The ground didn't shake this time.
It dissolved.
Beneath Erevan's boots, the grass flickered, fragmented into floating squares of raw geometry that glowed faintly like dying stars. Each step felt like walking on a broken mirror. Kaelith's fingers dug into his arm, trying to anchor herself, but the forest around them shattered like dismantled scaffolding.
Sir Quacksalot flapped frantically, wings spread wide, squealing in protest as tiny voids opened beneath his feet, threatening to swallow him whole.
The air smelled sharp—like ozone mixed with burnt circuits. Reality wasn't shaking; it was tearing, pixelating, snapping. Every sound warped, distorted, as if the world had become a broken recording of itself.
Kaelith's voice trembled.
"Erevan… the world… it's unraveling."
Erevan's shard pulsed violently against his chest, heat searing through skin and bone. He staggered, gripping it like it was a lifeline. Teeth gritted, he muttered,
"No… not unraveling. Being reset. They're trying to delete everything around me until I have nowhere left to stand."
The void whispered in subtle frequencies—a mechanical hum that grated on his nerves.
Above them, the sky had turned black. Grids of green lines snapped into place, cutting across the void like a developer's debugging screen. Trees, boulders, even stray blades of grass transformed into wireframes—bare outlines of what had once been real. Birds hung frozen mid-flight, feathers caught in polygons that shimmered like broken glass.
Kaelith's hands shook as she clutched her bow.
"Zone 17… everything here…"
Erevan's lips twisted into a grim smile.
"Figures. Can't beat me, so they just… wipe the board."
In the distance, villages flickered like candles in a storm. People frozen mid-action, mouths open in silent screams that would never leave their faces. The forest behind them disintegrated into cubes, floating and spinning, dissolving into nothingness.
Sir Quacksalot pecked at Erevan's leg, quacking indignantly. The tiny duck had zero chill. Clearly, he was saying: Do something, idiot.
Erevan chuckled through bloodied lips.
"Yeah, yeah. Working on it, little buddy."
Then the figures emerged.
Dozens of them. Humanoid, unfinished, gray forms with smooth, blank faces. Each one held weapons forged from raw, glowing code. They moved with perfect synchronization, their silence more threatening than any shout.
Kaelith's bow was drawn, but her hands shook uncontrollably.
"What… what are those things?"
Erevan smirked, grim.
"Patch notes with legs. And apparently, they hate bugs."
The first Nullifier lunged. Its blade wasn't metal—it was syntax, glowing symbols slicing through reality itself. Trees blinked out mid-cut, earth evaporating in geometric fragments.
Erevan rolled, feeling the air hum with the sheer force of logic being rewritten around him.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
He lashed out with Code Rend, his glitching hand tearing through the first Nullifier's chest. The thing split into half, collapsing into a shower of corrupted letters that shimmered before vanishing.
A mocking voice echoed in his head:
[Nullifier eliminated. Reward: 500 Glitch Points.]
Three more Nullifiers charged simultaneously. Faster than he could track with human eyes. Kaelith's arrows dissolved midair, phasing harmlessly through their smooth, featureless forms.
"They're ignoring my attacks!" Kaelith shouted, panic rising in her voice.
Erevan grunted, barbed-wire threads of code sprouting along his skin to block a strike.
"Because you're not the target, Kaelith. I am."
The shard in his chest pulsed violently, insistent, almost alive.
[Option: Activate Pathbreaker?]
His mind echoed with warnings that his body couldn't survive much more.
He grinned through the pain.
"Unstable? That's my middle name."
He slashed.
Pathbreaker flared. Reality screamed. One Nullifier's blade shattered, perfect geometry fracturing into nonsensical polygons. Its faceless head twisted, symbols scrambling before exploding into static.
The remaining Nullifiers froze, then adapted. Their blades transformed into jagged glitch-fire, mirroring Erevan's own code signature.
"Oh, that's cheating," he muttered, eyes narrowing.
Kaelith yanked on his arm.
"Then don't fight them the same way! Outsmart them—that's what you do!"
Erevan's grin widened, blood-streaked and dangerous.
"Always."
The three lunged, weapons crossing. He didn't counter. He ducked, letting them collide. Geometry fractured. Perfect forms shattered upon impact.
He leapt, Code Rend tearing through two at once. They dissolved into showers of corrupted fragments.
The last Nullifier stumbled for just a moment—long enough for Sir Quacksalot to leap onto its head, quacking furiously. The duck clawed and pecked at its smooth face until cracks formed.
Erevan didn't hesitate. Pathbreaker flared again, tearing the final Nullifier apart. Static lit the void like fireworks.
For a heartbeat, silence reigned.
Kaelith's breathing was sharp and ragged. Erevan's chest burned as if his ribcage had been turned inside out. Sir Quacksalot strutted proudly on his shoulder, chest puffed out.
But the system… it was far from done.
The air was thick with static, buzzing and snapping like a live wire as the Nullifiers surged again, relentless and synchronized.
Erevan's shard pulsed violently in his chest, each beat a hammer driving heat and power into his veins. He rolled to the side, threads of code erupting from his arms like jagged lightning, blocking another strike.
Kaelith shouted, her bow trembling.
"Erevan… what do we do? They just—"
"Stop yelling!" he snapped, teeth gritted, eyes bloodshot. "Focus on surviving!"
He swung Code Rend, his hands tearing through reality itself. Nullifiers collided with the attacks, but for every one he shattered, two more took its place, adapting faster than his reflexes could track.
He ducked under a swipe of syntax, feeling the air hum with the rewriting force around him. "Figures… always doubling down when I'm barely awake."
Kaelith yanked him back, arrow nocked, trembling.
"They're… evolving! Nothing I shoot even hits!"
"Good," he muttered. "Then you're doing your job. I'm the bait, remember?"
Sir Quacksalot flapped frantically, quacking indignantly as though to say: We're not just background decoration, you know.
Erevan inhaled sharply. [Option: Activate Pathbreaker?] flashed again in his mind, accompanied by a warning pulse: his body might not survive this surge.
He grinned through the blood and sweat.
"Unstable? That's the fun part."
He slashed, Pathbreaker flaring violently. The world shrieked as threads of corrupted code tore through the Nullifiers. One blade shattered mid-air, geometry collapsing into a shower of nonsensical polygons. Another head twisted, symbols scrambling before exploding into static.
Kaelith's jaw dropped.
"You… you're rewriting them!"
"Yeah," Erevan said, chest heaving. "Not destroying, just… correcting their bad behavior."
Sir Quacksalot quacked, flapping to perch on a floating shard, feathers bristling. Clearly, the duck approved.
The Nullifiers froze, then adapted. Their glowing blades morphed into jagged, glitching fire, mirroring the code signature now streaming across Erevan's skin.
"Oh, that's… cheating," he muttered, smirking through blood.
Kaelith tugged at his arm.
"Then don't fight them the same way! Outsmart them—that's what you do!"
"Always," he whispered, letting a grin creep across his bloodied face.
The three lunged at once. Erevan ducked, letting them collide. Perfect geometric bodies shattered upon impact, polygons scattering into static.
He leapt, Code Rend tearing through two at once, and they dissolved in showers of corrupted fragments.
The last Nullifier faltered, just long enough for Sir Quacksalot to leap onto its head. Feathers bristled, claws scratching at the smooth face until cracks formed. The duck quacked like a general giving orders.
Erevan grinned. Pathbreaker flared again, and the final Nullifier collapsed, static spraying across the fragmented ground like fireworks.
For a heartbeat, silence fell. Kaelith's chest rose and fell in ragged gasps, and Erevan's ribs burned as if reality itself had turned him inside out. Sir Quacksalot strutted on his shoulder, chest puffed, tail flicking like he owned the chaos.
But that peace shattered.
From the collapsing void, a shadow moved. Larger. Darker. Colossal.
The Nullifier Prime emerged.
It was twice Erevan's height, plated in shifting glyphs that shimmered with corrupted energy. A crown of symbols floated above its head, each step compressing the fragmented reality beneath it like fragile glass under a hammer.
Kaelith froze, bow raised, trembling.
"Erevan… that thing… it's alive… kind of."
Erevan squinted, shard pulsing violently in his chest.
"Alive? Yeah… alive enough to ruin my Tuesday, apparently."
The Prime raised its massive blade—pure deletion, humming like a live wire across dimensions. One swing and everything behind it vanished. Wireframe forests blinked out, leaving only void and static. Kaelith yanked him aside just in time, her breath sharp, eyes wide.
Erevan ground his teeth. The shard in his chest seared like molten iron. Unstable. Unsafe. Unkillable.
Perfect. My kind of fun.
The Nullifier Prime moved deliberately, precise, correcting existence itself. And in the shadows above, the glitch figure waited, eyes flickering with chaotic light, unreadable, almost human, almost… wrong.
Erevan's grin widened, blood streaking down his cheek.
"Bring it," he muttered. "Because I'm done playing by your rules."
The Nullifier Prime loomed above them, a colossal wave of corrupted geometry, every step making the fragmented ground tremble beneath Erevan's boots.
Erevan's shard flared violently, heat and power coursing through him like liquid fire. The world around him flickered—trees morphing into wireframes, rocks splitting into fragments that hovered midair, reality itself pulsing with unstable energy.
Kaelith's hands shook as she gripped her bow.
"This… this isn't just a Nullifier… it's…"
"Alive enough to make me wish I'd called in sick," Erevan muttered through bloodied lips. He flexed his fingers, feeling the threads of Pathbreaker prickling across his skin. Every nerve ending screamed: rewrite. Rewrite. Rewrite.
The Nullifier Prime swung its blade. Reality itself screamed. Trees, rocks, fragments of ground—everything behind its swing blinked out into void. Kaelith yanked Erevan aside, her breath ragged, eyes wide.
Erevan rolled, shards of corrupted light trailing behind him. "Okay… yeah… slightly scarier than I thought. But still my problem."
Sir Quacksalot flapped to his shoulder, feathers bristled, eyes gleaming with defiance. We're still alive, buddy. Don't screw this up.
Then the shadow appeared.
From the fractured sky, jagged lines of raw light tore open, and a figure emerged—cloaked in shifting shadows, eyes glowing with chaotic, unpredictable energy. Almost human. Almost—but twisted through glitch, code, and entropy.
"Finally," the figure said, voice scraping like glass against metal. "The anomaly who broke the path. I wondered when we'd meet."
Kaelith stiffened. Bow drawn, arrows trembling.
"Who… who are you?"
The figure's grin was crooked, shadows shifting unnaturally around him.
"Me? Just another glitch. But unlike you…" His glowing eyes locked on Erevan. "…I chose it."
Erevan's shard pulsed violently, syncing almost instinctively with the newcomer's energy. Great. Another wildcard.
He rolled his shoulders, cracking joints that felt like wireframe skeletons.
"Chose it, huh? That your way of saying you like trouble?"
The figure laughed low, eerie, unsettling.
"Trouble? No… I'm your test."
The Nullifier Prime paused, tilting its head as if acknowledging this interloper, but it didn't stop advancing. Its glowing blade hummed with deletion, threatening to slice the last remnants of existence.
Erevan gritted his teeth, the shard screaming at him. Pathbreaker tingled, reality stretching, snapping, begging for rewrite. If I fight straight… I'm toast. If I hesitate… also toast. Perfect options.
Kaelith tugged at his arm.
"Erevan… think! We need a strategy—"
"I've got one," he cut her off, smirking through blood and static. "Step one: survive. Step two: see what the glitch wants."
The shadow figure shifted, too fast for human eyes, symbols glitching into forms almost like a face.
"I've been watching your… creativity," the voice hissed, sharp as shattered glass. "Not bad. But power like yours… dangerous. Fun, yes—but dangerous."
Erevan's fingers flexed, feeling the raw potential in Pathbreaker, the shard urging him: bend reality, bend the Nullifier Prime, bend… even the shadow.
Sir Quacksalot quacked indignantly, flapping against the surge of chaotic energy. Don't get cocky, idiot. We're still alive.
Kaelith muttered, almost to herself, "I've never seen anything like this… Not in simulations, not in archives… not ever…"
Erevan ignored her. Eyes locked on the shadow glitch.
"Alright, mystery man, glitchy friend… let's see what you really want."
The ground stretched, warped. Green wireframes twisted around their legs, static dust floated like snow in an inverted storm. The Nullifier Prime raised its blade again, humming with deletion, poised to erase everything.
But Erevan grinned. Blood and glitching symbols streaked his face.
"Bring it," he muttered. "I'm done playing by your rules."
Everything pulsed in response—the shard, Pathbreaker, the fractured reality. Time itself stuttered as if holding its breath. The shadow figure's eyes flared. The Nullifier Prime braced. The battlefield shimmered and quivered, threads of glitch stretching from Erevan's every motion.
He wasn't just fighting. He wasn't reacting.
He was rewriting.
The anomaly had taken control.
And Erevan? He was ready.