The world twisted.
Light and darkness collided as the glitch dungeon collapsed — and when Sion opened his eyes, he was no longer underground.
He stood on a floating island surrounded by shattered code and fragments of sky.
Below him, rivers of light flowed like data streams.
Across the field stood Raven, his golden aura burning like a sun.
His blade — Divine Radiant — hummed with holy energy.
> "Where… are we?" Sion muttered.
A mechanical voice echoed through the sky:
[System Arena Activated.]
[Combat Protocol: Hero vs. Hero.]
Raven pointed his sword at Sion.
> "This world only needs one chosen hero. And the system chose me."
Sion's eyes glowed faintly blue. "You think you're the hero? Then why do your memories keep resetting?"
Raven frowned. "What are you talking about?"
---
⚔️ The Clash Begins
Their blades met with a flash of light.
Raven's divine energy exploded outward, golden wings appearing behind him.
Sion blocked with Codebreaker, but every impact sent shockwaves through the air.
> CLANG! BOOM!
Every strike from Raven burned with divine mana — 3,800 MCU at full power.
But Sion's system kept adapting, absorbing, recalculating.
> [System Copy Protocol: Divine Flow — 37% Analyzed.]
[Counter Algorithm Activated.]
Sion's sword shifted form — matching Raven's attack speed perfectly.
"W-What the—!?" Raven growled. "You're copying my moves!?"
Sion smiled faintly. "No… I'm perfecting them."
He vanished in a blur, reappearing behind Raven —
and in one clean motion, his blade grazed the Hero's armor, leaving a glowing mark.
> [Critical Sync: +12% Memory Restored.]
For a second, Sion's reflection flickered — showing Syrion's original armor.
Raven staggered back, panting. "That power… it's not human."
Sion raised his sword. "I'm not human."
---
🌙 Meanwhile — Althea's Awakening
Back at the academy, Althea collapsed to her knees as her pendant shattered into shards of light.
"Please… show me where they are!" she cried.
A voice answered inside her mind — gentle but distant.
> "Do you wish to save him again?"
She whispered, "Yes!"
> "Then awaken, Child of Light."
Her mana erupted.
Wings of pure white light burst from her back — the true blessing of the Saint reawakening.
> [Mana Capacity Released: 4,200 MCU]
[Saint Class — Awakened.]
She soared into the night sky, guided by the pendant's light,
toward the collapsing arena between two heroes destined to fight.
---
⚡ Back to the Battle
Sion and Raven clashed again —
divine light versus system code, faith versus logic.
Raven's eyes glowed fiercely. "You talk like you know everything about this world!"
Sion deflected a holy strike and replied coldly,
> "That's because I built it."
Raven froze for a second — "You… what!?" — before a surge of rage overwhelmed him.
"Liar! The Goddess created this world!"
Sion's tone darkened.
> "Then why does your goddess run on code?"
A flash of blue lightning erupted between them — both thrown back by the collision of power.
---
💔 The Intervention
Before the final clash, a beam of light descended from the sky.
"STOP!"
It was Althea — floating with radiant wings, her tears glimmering like stars.
"Sion! Raven! Please!" she cried. "You're both fighting for the same reason!"
Raven's blade trembled. "He's lying to you, Althea. He's… dangerous."
Sion lowered his sword. "Maybe I am. But danger doesn't make me wrong."
Althea looked at him —
and for the first time, she saw not the calm student…
but the shadow of Syrion, the man from her dreams.
Her heart raced.
> "It's you… isn't it?"
Sion's eyes softened. "…Yeah. It's me."
Before anyone could speak further, the entire arena shattered —
and the three of them were engulfed in a blinding wave of light.
---
🌀 Next Chapter Preview — Chapter 10: The Goddess Error
> As the system resets again, Sion, Althea, and Raven find themselves trapped in separate timelines.
Each must face fragments of their memories — and a voice claiming to be the true creator of their world.
Meanwhile, deep inside the system core, the goddess awakens…
and whispers a single phrase:
"The game was never meant to end."
---