The ground right under the boss suddenly gave way, like a TV screen messing up.
The road under the monster trembled like it was alive. At first, it looked like when heat makes the air wavy, but then the ground ripped open all of a sudden. It sounded like cloth tearing mixed with TV static. A thin crack showed up under the boss's foot, glowing a gross blue color. The edges didn't crumble like broken concrete usually does, but instead turned into little squares that flickered in and out, like the world forgot how to show them right.
Riko stopped breathing.
Luna squeezed his arm. "Riko… that's not good, right? That's REALLY not good?"
The crack got bigger. What started as a thin glowing line turned into a jagged hole tearing through the road. The boss lost its balance and roared angrily as its claws scraped across glitching blocks. It tried to steady itself, but the ground kept breaking apart in chunks – actual geometric pieces popping up and disappearing with a digital sound.
Riko stared, stuck between being scared and not believing what he was seeing. "No. Nope. This is new. This is REALLY new."
The boss slammed one huge hand down on the street, trying to hold on, but as soon as its weight hit, the entire intersection pulsed like a broken TV screen. A wave of pixel lines spread out, going under cars, streetlights, and stores. Everything the wave touched started to mess up – colors changed, surfaces flattened or broke into squares.
Luna yelped as the vending machine next to them turned into a floating pile of blocks. Each one flashed from red to white to black before disappearing. "Riko! Riko, it's eating the… what is it doing?!"
"I DON'T KNOW!" he yelled.
A building to their right, an old apartment building, started shaking. Its windows turned into blank white squares. The balconies glitched, disappearing piece by piece like they were being edited out. Another wave hit it, and suddenly half the building became a pixel wall, blocks stacked unevenly like a video game that wasn't finished.
Luna gripped his arm tighter. "The city… Riko, the CITY is breaking apart."
Before he could say anything, another crack burst open – this one closer, violently splitting the road between them and the boss. The monster's weight shifted again, making one of its huge feet slide into the widening hole. The creature roared, grabbing the edge with its claws, trying to pull itself out. But the street kept falling apart, and the hole under it kept growing, swallowing big chunks of pavement.
Riko's eyes darted everywhere. "Why is this happening? Did the thing in the sky do this?"
"Probably!" Luna shouted. "Or maybe the monster! Or maybe that weird screen on your arm! Who knows!
"Okay, okay, there are many possibilities!"
Another wave surged out, stronger than before. The air shimmered under their feet, and the ground under Riko's shoe flickered, momentarily changing into a pattern of squares. He jumped back with a curse as the glitch line kept going, turning a parked car into a blocky outline that popped like a bubble.
Luna's voice cracked. "Riko, if this keeps spreading…"
"It'll swallow the whole place," he finished grimly.
The boss clawed its way up, trying to get away from the collapsing ground, but another piece gave way, dragging half its leg into the pixel void. It didn't look scared, but furious. It snapped its head around, trying to find someone to blame. Its eyes locked onto Riko, glowing with anger even as the world beneath it melted.
Riko swallowed. "It's STILL looking at me?! Seriously? Even now?!"
"You punched it a few times," Luna muttered.
"That doesn't mean it can hold grudges in the middle of whatever this is!"
The hole rumbled, deeper now, the sound shaking the air. More buildings started glitching – store windows turning into static, street signs flattening into 2D images, whole walls becoming uneven stacks of blocks that shone with light. The streetlights flickered, then broke into pixel dust that rained upward, not downward.
Riko felt the hair on his arms stand up as the glitch wave got closer. The air tasted like metal, like when you touch your tongue to a battery. "Luna… we have to move. NOW."
"But where?!" she yelled. She pointed wildly at the street. "Look around! Everything is falling apart! It's all turning into Minecraft!
"Just run! Away from the cracks! Away from the, uh, death that looks like geometry!"
The boss tried one last time to pull itself out of the hole. It dug its claws into a section of pavement and pulled up, muscles straining. The ground responded by glitching faster, dissolving the very spot it was grabbing. The monster's arm jerked back down, its roar echoing through the glitch zone.
Another building collapsed – not falling usually, but breaking apart into floating blocks that scattered like confetti before disappearing with a digital hiss.
Luna gasped. "Riko, is the whole city gonna become…?"
"I don't know!" he shouted again. It was the only answer he could seem to give in situations like this.
A sudden sharp tone beeped from his arm.
Riko froze. Luna's eyes widened.
The screen had been glitching all the time, but now it pulsed with a red strobe, symbols distorting so fast they smeared across the display like paint. Static crackled in the air around them. The thing vibrated, hard enough to numb his wrist.
Luna stared. "Riko… your arm."
"I know."
"It's doing something new."
"I KNOW!"
Then the red light got brighter.
Lines appeared on the display. The sound became loud. The screen bent outward, almost like it was trying to leave his arm again.
Riko braced.
Luna stepped back.
The display blinked.
Then emitted sound.
The screen: "ZONE BREAK: ESCAPE NOW."