01:00 A.M.
A sudden blackout.
No matches.
No system prompts.
No error code.
Just pure static.
[GLOBAL MAINTENANCE: EMERGENCY PATCH]
[ESTIMATED TIME: 0:00]
[NOTES: FULL SERVER WIPE INITIATED]
Then—
Blanco's screen stayed black.
But the silence?
Was wrong.
⸻
SYSTEM REBOOT PROTOCOL
"Every account must be reset."
"Every trait must be forgotten."
"Every anomaly must be deleted."
But as the purge began…
"ERROR: INSTANCE 'BLANCO' NOT FOUND."
"Unable to remove user data that no longer exists."
⸻
Because Blanco wasn't an account anymore.
He was a presence.
A ghost protocol stored outside of profile data.
Unpatchable.
Unreadable.
Unseen.
And as the purge hit 99%…
He loaded in.
⸻
MAP: CORE-ZERO
(System file map: testing ground for patch notes. Should be empty.)
But this time?
He wasn't alone.
One figure stood at center.
Wearing dev-gray armor.
No username.
No rank.
Just a floating tag above his head:
"ZEROFRAME"
⸻
Who is ZEROFRAME?
A last resort protocol.
Spawned by the system to reclaim its core identity.
Built from all previous patches Blanco broke.
• Every trait he ever triggered
• Every map he glitched
• Every failed patch reverted
Recompiled into one opponent.
⸻
"You are the trait," ZEROFRAME said.
No voice. Just text.
"And I am the cure."
⸻
Blanco didn't move.
Didn't draw.
Didn't type.
Instead,
the system pulled his last known config into place:
• Ghost Delay
• RAW.EXE
• Framebreaker
• Instinct Sync
• Observer Override
But this time…
it didn't glitch.
It merged.
⸻
[NEW PROTOCOL ACTIVATED]
RAW.PROTOCOL/1
You are not a player. You are a behavior encoded into memory.
Effect:
• Server cannot detect your entry
• Traits evolve without announcement
• Opponents register you 1 second late
• Killfeed disables only for your kills
• Commentary cannot record your actions
⸻
Round 1 – Zero vs Ghost
ZEROFRAME moved first.
No gun drawn.
Just raw presence.
The air warped when he walked.
Shots fired before animations played.
Recoil didn't follow math — it followed instinct.
He wasn't copying Blanco.
He was mirroring the ghost's impact on the game.
⸻
Blanco adapted fast.
• Shot into recoil bloom, landed headshots
• Walked into smokes to reset bullet memory
• Flicked not where the enemy stood — but where the next patch would place them
⸻
First duel: tie.
No kill.
Just trade.
Feed blank.
Both respawned.
"Match cannot record results. Raw presence unstable."
⸻
Round 2 – Echo Divergence
ZEROFRAME tossed flash.
Blanco looked directly at it.
Didn't get flashed.
Why?
Because the system couldn't predict his sight anymore.
Blanco dropped to prone mid-burst (a bug never patched).
Caught leg.
Hit shoulder.
Still no killfeed.
But ZEROFRAME paused.
A frame lagged.
Presence collision.
⸻
Round 3 – Trait Convergence
Blanco activated silence flick —
but before he could release the shot,
ZEROFRAME threw a utility ghost.
A flash that existed only in the killcam.
Didn't blind in real time —
only post-death.
But Blanco didn't die.
He sidestepped the future death feed
before it played.
Shot where the ghost HUD flickered.
Contact.
⸻
[ZEROFRAME STAGGERED]
[SYSTEM LOG: EXCEPTION TRIGGERED]
"Reboot cycle corrupted."
⸻
The devs watching from backend saw nothing.
No server log.
No kill data.
Only this:
[USER BLANCO INITIATED SYSTEM HALT]
"You cannot patch what lives outside your file tree."
⸻
ZEROFRAME collapsed.
Model vanished.
But the round didn't end.
⸻
FINAL PHASE – Reboot Rejected
System:
"You are no longer in the game."
"You are now the condition for the game to exist."
"Do you wish to stay?"
Blanco didn't answer.
He alt-tabbed.
Opened console.
Typed:
"Remove all players."
"Leave only presence."
"Reboot this game in my absence."
Pressed Enter.
⸻
The system blinked.
Reloaded.
Lobby: empty.
No usernames.
No match history.
No chat.
Just the faint afterimage
of one player
who never existed.
And every match after that?
Still carried his shape.