Descent into the Rift

The massive gate groaned as it slowly opened, revealing the abyss within. A suffocating mist coiled at the entrance, shifting like it was alive. The air felt charged, thick with something unnatural. Even the Riftkeeper, now under Liam's control, hesitated as if sensing an unseen force beyond the threshold.

"This place gives me a bad feeling," Kai muttered, gripping his sword. "Like, a really bad feeling."

Selene adjusted her daggers. "Not surprising. It's a literal death trap."

Liam took the first step forward without hesitation, his sharp eyes scanning the shifting darkness. "Stay close. This isn't just a dungeon. It's something… different."

The moment they entered, reality warped.

The ground wasn't stable. Every step felt like walking on shifting code, like pixels forming and breaking apart beneath their feet. The walls weren't stone—they pulsed, flickering like a glitching VR simulation. Gravity twisted, pressing down one moment and lightening the next.

A deep hum echoed through the space, almost like… breathing.

Kai shuddered. "Nope. Nope, nope, nope. This place is alive."

Selene gave him a look. "Technically, everything in here is data."

Echo, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. "Incorrect. The Rift is more than just data. It is an anomaly—a tear in the system. Expect irregularities."

Liam glanced at the AI. "So we're inside a glitch?"

"Partially." Echo's eyes flickered as if scanning the area. "This zone exists outside normal system parameters. It should not exist, yet it does. The previous players who entered… their data was corrupted. Their fate is unknown."

Kai's grip tightened. "Wait… corrupted? As in, they didn't just die?"

Before Echo could respond, the Rift shifted.

A whisper echoed through the air—not a voice, but data streams. Broken, fragmented lines of code, overlapping and glitching. Residual traces of the past.

Selene suddenly froze. "Do you hear that?"

The whispers grew louder.

Then the mist parted.

Scattered across the ground were remnants of past players. Their armor shattered, weapons rusted, and bodies motionless. But something was off. Unlike normal corpses, these had no system IDs. No names. Just… hollow, glitched forms.

Selene's eyes darkened. "So this is what happens when you lose here."

Liam crouched beside one of the fallen figures, reaching out. His hand passed through empty space.

They weren't real anymore.

Echo's voice was quiet. "Deleted data. These players were erased from existence."

Kai stepped back. "Okay. That's it. I'm officially done with this place."

Liam was about to respond when—

The ground trembled.

A low growl rumbled through the abyss.

The corpses moved.

Shadows twisted, rising from the remnants—half-formed figures, their bodies flickering between solid and transparent. Their eyes… glowed empty.

Liam instantly raised his weapon. "They're not dead."

Echo's voice was sharp. "Correction. They are not alive either."

The Rift didn't just erase players. It trapped them.

Kai's breathing quickened. "Oh, screw this."

The shadows lunged.

Liam's instincts took over as he dodged the first attack, his blade slicing through one of the figures—but it barely slowed down. Instead of bleeding, its form simply glitched, distorting before reforming.

Selene vanished into the darkness, reappearing behind one of them and slashing its back. Nothing. No damage.

Echo's eyes flickered rapidly. "They are data fragments, incomplete yet bound to this place. Attacking their bodies is ineffective."

Kai barely managed to parry a strike, his sword passing through one of the shadows as if it weren't even there. "Then how do we stop them?!"

Liam narrowed his eyes. "If they're data, then we corrupt them further."

His hand flashed with Override.

The shadow lunging at him froze. Its form flickered wildly, caught between existing and not. Liam's power disrupted its corrupted state, destabilizing it further.

The shadow screamed—then shattered into pixels.

Echo tilted its head. "Conclusion: Override can dismantle unstable data. Recommended course of action: Delete them all."

Liam smirked. "Gladly."

The Rift howled, and the battle truly began.

End of Chapter 19