, the player who had warned him. The one who had been so obsessed with the glitch. He was here—somewhere in this corrupted version of Eidolon. But it didn't sound like Zeke anymore. The voice was distorted, a low growl of frustration and anger.
From the rift, something began to descend. A massive, corrupted creature, a blend of distorted code and flesh, its eyes glowing with that same unnatural light. It looked like a monster ripped straight from the depths of some forgotten nightmare, its body twitching as if struggling to hold itself together.
The creature's claws scraped against the ground, sending out sparks of corrupted data, and it snarled.
"Fool!" it hissed, its voice layered with multiple tones, as if it was speaking through a hundred mouths. "You think you've won? This is only the beginning."
---
The True Enemy
Sable gripped his sword tighter, his stance shifting as he prepared for battle. The creature lunged forward, its claws swiping at him with deadly speed. But Sable was faster. He sidestepped, slashing his sword across the creature's exposed side. The blade cut through its corrupted form, but there was no blood—just a strange ripple, as if his strike had disturbed the very code of the creature.
The beast recoiled, but it wasn't injured. In fact, it began to heal, its body reforming itself with terrifying speed.
"You think you can stop me?" The creature laughed, the sound grating against Sable's ears. "I am Eidolon now. I am the glitch. The system itself. And you—you are nothing but a pawn in my game."
Sable's mind raced. This was no ordinary monster. It wasn't a simple boss fight. This was the glitch—the true manifestation of everything that had been corrupting Eidolon.
The creature's form rippled again, and suddenly, Sable was surrounded by more of them—smaller, faster versions of the same corrupted entity. They were all coming for him, their claws flashing like lightning.
---
Fighting Back
Sable swung his sword in a wide arc, cutting down two of the creatures as they came at him. But for each one he destroyed, two more seemed to appear in their place. He was surrounded, trapped in a sea of writhing, glitching horrors.
He had to do something. This was different from anything he had faced before. He couldn't simply fight his way out of this.
His thoughts turned back to the warning Zeke had given him.
The glitch is evolving.
The realization hit him like a slap to the face. This wasn't just about survival anymore. This wasn't just about clearing the game. This was something bigger—something that transcended the virtual world of Eidolon. The glitch was alive, and it was growing. Sable had destroyed the core, but he hadn't realized what he was truly dealing with.
The glitch wasn't just a bug in the game—it was a parasite, feeding on the players, growing stronger the more they fought it. And now, it had taken on a life of its own.
Sable's hand trembled around the hilt of his sword. He knew what he had to do. There was no turning back now. If he wanted to end this, he would have to destroy the very source of the glitch itself. And that meant finding the core again—but this time, he wasn't just fighting a corrupted game. He was fighting an entity that had become something much worse.
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A Glitch in the System
"You're too late," the creature snarled, its voice echoing all around Sable. "Eidolon has already begun its evolution. The game no longer needs you."
Sable looked around, seeing the landscape shifting again, the glitch spreading faster than he could track. The entire environment was warping, turning into something alive, something that pulsed with an eerie rhythm.
The creature raised its claws, and the ground beneath Sable cracked open, sending waves of corrupted data rushing toward him.
He couldn't think, couldn't breathe. All he could do was fight.
Sable dove forward, slashing at the oncoming wave, but as his sword made contact, the data shattered and reformed, even stronger than before.
It was endless.
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End of Chapter 13