Chapter 1: Game Over? No, It's Just Beginning.

Year 2100-Something

Noah Kaizen had always been a gamer. Not just someone who played for fun, but a competitor, a strategist—someone who lived for the thrill of overcoming the impossible. He wasn't just good at games; he was obsessed with them.

The harder the game, the better. The more brutal the challenge, the more satisfying the victory.

So, when he stumbled across an old, dusty game cartridge buried deep in his family's storage, he was immediately intrigued. The plastic was scratched, the label peeling, but through the faded letters, he managed to make out the title:

ECLIPSE OF THE GODS

"Huh. Never heard of this one," he muttered, turning it over in his hands.

Noah had played thousands of games—modern, classic, obscure—but this? This was new. Or rather, old. A relic from an era when games still came on physical media.

Curious, he pulled out his phone and searched for it.

The results were... interesting.

"One of the first 3D open-world RPGs with an adaptive AI system.""One of the hardest games of its time, nearly unbeatable.""Rumored to be cursed—players report strange glitches and eerie voices in the background."

Noah scoffed at the last part. "Yeah, right. Haunted. People will believe anything."

Still, it did intrigue him. A game with an AI system from over a hundred years ago? That was rare. Nowadays, every open-world RPG had adaptive AI that evolved based on player actions, but back then? That kind of feature was cutting-edge.

And if the game was as difficult as people claimed? Even better.

With a smirk, he plugged the cartridge into his Quantum Console, the latest gaming system capable of running everything—from ancient games to modern ultra-VR titles.

The screen flickered. The title screen appeared, an eerie orchestral hum filling the room.

ECLIPSE OF THE GODSPRESS START

Noah's heart pounded in anticipation.

He pressed start.

The Descent into Madness

From the moment the game loaded, Noah knew it was something special.

The controls were clunky, the frame rate a little jittery—expected from a game this old—but beneath that, he could tell it was brutal.

Enemies didn't just follow predictable patterns like old RPGs. They adapted. They learned. If he spammed a move too many times, they countered it. If he relied on a strategy, they blocked it.

It was ruthless.

It was glorious.

For twenty straight days, Noah grinded. He fought through endless dungeons, memorized every enemy pattern, dodged thousands of instant-kill traps. He died more times than he could count.

But each death taught him something. Each loss made him sharper, faster, unstoppable.

Until finally, he stood before the last challenge.

The Final Boss: Demon King Ravos

The throne room was vast, stretching into darkness, the only light coming from torches along the bloodstained stone walls.

And at the center, seated upon a jagged black throne, was Ravos, the Demon King.

His eyes glowed like molten gold, his armor was carved from the bones of fallen warriors. Around him, the air pulsed with raw, suffocating power.

Noah exhaled slowly. He had fought every miniboss, slain every general, conquered every nightmare this game had thrown at him.

But this was different.

The fight was merciless.

Every swing of Ravos's sword split the air with terrifying speed. Each attack drained Noah's resources. The Demon King's AI was insane—adapting in real time, punishing even the smallest mistake.

A normal player would have been obliterated in seconds.

But Noah wasn't normal.

Every move was perfectly timed. Every dodge was pixel-perfect.

He countered. He adapted. He pushed through pure muscle memory.

The fight stretched on for what felt like an eternity—one mistake, and it would be over.

Then—

A single, final strike.

Ravos's health bar hit zero.

A deafening silence filled the throne room.

And then—

"YOU HAVE DEFEATED THE DEMON KING!"

The screen flashed. Noah's fingers trembled slightly from the intensity.

Then he grinned.

"Hell yeah."

He leaned back, expecting some kind of grand finale—a cinematic cutscene, an epic ending sequence.

But… nothing happened.

His character stood frozen in the throne room, Ravos's lifeless body sprawled across the ground.

Then, a new quest prompt appeared.

FINAL TASK: Deliver the Demon King's Heart to the Capital and Offer it to the Gods.

Noah frowned. That was… underwhelming.

"That's it?" he muttered.

No ending cutscene? No credits roll?

He shrugged. "Meh, I'm satisfied."

He had beaten the hardest boss.

Why drag it out?

Without hesitation, he powered down the game.

The Mistake That Changed Everything

Bored, Noah reached for something new—the latest AI-driven RPG with groundbreaking real-time combat. He inserted the disc into the console.

Without removing Eclipse of the Gods.

That was the mistake.

The moment the new game began loading, his screen glitched.

The UI warped. The colors bled together. The console fan whirred violently like it was overheating.

Noah's pulse quickened.

Lines of code flickered across the screen—text he had never seen before.

MERGING…LOADING INCOMPATIBLE FILES…SYSTEM ERROR.CORRUPTION DETECTED.

The room's lights flickered. The air felt… wrong.

Then—

A deep, mechanical voice whispered from his speakers.

"You abandoned us…"

Noah's breath caught in his throat.

The screen flashed white.

Everything went black.

A New Reality

Noah groaned. His head throbbed.

The cold, rough texture of stone pressed against his palms.

His eyes snapped open.

And he froze.

Wooden houses. Dirt roads. Townsfolk bustling around him in medieval garb. The air smelled of smoke, earth, and something… off.

His gaming setup? Gone. His Quantum Console? Gone. His room? Gone.

Noah scrambled to his feet, panic setting in.

Then realization struck.

This… wasn't a game.

He was inside the game.

Not the Hero… Just an NPC?

His heart pounded. He opened the status menu—or tried to.

Nothing happened.

He tried again. No response.

He looked at his hands—bare, unarmed. No sword. No armor. No class.

Then, the worst part.

A villager passed by him. Noah called out—they ignored him.

He reached out—his hand passed through them.

Like he wasn't even there.

"No way…" Noah whispered.

He hadn't reincarnated as the hero.

He was just a commoner.

An NPC.

The System Wants Him Dead

Before he could even process his situation, a notification appeared.

WARNING: SYSTEM ERROR DETECTED.UNREGISTERED ENTITY FOUND.TERMINATING…

Noah's blood ran cold.

From the rooftops, shadowy figures descended like reapers.

Their eyes glowed. Their movements were inhumanly precise.

The game itself was trying to erase him.

The shadowy figures descended like reapers.

They wore no armor. No emblems. Their faces were obscured beneath featureless masks, their eyes glowing with cold, merciless light.

And they were coming for him.

Noah staggered back.

"I don't have weapons—no skills—no abilities—"

One of the figures lunged.

A blur of black fabric and steel. A knife flashing toward his throat.

Noah ducked.

The blade whistled past his ear, missing him by inches.

His muscles screamed as he twisted away, nearly tripping over his own feet.

"Run."

Every instinct in his body screamed at him to run.

And so he did.

His bare feet pounded against the dirt as he sprinted down the alley. His mind raced—this was impossible, this wasn't happening, this couldn't be real—

But it was.

And if he didn't escape?

he'd be deleted.

And this time?

It would be permanent.

GAME OVER.

Noah's instincts screamed MOVE, and he jumped back just as something landed where he had been standing a moment before.

CRACK.

The stone beneath his feet shattered.

A cloud of dust exploded outward, and through the haze, Noah saw them—

The Executioners.

Four figures, draped in midnight-black cloaks, stood before him.

Their faces were hidden, their hoods casting unnatural darkness over their features. But their eyes—

Their eyes glowed.

Not with human intelligence, not with warmth or curiosity—

But with cold, calculating precision.

Like machines.

Like hunters.

Noah's blood turned to ice.

"What the hell are those?"

Then, a new message appeared.

SYSTEM STABILIZATION IN PROGRESS…PURGING FOREIGN DATA…COMMENCING ELIMINATION.

The figures moved.

Too fast. Too smooth.

They weren't human.

They were part of the game.

And they were here to erase him.

Run.

Noah didn't stop to think.

He turned and bolted.

His legs burned, his bare feet slamming against the dirt road as he wove between villagers—who still didn't react to him.

They just… stood there.

Frozen.

Like puppets with their strings cut.

The Executioners were right behind him.

No footsteps. No sounds.

Just shifting shadows.

Closing in.

Faster.

A flash of silver caught Noah's eye—

He ducked.

A blade whistled past, missing his throat by inches.

Too close.

His stomach lurched.

"I don't have a weapon—no status—no inventory—no abilities—"

But one thing was clear.

If they caught him, he was dead.

For real.

The World is Watching

As Noah sprinted through the village, something changed.

The sky flickered.

The clouds, the sun, the very air—they glitched.

For a split second, Noah saw the game's code bleeding through reality.

Numbers. Symbols. Strings of data crawling over the rooftops like living insects.

And then—

He felt it.

A presence.

Something watching.

Not the Executioners.

Something bigger.

Something ancient.

It loomed above him, just beyond sight, shifting in the fabric of the world.

A cold, robotic voice whispered in his mind—

You do not belong.You are an error.You will be erased.

Noah's breath hitched.

"Screw that!"

He had to get out.

The Chase

Noah's lungs burned as he darted into a narrow alleyway, his mind racing.

"I need to lose them—"

But they were faster.

The Executioners glided over the ground, their feet barely touching the earth.

Their eyes locked onto him.

And then—

One jumped.

Noah barely saw the blur of black fabric before something crashed down from above.

Right in front of him.

A hand shot out.

Noah twisted away.

Too slow.

Ice-cold fingers clamped around his wrist.

A jolt of something wrong surged through his body—

A deep, bone-chilling numbness spread through his arm.

Like his very existence was being corrupted.

DELETION SEQUENCE INITIATED.5%... 10%... 15%...

Noah screamed.

The Executioner tightened its grip.

And then—

A system error.

UNKNOWN VARIABLE DETECTED…ERROR. ERROR. ERROR.

The Executioner hesitated.

Just for a second.

That was all Noah needed.

He jerked his arm back with everything he had.

The grip shattered.

He stumbled back, gasping. His arm tingled, the skin flickering like broken pixels.

They weren't just killing him.

They were deleting him.

And that meant—

This wasn't just a game.

This was real.

And he wasn't supposed to exist.

A Glitch in the System

Noah's mind spun.

"If they're deleting me like a corrupted file, then…"

A wild thought hit him.

A crazy, desperate thought.

But it was the only chance he had.

He clenched his fists.

"If I'm a glitch—"

"Then I'll break the game before it breaks me."

He took a deep breath.

Then—

He ran toward them.

Not away.

Toward.