The nuke detonated—white void swallowed everything.
No throne. No servers. Just endless white, floating code fragments, and the squad drifting like ghosts.Kael blinked, Chaos Coder aura flickering. "Byte…?"
A tiny neon spark drifted past—Byte's last mana.Byte: …echo…
The voice glitched, faint.
Lila reached out, daggers gone. "Ferret? Talk to me!"
Rix typed on air, holographic keyboard sparking. "Signal's dead. He… he triggered the nuke from inside the code."
Grimlock clenched fists, chains silent. "The small one… saved us."
Vex floated, eyes dim. "Fate Glitch: The ferret's echo lingers. But the void hungers."
Kael punched the white. "We're not leaving him! Rix—fork the void! Vex—glitch the hunger! Grimlock—chain the echo!"
"On it," Rix nodded, fingers flying. "Forking Byte's last packet… now!"
A neon ferret silhouette shimmered—Byte's ghost, transparent.Byte: …squad… free…
Byte: …chaos… win…
Lila tears up—first time ever.
"You stupid, heroic furball…"
Byte: …stupid = loot…
The echo smiled, pixel teeth.
Grimlock knelt. "You fought like a champion."
Vex whispered: "The void offers a trade: one soul for the ferret's return."
Silence.Rix stepped forward. "Take me. I'm just a hacker."
"No," Kael growled. "We all go or none."
Zeta's voice crackled through the void—no face, just code. "The nuke worked. The Crucible is gone. But the void is the backup server. One must stay to reboot reality."
Lila grabbed Kael. "We reboot together. Or not at all."
Byte: …together… = …chaos…
The echo faded.
Kael activated Core Rewrite—last charge. "Rewrite the void into a new world. No Coder. No Crucible. Just… us."
Rix merged his fork. "Adding player freedom protocol."
Vex sang binary. "Fate bends to chaos."
Grimlock wrapped chains around the squad. "ANCHOR US."
The void swirled—colors bled in, grass underfoot, sky above.A new world formed—no levels, no panels, no Zeta.But Byte's echo dissolved.Byte: …goodbye… squad…
Byte: …chaos… forever…
Kael caught the last spark. "We'll name the first town after you."
Lila wiped tears. "Byteville. With a statue. And free loot."
Rix laughed through sobs. "And a ferret festival. Every year."
Grimlock nodded. "He earned it."
Vex smiled. "Fate Glitch: The ferret's chaos lives in the code. Forever."
The new world stabilized—sun rising, NPCs spawning free.
But a tiny neon pawprint glowed on Kael's hand. Byte: …not… gone…
A distant server pinged—Byte's backup?