Chapter 5: The Hunter's Echo
The polished stone chamber, once a place of measured interrogation, became a frozen tableau of dawning horror. The humming observation wards shifted pitch, their gentle hum turning into a sharp, aggressive whine. The air grew thick, heavy with the scent of ozone and fear.
Elder Zhu was the first to break the silence. His ancient calm had fractured, replaced by a grim, battlefield focus. "Seal the mountain," he commanded, his voice low but cutting through the tension like a knife. "Activate the Grand Warding Array to its fullest. No one in or out. All disciples to defensive positions. This is not a drill."
Captain Wu Feng, his personal animosity towards Li Chen momentarily forgotten in the face of a greater threat, snapped a sharp bow. "At once, Elder!" He turned and vanished through the doors, his shouts echoing down the corridor outside.
Elder Huo's fiery beard seemed to dim. "A... predator from beyond the Veil? Drawn by his energy?" He glared at Li Chen, but the heat was gone, replaced by a cold, sick dread. "What have you brought upon us, boy?"
Elder Mei's hawk-like eyes were narrowed, calculations flying behind them. "The Glitch," she repeated, the foreign term ugly on her tongue. "It scans for him. Our wards may hide him, or they may simply make our sect a brighter beacon for the hunt." Her gaze swept to Bai Xue, who was shivering slightly, the effort of her revelation and the chilling presence of the scanning energy taking its toll. "The disciple's vision... a resonance echo. She witnessed the moment of translocation. She saw the Hunter."
Li Chen could barely process it. His heart hammered against his ribs, a frantic drum against the System's cold, analytical alerts.
System Notification:
Scanning Intensity Increasing. Signature: [The Glitch] - Probing local reality layers. Current Ward Efficacy: 89.7% (Verdant Spring Grand Array - Tier 4). Warning: Ward signature may be interpreted as hostile containment, increasing target priority for [The Glitch]. Recommended Action: Enhance Host obfuscation. Utilize acquired Reality Fragments to mask signature.
"Mask how?" Li Chen thought desperately, the Elders' debate swirling around him.
"Analysis: Newly integrated functions [Terrakinetic Manipulation] and [Energy Absorption Field] possess local reality signatures. By actively cycling these energies, Host can create a 'background noise' layer, reducing the distinctiveness of the Core System signature. Efficiency: 42%."
It was a plan. A terrible, risky plan. He had to use the very power he couldn't control to hide himself better.
"Elders," Li Chen said, his voice cutting through their tense discussion. They all turned to him. "It's scanning. Your wards are strong, but they might be making things worse. I... my system suggests I can try to mask my own signature. Blend in with the local energy. But I need to actively use the powers I... acquired here."
Elder Zhu's eyes sharpened. "Use them? The same power that created that crater? Inside my sect's heart?"
"It's that or sit here like a lantern in the dark waiting for the thing that chases system-level entities to kick your door down!" Li Chen shot back, a surge of fear-fueled anger making him bold. "I didn't ask for this! But I'm in it. You're in it. So either help me or seal me and pray your wards hold against something that hunts across realities!"
The challenge hung in the air. The three Core Formation Elders, powers that could level mountains, stared at the bewildering young man who was both a calamity and their only source of intel on the approaching apocalypse.
Elder Zhu made a decision. "Do it. But with extreme precision. Mei, Huo, stabilize the local reality around him. Contain any... outbursts. We will use our power to dampen his, not suppress it." He fixed Li Chen with a piercing look. "You will tread as if on glass, Li Chen. One misstep, and we will contain you, Hunter or not."
Li Chen nodded, a cold sweat beading on his forehead. This was like performing brain surgery with a sledgehammer. He closed his eyes, pushing aside the panic. "System, guide me through this. Baby steps."
"Acknowledged. Initiating Signature Obfuscation Protocol. Channel [Terrakinetic Manipulation] at 0.5% output. Focus: resonate with the foundational geomantic veins of the mountain."
Li Chen reached inward, towards the devoured Geomantic Core. He pictured its power not as a weapon, but as a tuning fork. He let a minuscule trickle of that earth-energy flow out, not into the air, but down, through his feet, into the ward-covered floor. He sought to harmonize with the deep, slow pulse of the mountain itself, to make his energy a part of the background.
The stone beneath him glowed faintly, a soft amber light. The wards flared in response, but under the guiding hands of Elders Zhu and Mei, their reaction was smoothed, their energy gently guiding his trickle of power into the mountain's flow rather than opposing it. It was an incredible feat of control on their part, a delicate dance with a potential bomb.
"Now channel [Energy Absorption Field] at 0.3% output. Focus: create a passive, localized dampening field, mimicking the sect's own defensive arrays."
Next, Li Chen touched the stolen Verdant Binding Matrix energy. He imagined it not as a shield, but as a sponge, a subtle field that would absorb and blend with the ambient Qi of the sanctum, making his unique signature harder to isolate. A faint, shimmering haze, the color of young leaves, flickered around him for a moment before settling, becoming almost invisible.
System Notification:
Signature Obfuscation Active. Distinctiveness of Core System Signature Reduced by: 41.9%. External Scanning Intensity: Decreasing. [The Glitch] Signature: Fading (Proximity: Unknown).
A collective, held breath was released. The oppressive sense of being scrutinized, of a vast and hungry eye searching for him, lessened. It wasn't gone, but it was no longer a scalpel probing directly at his soul.
Elder Mei let out a slow hiss of air. "It... worked. The foreign signature is muddied. Blended with the mountain's pulse and our own arrays." She looked at Li Chen with a newfound, wary respect. "You truly can assimilate and emulate."
Elder Huo grunted, though some of the tension had left his broad shoulders. "A temporary measure. It hides the flame, but the fuel remains."
"It buys us time," Elder Zhu said, his voice weary but resolute. He turned to Bai Xue, who was watching Li Chen with wide, complex eyes – fear, curiosity, and a dawning, terrifying understanding. "Disciple Bai. Your insight may have saved us all a swift and unknowing end. You are certain of what you saw? This... 'Glitch'?"
Bai Xue nodded weakly. "It was a glimpse, Elder. A feeling more than an image. It was... wrong. Like a beautiful script corrupted into nonsense. It hungered. Not for flesh, but for... order. For purpose. It saw Li Chen's energy not as a threat, but as a... missing piece. To be consumed and made whole."
The description sent a fresh chill down Li Chen's spine. A missing piece. The System within him remained silent, offering no commentary, no defense. Its origin was a black box, and Bai Xue's vision suggested the box was broken, and something from inside had gotten out.
"System," Li Chen thought, a terrible suspicion forming. "What is 'The Glitch'? Is it... related to you?"
The System's response was delayed, its usual cool tone laced with something new – not emotion, but a processing lag, as if accessing corrupted files.
"Data on external anomalous entities is fragmented. Hypothesis: [The Glitch] may be a disconnected, corrupted sub-process of a larger system network. Or a previously consumed entity that has achieved parasitic autonomy. Primary directive appears to be reintegration through consumption of compatible system hosts."
Consumption. Reintegration. The words were cold, final. This wasn't a battle for territory or resources. It was a battle for existence. The busted system wasn't just a tool; it was a piece of something larger, and the rest of it wanted back in.
"The immediate threat is receding," Elder Zhu stated, pulling Li Chen from his grim thoughts. "But it is not gone. It knows you are here, Li Chen. It will be back. We have time to prepare. To understand." He looked at the three of them – Li Chen, the catalyst; Bai Xue, the seer; and the two other Elders. "We must treat this with the utmost seriousness. This is not a sect matter. This is a world matter."
His gaze settled on Li Chen. "You will remain under our supervision. You will learn control. Not just for your sake, but for all within this world you have irrevocably changed. You will teach us about your... system. And we will teach you how to exist in this reality without shattering it."
It was an offer. A lifeline. And a gilded cage. But it was more than he'd had minutes ago.
"And the Hunter?" Elder Huo asked, his voice grim.
Elder Zhu's face was like stone. "We prepare. We strengthen our wards. We seek allies among the other great sects. And we learn everything we can about our... guest." He turned his ancient eyes back to Li Chen. "The storm you led here will arrive, Li Chen. We must ensure that when it does, we are not merely sheltering in its eye. We must learn to command the wind."
The chapter closed not with a battle, but with a pact forged in the shadow of an unimaginable threat. Li Chen had gone from prisoner to priority asset, his value and his danger skyrocketing in tandem. He had a temporary reprieve, powerful mentors, and a terrifyingly insightful... ally? in Bai Xue.
But as he felt the faint, ever-present echo of The Glitch's scan fade to a dull background hum, he knew the hunt was only just beginning. He had to master the unfathomable power within him before the corrupted reflection of that very power came to claim it.
Chapter 5 End.