The safe zone flickered dimly like an old video game pause screen. No enemies, no red text raining from the sky—just silence.
I thought I'd finally get a moment to breathe.
Wrong.
The moment I sat down, my HUD went haywire again.
> [Stability: 38%]
[Warning: Glitch Overload Detected.]
[Risk of Permanent Corruption.]
Great. I wasn't just Yuto anymore. I was becoming part bug, part human, part… whatever the Architect hated most.
---
Friendly Argument
"Yuto, you can't keep pushing like this!" Rina snapped, her voice echoing in the metallic hideout. "Every time you use that form, you lose a piece of yourself."
"Relax," I said, trying to smile even as static crawled across my vision. "I've been losing pieces of myself since middle school. What's new?"
Zell frowned. "This isn't a joke. If you collapse mid-battle, we're finished. We need a strategy before the Architect sends his next… update."
Bugsalot dramatically raised his sword-staff-thing. "I volunteer as a distraction! Let the enemy chase my glorious glitchy behind!"
"No one wants that," Rina muttered.
---
The Debug Key's Secret
While we argued, Rina pulled the Debug Key out of her toolkit. It pulsed with unstable light, like a heartbeat made of pixels.
"I didn't tell you this before," she admitted, not meeting my eyes. "The Debug Key isn't just a weapon. It's… a door."
"A door?" I asked. "Like, to a magical snack shop? Please say yes."
She shook her head. "To the Architect's Core. The Key can force open pathways that even he can't fully lock.
To be continue...