GlitchBorn

Kai's breaths came short and fast as he faced the glitching figure before him. The entity seemed to pulse with raw energy, its form a mess of flickering polygons and shifting textures. Lines of corrupted code scrolled across its translucent body, and its eyes glowed with an intensity that made Kai take an involuntary step back.

"You didn't answer me," Kai said, his voice shaking but firm. "Who are you? What do you mean by 'last one'?"

The figure tilted its head, an unnatural motion like a marionette being pulled by strings. Its voice was a garbled mix of mechanical tones, interspersed with fragments of human speech. "Names... are irrelevant. But you… you are not supposed to be here."

Kai gritted his teeth. "What does that even mean? This is a game—I'm a beta tester. I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be!"

The figure took a step forward, its distorted form shifting and crackling like static. "This is not just a game anymore. You... activated the purge. You have tied yourself to the corruption. And now, it's spreading."

Kai's HUD flashed with a warning:

System Alert:

Warning: Player data compromised. Synchronization error detected.

"What the hell?" Kai muttered, his hands flying up to access his status screen. But instead of his normal stats, his screen was flooded with red error messages. His character level, XP bar, and even his inventory were flickering uncontrollably.

"Stop this!" Kai shouted at the figure, panic creeping into his voice. "Fix it!"

The glitching entity let out a sound that might have been laughter, distorted and metallic. "Fix it? No... you must embrace it. Only then can you survive what's coming."

Before Kai could respond, the ground beneath him trembled violently. Cracks spiderwebbed across the pavement, glowing with an ominous red light. The city around him began to twist and warp, buildings stretching unnaturally toward the sky like they were being pulled by invisible hands.

Kai stumbled, nearly losing his footing as the world seemed to tilt around him. "What's happening?!" he shouted, but the figure was already fading, its body dissolving into streams of corrupted code.

"You will find out soon enough," the entity's voice echoed as it vanished. "Survive, Kai. If you can."

And then it was gone, leaving Kai alone in the crumbling, glitching world.

The air grew heavy, making it hard for Kai to breathe. His HUD continued to malfunction, flashing random symbols and distorted images. He tried to access his map, but it wouldn't load. The only thing that remained functional was the new quest notification blinking in the corner of his vision:

Quest Update:

Find the Source of the Corruption.

"I guess that's my only lead," Kai muttered, steadying himself as the tremors subsided. He turned toward the edge of the square, where the cracks seemed to converge into a glowing fissure in the ground. It pulsed with an unnatural light, like a beacon calling to him.

As he approached the fissure, the distorted world around him seemed to grow quieter. The chaotic noises of the city faded into an eerie silence, broken only by the faint hum of the glowing crack. Kai hesitated, his instincts screaming at him to turn back. But something inside him—curiosity, determination, or maybe just desperation—pushed him forward.

He reached out a hand, hovering it over the fissure. The heat emanating from it was intense, almost unbearable, but he forced himself to endure it. And then, without warning, the fissure expanded, swallowing him whole.

Kai landed hard on a cold, metallic surface, the impact knocking the wind out of him. Groaning, he pushed himself to his feet and looked around. He was no longer in the city. Instead, he found himself in a massive, dimly lit chamber, its walls covered in glowing runes and scrolling lines of code.

The room felt alive as if it were watching him, judging him. Kai shivered, gripping his sword tightly. He didn't know where he was, but he had a sinking feeling that this was the heart of the corruption.

System Notification:

New Zone Discovered: Glitchborn Nexus.

Warning: High-level enemies detected.

Kai's pulse quickened. "High-level enemies? I'm barely level two!" he muttered, glancing around nervously. His sword felt woefully inadequate in his hands.

As if on cue, a deep, guttural growl echoed through the chamber. Kai froze, his eyes darting toward the source of the sound. From the shadows emerged a creature, unlike anything he had seen before. It was massive, its body a chaotic blend of organic and mechanical parts. One of its arms was a jagged blade, while the other was a claw crackling with electricity. Its eyes glowed with the same corrupted energy as the fissure.

The creature let out another growl, its body glitching and twitching as it advanced on him.

Kai's HUD finally stabilized long enough to display its stats:

Corrupted Beast

Level: 15

HP: 10,000/10,000

Weakness: Unknown

"Oh, come on!" Kai exclaimed. "How am I supposed to fight that?!"

But the creature wasn't going to wait for him to figure it out. It charged its blade-arm slicing through the air with terrifying speed. Kai barely managed to dodge, rolling to the side as the blade struck the ground where he had been standing.

He scrambled to his feet, his mind racing. He couldn't take this thing head-on—it would tear him apart. He needed to think, to find a weakness, or at least buy himself some time.

Then he remembered the Token. It was still in his inventory, glowing faintly. If it had purged the glitch in the city, maybe it could do something here.

"Please work," he muttered, opening his inventory and selecting the Token. He activated it, and the chamber was suddenly filled with a blinding light. The creature roared in pain, its body glitching violently as the light engulfed it.

Kai took the opportunity to strike, charging at the creature with his sword. He aimed for its claw, hoping to disable it, but the blade barely made a dent. The creature roared again, swiping at him with its massive arm. Kai dodged, but not fast enough—its claw caught him, sending him flying across the chamber.

He hit the ground hard, pain flaring through his body. His HP bar dropped dangerously low, flashing red.

"Not good," he muttered, struggling to stand. The creature was still glitching, its movements erratic, but it was far from defeated. And Kai was running out of options.

Suddenly, a new notification appeared in his HUD:

Skill Unlocked: Adaptive Strike Level 1

Description: Analyze and exploit enemy weaknesses in real-time. Bonus damage against corrupted entities.

Kai's eyes widened. "Adaptive Strike? That's new."

The creature roared again, charging at him with renewed ferocity. But this time, Kai felt a surge of confidence. He focused on the creature, his HUD highlighting its weak points in glowing red.

He dodged its blade arm, using his new skill to target its exposed joints. His sword glowed with a faint blue light as he struck, the Adaptive Strike cutting through the corrupted material like butter. The creature roared in pain, its movements becoming even more erratic.

Kai pressed the advantage, striking again and again, each blow chipping away at the creature's HP. Finally, with one last, powerful strike, he brought it down. The beast let out a final, glitching roar before collapsing into a pile of fragmented code.

System Notification:

You have defeated the Corrupted Beast.

XP Earned: 2,000

Skill Upgraded: Adaptive Strike Level 2

Item Acquired: Core Fragment x1

Kai dropped to his knees, breathing heavily. He had won, but barely. And he had a feeling this was just the beginning.