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The Descent into Madness
Sable stood amidst the chaos, his chest rising and falling with rapid breaths. The creatures around him were multiplying faster than he could slash them down. His sword, once a symbol of his strength, now felt like a toy in the face of the ever-growing storm of corruption.
His eyes were bloodshot, the exhaustion settling deep within him, but his will refused to break. This wasn't just a game anymore—it was a fight for his life. The glitch wasn't just an anomaly in the system. It was a living, breathing thing, feeding off everything in its path, evolving with each second, getting stronger, more intelligent.
And he was standing right in its way.
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The Player's Choice
A distorted voice echoed through the corrupted landscape, sounding almost like a whisper.
"You think you can stop me, Sable?" it purred, sending a shiver down his spine. It was the creature—the glitch itself—and it was speaking directly into his mind now, bypassing all sense of reality.
He gritted his teeth, trying to focus, but the voice was relentless. It twisted and turned, overwhelming his senses.
"You are nothing. You've played right into my hands. The game was always meant to end this way. All of you are expendable."
Sable clenched his fists, willing himself to ignore the voice.
"No," he muttered through gritted teeth. "This isn't over."
Suddenly, the ground began to tremble violently, and Sable's knees buckled beneath him. He was thrown to the ground as a massive explosion of corrupted energy erupted from the rift in the sky. The creatures that had been swarming him dissolved into nothingness as the energy surged, flooding the entire area with its unnatural glow.
He forced himself to stand, staggering against the force of the blast. A cold sweat drenched his brow, but there was no time to rest.
From the center of the energy storm, a figure emerged—a player.
He was dressed in dark armor, his face obscured by a helmet, but there was something familiar about his posture. The way he carried himself was eerily confident. This wasn't just any player. This was someone who had been affected by the glitch in a way no one else had.
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The Glitch's Master
The figure raised a hand, and the corrupted energy obeyed, swirling around him like a cloak.
"Zeke," Sable whispered, recognizing the figure's presence, even though he couldn't see his face. The voice, distorted and cold, sent a chill through him.
The dark figure's laugh echoed through the corrupted realm, and Sable's heart sank. It wasn't the laughter of a normal player. This was the laugh of someone lost to the game, consumed by the glitch.
"You've made it this far," Zeke's voice called out, his tone mocking, "but you won't make it any farther. This world isn't your reality anymore. This is my domain, and it's too late for you to stop it."
Sable's sword was still gripped tightly in his hand. His legs were shaking with fatigue, but he refused to let himself fall. He couldn't. Not now.
"What did you do to the game?" Sable demanded, his voice steady despite the chaos swirling around him. "This wasn't supposed to happen. Eidolon wasn't like this."
Zeke's figure flickered in and out of reality, like a glitch himself, as the corrupted data distorted around him.
"You never understood, did you?" Zeke scoffed. "The game was always going to evolve. I was the one who pulled the trigger. The glitch was only the beginning. You think I was trying to destroy the game? I was trying to awaken it. The true power of Eidolon is in the code itself, and once it's awakened, it will transcend everything. Players, NPCs... they will all be absorbed. And I will be the one to control it."
Sable's heart clenched. This was worse than he'd thought. Zeke had known the truth all along. He'd been using the glitch to turn Eidolon into something far darker. But why?
"Why are you doing this?" Sable growled, taking a step forward, his sword raised. "What's in it for you?"
Zeke's figure finally solidified in the corrupted light, and he laughed. "What's in it for me? Power. Freedom. The ability to rewrite this world. To shape it in my image. I've watched this game grow and change, and I know its potential. You, Sable, are nothing more than a part of its history. A footnote. But I... I will be its ruler."
Sable's grip on his sword tightened. The weight of his enemy's words hung heavy in the air, but there was no turning back now. The truth was clear—Zeke wasn't trying to stop the glitch. He was trying to control it, and in doing so, he had become part of it.
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The Final Battle
Zeke raised his hand, and the corrupted landscape responded, warping and distorting violently. The very ground beneath Sable cracked open, revealing a pit of swirling black energy.
Sable leaped backward, narrowly avoiding the surge of darkness that shot toward him. The corrupted data seemed to form into new shapes—creatures, structures, and weapons all made of glitching code, surrounding him from every direction.
Zeke's laugh filled the air again, and Sable's resolve hardened.
"I won't let you do this," he muttered, his voice cold.
His body surged with adrenaline as he charged forward, slashing at the corrupted creatures around him. The sword cut through them, but they regenerated almost immediately. It was as if the glitch had made them unstoppable.
"Pathetic," Zeke taunted, as his form seemed to split, duplicating into multiple versions of himself. "You think you can fight me? The glitch is my power now. I am Eidolon. You are just a bug in my system."
Sable knew that this was it. This was the final test. But there was a sliver of hope—there had to be.
He focused his energy, pushing past the fatigue, ignoring the glitches in the world around him. He could feel the sword pulsing in his grip, as though it too was aware of the stakes. His instincts screamed at him—strike true, now.
With a roar, Sable pushed forward, slashing through the multiple Zekes, each one vanishing into a burst of corrupted data. But no matter how many he struck down, the real Zeke remained, his dark form grinning as he raised his hand to unleash a final attack.
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End of Chapter 14
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