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The world around Sable was bending, breaking, warping into something entirely foreign. The once-immaculate battlefield of Eidolon was now a chaotic abyss. Every slash of his sword seemed to distort the environment further, as if he were fighting not just enemies but the very fabric of reality itself. Zeke's presence was suffocating, infecting everything with a sense of impending doom.
His breath came in ragged gasps as he faced the now fully corrupted Zeke, a shadow of his former self, his body flickering like a glitch, his voice a distorted echo in the air.
"You should have known better, Sable," Zeke sneered, his form shifting between several mirrored versions of himself. "You think you can fight me in my domain? I control everything."
Sable's hands trembled, not from fear, but from the overwhelming power pressing against him. His vision blurred with the cascade of corrupted data flooding the screen. The creatures, once simple glitches, had evolved into monstrous, unrecognizable forms, their eyes glowing with malice as they swarmed toward him.
But Sable refused to give in. His thoughts raced, trying to make sense of it all.
Zeke… he's the key. The glitch feeds on him. If I can take him down, the corruption should—
No. He couldn't let the glitch take full control.
He gripped his sword tighter. I will end this.
---
The Glitch's Code
As if sensing his resolve, Zeke's voice reverberated in the air, the ground beneath Sable cracking apart. "You think you can defeat me? There's no way out. I've rewritten the rules of this game. You can't defeat me because you're just a part of the code. Just a glitch in the system."
Sable's eyes narrowed. A sudden idea sparked in his mind. Rewrite the rules?
That's when he realized it. Zeke wasn't just manipulating the game's code. He was becoming part of it. The glitch had infected him so thoroughly that he was no longer just a player; he was part of the game's programming.
If that was true, then there was only one way to fight back: he needed to rewrite the code.
But how could he possibly do that with the game trying to swallow him whole?
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A Dark Revelation
A flicker of light—an anomaly in the glitch-ridden landscape—caught Sable's attention. He turned sharply, his heart pounding as he saw a broken piece of the code, a floating shard suspended in the air, faintly glowing with a strange energy.
Without thinking, he rushed toward it. His mind raced with every possibility.
"What are you doing?" Zeke's voice rang out, sharper this time, filled with frustration. "You can't escape this."
Sable ignored him, reaching out to touch the shard.
The moment his fingers made contact, the world froze.
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The Heart of the Game
Inside Sable's mind, the code itself whispered. He could feel it—the pulse of Eidolon, a deep, rhythmic thrum that had always been there, hidden beneath the game's surface. The pulse was the heartbeat of the world, and Zeke had tried to control it.
Sable could sense it now—the truth behind Eidolon's creation. This wasn't just a game. It was a living entity, built from the dreams and fears of the players who'd once inhabited it. Every glitch, every distortion in the world, was a reflection of the players' emotions, fears, desires, and most importantly—their flaws.
Zeke had tried to rewrite the game's code, to turn it into his own personal nightmare. But Sable… Sable was different. He wasn't just a player. He was a witness. He was the one who saw Eidolon for what it truly was.
The shard in his hand pulsed, releasing a flood of light that engulfed his body, seeping into his veins. It was rewriting him. Rewriting everything.
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The Power of the Pulse
When the light faded, Sable stood taller, his body brimming with new energy. The world around him felt… different. The glitches were still there, but they no longer felt like an insurmountable wall. They were just echoes now, remnants of what had once been.
In that moment, Sable knew what he had to do.
The voice of Zeke screamed, "No! You can't! You're just a glitch! You can't rewrite the game!"
But it was too late. The code was already shifting. Sable was rewriting the rules of Eidolon.
With a single swing of his sword, he cleaved through the corrupted creatures, the glitching data around him dissipating like dust in the wind. The world began to stabilize, the chaos ebbing away.
Zeke's figure flickered violently as the code began to fight against him. "No! This is mine! I will rule this game!" Zeke's voice was shrill, panicked. "You're nothing!"
But Sable's eyes were cold.
"I'm not just a player, Zeke. I'm the one who will end this."
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End of Chapter 15
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