Location: Near the Core Nexus — the pulsating, guarded heart of the system.
A thunderstorm of corrupted code raged in the sky above Sector 13.
Once a gleaming metropolis, the city now crackled with system instability. Lampposts bent unnaturally. Roads flickered in and out of existence. NPCs stood motionless—eyes glowing red.
Revenant had arrived first.
And he had corrupted the entire zone.
---
📍 Rael's Approach
Rael, Agent 7, and the system boy crouched behind a broken monument on the city's edge. Lightning arced between data clouds above.
> "The city's been glitched," Agent 7 muttered. "No HUD, no skill panels. Nothing's working inside that boundary."
Rael gritted his teeth. "That's Revenant's doing. He's forcing the world to reject the system before it resets."
The boy looked pale, still recovering. But he pointed to the glowing core building in the center of the madness.
> "Core Nexus… it holds the Primary Kernel. The System's command root."
> "If we take it," Rael asked, "we can stop the reset?"
The boy didn't answer.
He just said:
> "We might unlock everything that's been erased—including… your memory."
Rael froze.
> "What do you mean, my memory?"
The boy looked up, eyes shimmering with sadness.
> "You weren't supposed to remember your original role. But it's in there. Behind a gate only the Nexus can break."
---
📍 Inside Glitch City – Moving Through
The trio entered the corrupted zone.
Everything felt wrong.
The air crackled. Code shimmered over buildings like broken glass. Every few steps, the world shifted—like walking through unstable dreams.
Suddenly, Rael saw himself walking across the street—then vanishing. A data echo.
> "This place isn't real anymore," Agent 7 whispered. "It's becoming memory."
A voice echoed across the city.
> "Welcome to the graveyard of control."
Revenant's voice.
> "Let's see what you do when the system you want to destroy… no longer obeys its own rules."
A wave of corrupted creatures spawned—former humans twisted by red data chains. Their eyes bled binary.
Rael pulled his blade.
> "Hold the boy. I'll clear the path."
---
📍 Battle: Rael vs. Glitchborn
The creatures moved erratically, like flickering frames. Rael couldn't predict them. His Glitch-Step distorted, resisting him.
But he adapted.
> [Override Sight – Activated]
(Read movements by memory, not prediction.)
He fought like a shadow stitched into chaos—cutting through corrupted echoes, glitching mid-air to reposition, even pulling fragments of his old self from nearby data echoes to multiply his attack speed.
It wasn't just skill anymore.
It was code dancing on instinct.
---
📍 Core Nexus Gates
They reached the towering Core Nexus—built like a cathedral of light. At its base stood a throne of collapsed servers.
And Revenant.
He rose slowly, eyes cold.
> "You want answers, Rael?"
He drew his black-glitch blade.
> "Then bleed for them."
---
📍 The Boy Unlocks the Truth
But before Rael could engage, the boy stepped forward.
A surge of energy burst from his core.
> [MEMORY LOCK – BREAKING]
[RELEASING: HIDDEN CLASSIFICATION – FORBIDDEN IDENTITY: RAEL KURO]
Rael dropped to his knees.
A blast of memory hit him like a collapsing world.
> —He was there.
—Standing beside Revenant.
—In Iteration Zero.
—Fighting to stop the upload.
And then… he made a deal.
A trade.
His life for the world's survival.
> "No…" Rael gasped.
> "You were one of us," Revenant said softly. "You led the resistance."
Rael clutched his head.
> "Why didn't I remember?"
> "Because you told them to erase you," the boy whispered. "To save everyone else."
---
📍 Final Lines
Rael stood slowly, tears in his eyes.
> "I chose to forget… because I failed."
The boy touched his shoulder.
> "Then choose again."
Revenant raised his sword.
> "Come, Rael. Let's see if your second chance is any different."
Rael raised his own.
And charged.
---