"There's no signal..." Leva groaned as she repeatedly tap her phone to get some signal but was pointless. "Now what are we going to do? Even if you ask me to help you, we still need all the help we can get!"
Shion nodded, knowing how painfully risky it would take to beat the Grade-E alone without the help of the pros.
"Alright—listen carefully," Shion said, forcing himself to stay upright as he spoke. His tone was calm, but the strain beneath it was impossible to miss. "I have a second glitch. It's called Power Charge. I haven't mastered it yet—but it's destructive. Extremely destructive."
He paused, then added flatly, "One serious blow from it can erase a mountain. I'm not exaggerating."
Leva stiffened.
"That's why I need to aim it at a safe zone," Shion continued, laying out every detail despite the pain creeping back into his body. "An area where there are no lives. No animals. No people. Which also means—you have to stay as far away from me as possible."
"I understand," Leva replied slowly. Her gaze sharpened as memories of the earlier blast resurfaced. "That energy you released before was already dangerous. And you said that wasn't even close to what your punch could do." She hesitated, then frowned. "But when you say safe proximity… you still plan on getting close to it, don't you?"
Shion let out a quiet breath. "That's the problem."
He wiped sweat from his face, frustration etched into his expression. "I have to get close. But from what I've seen, that thing can glitch through my attacks. If I just throw a punch, it'll phase right through it again." His jaw tightened. "So I can't overpower it. I have to outsmart it."
The thought alone made his head spin. How do you land a precise, controlled strike on something that could turn intangible at will?
Normally, this wouldn't even be a question. From all the footage he'd watched, pros and elites handled Corrupted Glitches with specialized gear or coordinated teams—binding tools, suppression devices, overwhelming numbers.
None of that applied here.
There was no gear.
No backup.
No elite squad.
Just brute force—and a healer.
One option crossed his mind—flipping the ground itself. Simple. Effective. And undeniably dangerous.
"The amount of damage is manageable," Shion muttered, eyes narrowed, "but if it survives even that, we risk getting caught in the aftermath."
"It's attracted to whatever is in its line of sight—destruction," Leva said, thinking quickly. "Maybe we can divert its attention by setting traps? Logs, maybe rolling a boulder downhill?"
"Not a bad idea," Shion admitted. "But consistency is the real problem. We don't have enough resources to trap something like that." He clenched his jaw. "It can tear through rocks, trees—even metal—with ease. Still… if we're persistent, there's a chance. Even exhausting a fraction of its stamina could give us an opening."
Leva frowned. "You said you can punch the air hard enough to crush mountains, right? Then why not hit it from a distance?"
"Because I saw it phase through my attacks," Shion replied without hesitation. "I'm not taking that risk. Wind pressure alone might hurt it, sure—but it won't deal the same damage as a direct hit."
He shifted his weight, tapping his foot against the ground. "One strike from that thing already sent me flying. I'm not fast enough yet. If I miss… if I slow down or hesitate for even a second…" His voice lowered. "I'm dead."
Leva went quiet, then spoke again. "Then how about this—we lure it. There has to be a way to draw it out safely. Can you, umm…" Shion suddenly turned red. "Carry me?"
"What?" Leva stared at him. "Are you planning another death wish?"
"N-No! It's not like that, I just—"
A sudden shrill chorus of screams erupted overhead. A flock of birds burst from the trees, scattering wildly.
"…It detected us?" Shion cursed. "Damn it. Forget this—we move first. We'll plan properly once we're clear!"
He forced himself into motion, pain ripping through his gut and chest with every step. He shouldn't have been running—but stopping wasn't an option.
They burst out of the cave and fled into the forest.
Why can it detect us from that far away?
Am I missing something…?
Shion's mind raced as he pushed through the pain.
It dodged my attack even when I was sure it had a blind spot…
Wait—so that's it.
"Leva!" he shouted.
"W-What is it?" she asked, startled.
"I think I know how it's tracking us," Shion said quickly. "According to Grunmels' Law of Glitches—glitches are a form of vibration."
He kept running as he spoke. "Their vibration waves distort the world itself. This Grade-E was formed by condensed, swirling glitch waves—corrupted by its own ominous energy. That means it has vibration-based sensory abilities."
Leva's eyes widened as she listened.
"That's why it targets humans and anomalies more often than anything else," Shion continued. "We produce louder vibrations. To it… we're beacons."
And now that they understood that—
They were already being hunted.
"I'm getting something here. We need some loud noise..." Shion then looks at her phone. "Do you mind if I use that phone?"
"If it means to survive that thing, destroy it if you like. I've already saved many into backup files."
"Thanks." Shion clutched Leva's phone tightly.
Shion veered sharply to the right, leaving Leva momentarily stunned by the sudden change in direction. She didn't question it—she trusted his instincts—and sprinted forward, following the path he carved through the forest.
Shion weaved between the trees, his movements precise despite the agony tearing through his body. In seconds, he reached the scorched clearing where he had first ignited the flames earlier.
"This should work," he muttered.
He grabbed a half-burning log, embers still glowing along its surface, and hurled it into the thick of the trees. The impact sparked instantly. Flames crawled upward, devouring bark and leaves, swelling into a roaring forest fire. Smoke bloomed into the air, heavy and choking, ash spiraling like dark snow.
Leva glanced back once and saw the inferno rising behind them—walls of fire swallowing the forest whole. She didn't stop. Fear clenched her chest as she ran harder, searching for safety, searching for help.
"Please… let this work," Shion whispered.
He pinched his nose shut and plunged into the smoke, eyes burning as he scanned the haze for movement—any sign of the anomaly.
"Ugh—!"
Pain ripped through his chest, sharper than before. The smoke poured into his lungs, fueling the damage already done. Every breath felt like fire, every step a knife twisting deeper.
"I have to push through…"
Gritting his teeth, Shion fumbled for his phone—then Leva's. His hands shook as he activated them both, cycling through loud audio sources.
Vibrations. That was the key.
He remembered—every vibration carried its own signature, its own resonance. To hide from a Grade-E anomaly, he couldn't just go silent. He had to become noise. He had to replicate life itself.
Every living thing had countless overlapping sounds, but one stood above the rest.
A heartbeat.
The most distinctive rhythm in existence.
With a Grade-E's vibration-based senses, this could work—no, it had to.
But as Shion pushed deeper into the smoke, it was already too late.
The anomaly erupted from behind him.
"—!"
Its fist smashed into his left side. Bone snapped. His arm shattered instantly as his body was hurled through the air like discarded debris.
"Ack—!"
He crashed hard, skidding across scorched earth. His phone flew from his grip, shattered on impact. Only Leva's device remained clenched in his right hand.
"I got careless… damn it!" he gasped. "I knew it—heartbeat recordings from ZeeTube aren't enough. It can tell… every individual rhythm…"
The monster charged again.
Shion rolled just in time, barely dodging the next blow. Heat and smoke clawed at his lungs, his vision blurring as oxygen became a luxury he no longer had. His thoughts swam, his head heavy, his body screaming to stop.
Then—
Bang!
A gunshot tore through the air.
Shion's eyes widened.
It wasn't reinforcements.
It was Leva.
The sound cracked like thunder, echoing through the forest. The anomaly recoiled, enraged, its attention snapping toward the noise.
"No—!" Shion cursed. "Don't go after her—!"
There was no time to think.
No time to hesitate.
"Crap… this is it."
Power surged through his body as he forced his glitch awake.
"Power Charge: Maximum Output!"
Bursts of energy channeled beneath his feet. The ground exploded as Shion launched forward, his body turning into a living projectile.
"Torpedo Strike!"
The force shattered the earth, carving a fresh crater as he rocketed forward like a cannon shot. He slammed headfirst into the anomaly, the impact rattling his skull violently—pain screaming through his neck, his vision fracturing.
His body crumpled to the ground afterward, limp and broken.
Shion lay there, gasping, unable to move.
He had landed the hit.
But compared to his usual strikes… it was weak.
That blow—
It was no more than a cannon blast.
Shion couldn't stand.
His body had been pushed far beyond its limits, the power he had just unleashed far too reckless for a frame already on the brink of collapse. A sharp fracture throbbed through his skull, sending violent tremors through his senses. The world tilted, warped—spinning like it had lost its axis.
For a moment, everything was noise and blur.
Then, slowly—agonizingly—his body began to respond.
Seconds passed. Each one felt stolen.
Shion dragged himself forward, palms scraping against scorched earth as he crawled, forcing his vision to focus. Through the haze of smoke and fire, he saw it.
The anomaly wasn't dead.
It was only stunned.
"…Not enough," Shion snarled, frustration ripping through him as his teeth ground together. His vision burned crimson, blood streaming freely from his nose. Any ordinary human would've had their skull crushed outright—but Shion's unnatural durability was the only reason his head hadn't exploded from the impact.
"I can feel it," he muttered hoarsely. "It's pissed… and it's coming for me."
He forced himself up, legs trembling violently beneath his weight. His body screamed warnings at him—every bone in his lower half strained to the breaking point, muscles torn and exhausted beyond recovery. One wrong move and they'd give out completely.
The fire had already closed in.
Smoke swallowed the clearing, thick and suffocating. Running was pointless now—escape meant choking to death. The only option left was to think. Decide.
Or die.
"Hacgh—!"
Blood poured from his mouth as he vomited, his vision darkening at the edges. He was done. Completely spent.
And then—
The anomaly moved.
Its feet slammed into the ground as it rose, glitch energy erupting outward in a violent surge. The pressure alone bent the air, warping the space around it.
"Just… half a minute," Shion rasped, barely holding himself upright. "That's all I need… damn it…"
Smoke blinded him. He couldn't see clearly anymore—only a looming silhouette drawing closer, dripping with killing intent.
His heart pounded like a war drum. Adrenaline flooded his veins. His breathing was heavy, ragged, weighed down like iron. Cold sweat soaked his skin as the shadow crept forward, slow and deliberate.
Impossible.
The anomaly's wounds were sealing.
Its body regenerated through infinitesimal glitch particles—an absurd level of recovery. That blast should have obliterated it. Its torso should have been gone. There was no logical explanation for it to still be standing.
Seconds ticked by.
Then suddenly—
The anomaly charged.
It followed the sound.
Shion's heartbeat.
In an instant, the creature burst from the smoke and smashed the ground with overwhelming force.
The heartbeat stopped.
Silence.
But then—
Another heartbeat echoed.
To its left.
The smash hadn't killed Shion.
It had crushed his phone.
A decoy.
Shion had recorded his own heartbeat and left it behind, baiting the anomaly with a false signal.
The creature froze.
And that was all he needed.
Shion emerged from the smoke, eyes blazing red with resolve, blood streaking down his face. His fist tightened, veins bulging as he exhaled slowly—focusing everything he had left.
"Power Charge," he growled.
"Maximum Output."
Purple lightning exploded around his arm, crackling violently as raw energy condensed into his clenched fist.
"MAXIMUM STRIKE!"
He launched upward with a brutal uppercut, driving his fist straight into the anomaly's upper body.
This time—
He didn't hold back.
A direct hit.
A colossal hurricane erupted outward, the sheer force ripping through the forest like divine judgment. Trees were torn from the earth. Flames were extinguished instantly, blown apart by the overwhelming pressure. The skies split apart.
Miles away, Leva—who had already fled to safety—was caught in the shockwave and hurled violently through the air.
The land was erased.
When the wind finally settled, nothing remained but devastation.
The anomaly couldn't endure it.
Its body fractured at the atomic level, glitch energy collapsing in on itself as it disintegrated into nothingness—erased completely, without a trace.
The corrupted glitch was gone.
And Shion finally fell.
His breath came in torn, uneven gasps. The anomaly was gone—finally, completely erased. His body locked up, numb and unresponsive, and with a faint, exhausted smile, Shion let his eyes close.
"…I win."