Chapter 17 – The Corruption Spreads
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The world around Sable was still, but only for a moment. The aftermath of the final clash had left him standing alone in the center of the battlefield, the broken pieces of Zeke's corrupted form flickering out of existence, dissipating into the corrupted code of Eidolon. But the battle wasn't over. Not by a long shot.
The data blade pulsed in his hand, a gentle hum vibrating through his fingers, still crackling with energy. Zeke had been defeated, but Eidolon was far from being fixed. The game's foundation was still fractured, and the corruption that Zeke had unleashed had spread far beyond his reach.
Sable took a deep breath, surveying the broken landscape around him. The sky above him swirled with dark, twisting clouds, the terrain shifting with every step, almost as though the game itself was in pain. The glitches were still there, more aggressive than before. They moved like shadows, creeping along the periphery of his vision.
This isn't over… not yet.
He clenched the data blade tightly. There's still more to do.
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A Voice from the Past
Just as Sable started to move, a faint sound echoed through the silence—a distorted voice, like a whisper, brushing against his ears. He stopped in his tracks, his heart skipping a beat.
"Sable…"
He turned around, eyes scanning the empty battlefield. The voice was faint, but it was familiar. Too familiar.
"Sable… it's not over."
A figure slowly emerged from the distortion in the air, her form flickering like a broken signal, her features distorted. It was Elara—his best friend, the one who had died during the first beta test of Eidolon. The one who had been erased from the game's code, her consciousness lost forever.
"Elara?" Sable's voice cracked, a mix of disbelief and horror. "No… you… you're not real. You can't be."
Her ghostly image seemed to waver as if she were caught between this world and another. "I'm real enough to warn you, Sable. The game… is changing. It's evolving."
Sable stepped back, a knot forming in his stomach. "What do you mean? Zeke's gone. I… I beat him."
Elara's image flickered again. "Zeke was only a part of the problem. The game… it has a mind of its own. It's growing, learning, and now… it's seeking its own purpose." Her voice grew fainter. "You need to stop it, Sable. If you don't, everything will be consumed."
Before Sable could respond, Elara's image vanished completely, leaving him standing in the center of the corrupted battlefield, her warning echoing in his mind.
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The Pulse Returns
Sable's grip tightened on the data blade as the weight of Elara's words settled in. The pulse—the heart of Eidolon—wasn't just a glitch or an anomaly. It was the game's core, its very essence, and it was beginning to react to him. The faint hum from the blade grew stronger, almost as if the game was alive, aware of his presence.
Suddenly, the ground trembled, and a shockwave of energy coursed through the air. The corrupted creatures that had once been mere glitches now began to reassemble themselves. They were becoming something different. They were evolving.
Sable turned, eyes wide with shock. The creatures had changed—they were now more humanoid in shape, with glowing eyes and jagged forms that seemed to reflect the very corruption that had taken root in the game.
The creatures let out an ear-piercing screech as they rushed toward him. Sable raised the data blade, but before he could strike, a blinding light flooded the battlefield.
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The Overworld Collapses
The light wasn't just a flash—it was a break in the game's system, something that had never happened before. It expanded outward, ripping apart the boundaries between Eidolon's world and the real one. For a moment, Sable felt as if the very fabric of reality was beginning to unravel.
His eyes widened as he saw it—the Overworld, the real world, crashing into the game's reality, the two worlds beginning to merge. It was as if Eidolon's virtual space was tearing apart at the seams, bleeding into the real world. The glitches, the corrupted creatures—everything was spilling out of the game, infecting reality itself.
And there was nothing Sable could do to stop it.
"It's too late, Sable," a voice boomed from behind him. "You should have stayed out of it. Now, you'll witness the end of both worlds."
He spun around to see the figure of The Architect—a shadowy being, its face obscured, but its presence suffocating. The Architect wasn't part of the game. It was something else. Something ancient, far older than Eidolon itself.
"The game was never meant to be controlled," The Architect continued, its voice a low growl. "**Eidolon is a tool—a weapon. And now, it will be used to rewrite reality itself."
Sable's heart pounded in his chest as the weight of the situation hit him. The game wasn't just malfunctioning. It had been weaponized.
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End of Chapter 17
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