Chapter 3: The Purger Protocol
**01:45... 01:44...**
The countdown burned in my vision, a digital heartbeat counting down to my execution. Fear was a luxury I couldn't afford. My mind, sharpened by a lifetime of coding under pressure, shifted into overdrive. I wasn't just a player anymore; I was a system architect under attack.
First, I needed data. I pulled up the **[PLAYER MANIFEST]** and filtered for anyone with sensory or analysis skills. My eyes landed on **[Player #012 - Kaito Tanaka - A-Rank: Tracker]**. Perfect. I didn't need to copy his skill; I just needed his data stream. I patched into his system feed.
A new layer of information overlaid my vision. I could see heat signatures, scent trails, and most importantly, a **massive, void-black energy signature** descending from the upper atmosphere. The Purger. It was moving fast, a silent, angular shard of darkness that blotted out the stars as it fell. It wasn't just a monster; it was a walking null-field, a thing designed to erase errors.
**01:15... 01:14...**
Sarah was still staring at me, her new S-Rank power humming around her. "Liam, what's your plan?"
"To cheat," I said, my fingers dancing through menus only I could see. I opened the **[LOOT STREAM INTERCEPTION]** module and set the parameters to maximum. I wasn't just looking for player loot anymore. I was looking for *system* loot. The background processes, the resource allocations, the very code that made up this reality.
**// FILTER SET: PRIORITY = SYSTEM-CLASS ENTITIES. //**
**00:45... 00:44...**
The sky darkened directly above me. The Purger had arrived. It was a bipedal horror of obsidian and bleeding red light, with a single, cyclopean eye that scanned the area. It didn't move through the air; it *erased* the space between where it was and where it wanted to be. Its gaze locked onto me.
**// TARGET CONFIRMED: ANOMALY [LIAM CROSS]. //**
**// INITIATING PURGE. //**
It raised a blade-like arm, and the very light around it died, consumed by an absolute absence of everything. A wave of null-energy shot towards me, a sphere of nothingness that would un-write my existence.
I didn't try to block it with fire. That would be like trying to stop a delete command with a pretty screensaver.
Instead, I opened the **[INVENTORY MANAGEMENT]** screen for the Purger itself.
It was a gamble. A huge one. But if I was an Administrator, then everything in this world was part of my database.
The Purger's inventory wasn't filled with health potions. It was filled with terrifying system utilities.
`[NULL-VOID GENERATOR]`
`[REALITY ANCHOR]`
`[CONCEPTUAL ERASURE BEAM]`
And one other thing, a resource it was constantly consuming to fuel its existence:
`[PURGER-CLASS MANA - 10,000/10,000]`
**00:05... 00:04...**
The sphere of nothingness was feet away. I could feel my very code beginning to destabilize.
I didn't try to steal its weapons. I targeted its fuel.
`[COMMAND: TRANSFER ALL: PURGER-CLASS MANA -> ADMIN INVENTORY? Y/N]`
I slammed the mental **Y**.
The effect was instantaneous. The sphere of null-energy flickered and dissolved into harmless static. The Purger stumbled, its red eye dimming. The terrifying pressure of its presence vanished. It was running on empty.
**// PURGER-CLASS MANA: 10,000. //**
**// WARNING: ENTITY [PURGER-001] IS EXPERIENCING CRITICAL SYSTEM FAILURE. //**
It stared at me, its single eye blinking erratically. It was confused. This was not in its programming.
"Your license to kill has been revoked," I muttered.
But it wasn't dead. Its core programming was still active, and it began to draw ambient mana from the environment in a desperate, slow trickle. It would reboot eventually.
I wasn't done. While it was helpless, I went back to its inventory. This time, I selected the `[REALITY ANCHOR]`. The description read: *Prevents spatial manipulation and teleportation within a 100-meter radius.*
`[COMMAND: COPY? Y/N]`
Another **Y**. The knowledge of how to pin a point in space to absolute coordinates flooded my mind.
**// SKILL ACQUIRED: [SPATIAL LOCK - LEGENDARY GRADE]. //**
Then, I looked at the Purger itself. My **[PLAYER MANIFEST]** command didn't work on it—it wasn't a player. But my admin access gave me one final, brutal option. I right-clicked on the struggling entity.
A context menu appeared.
`[SCAN]`
`[QUARANTINE]`
`[DELETE]`
My finger hovered over `[DELETE]`. It was the logical choice. Remove the threat.
But the hacker in me saw a different opportunity. `[QUARANTINE]`.
I selected it. A new menu popped up, asking for a destination. I created a new, empty folder in the system's root directory and named it `[PURGER_CELL_001]`. I then dragged and dropped the Purger's icon into it.
The Purger vanished. Not with a bang, but with a soft *shloop* of data being compressed and filed away.
Silence returned to the street. The countdown in my vision disappeared.
**// SYSTEM ALERT: ANOMALY [PURGER-001] HAS BEEN CONTAINED. //**
**// ... //**
**// ...RE-CALIBRATING THREAT ASSESSMENT OF ANOMALY [LIAM CROSS]. //**
I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. I had just defeated a System Sentinel not with brute force, but with file management.
I turned to see Sarah staring at the spot where the Purger had been, her face a mask of utter disbelief.
"You... you trapped it? In a folder?"
"It seemed efficient," I said, my legs feeling a little weak now that the adrenaline was fading.
A new, different chime sounded in my mind. This one wasn't an alert. It was a direct message. The sender wasn't a player. The ID was `[SYSTEM_MODERATOR_007]`.
The message was short and chilling.
`Interesting. We need to talk, Hacker.`
The message dissolved, leaving behind a single, pulsating waypoint on my map, leading deep into the ruined city center. It wasn't a threat. It was an invitation.
The game had changed again. The janitor was gone. Now management was getting involved.
---
**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**
The plot thickens! A System Moderator is now involved! Is he a friend or a foe? What deal will he offer Liam? The next chapter will reveal the first major alliance... or betrayal!
**Your Power Stones are the fuel for this story! Please vote and leave a comment to let me know what you think Liam should do!**