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The metallic scent of blood filled the air. Caelum looked down at the sword pierced through his chest. It was 'Aurelius', the holy blade of his own guild leader—the man he called brother.
"Why?" Caelum's voice was a ragged whisper.
"You were too efficient, Caelum," Aurelius sneered, his eyes cold. "The System doesn't need a player who can see through its laws. You're a bug that needs to be deleted."
Around them, the sky was tearing apart. The 'World Core' they had spent years trying to conquer was collapsing. As Caelum's vision blurred, a massive, golden notification window appeared before him—one that no other player could see.
[CRITICAL ERROR DETECTED]
[WORLD CORE COLLAPSING...]
[SUBJECT 001: CAELUM IS BEING DELETED BY SYSTEM AUTHORITIES]
"Delete me?" Caelum coughed, a bloody smile spreading across his face. "If I'm a bug... then I'll crash the whole damn game."
He reached out and touched the collapsing core. His fingers didn't burn; they glitched.
[WARNING: ILLEGAL ACCESS!]
[SUBJECT IS ATTEMPTING TO REWRITE SOURCE CODE...]
[SYSTEM OVERLOAD! REBOOTING TO INITIAL STATE...]
Everything went white.
...
"Wake up, Caelum! You're going to be late for the Awakening Ceremony!"
Caelum's eyes snapped open. He wasn't in the dark dungeon anymore. He was in a small, dusty room—his old room at the orphanage. He looked at his hands; they were thin, calloused, and lacked the scars of a thousand battles.
He scrambled to the cracked mirror in the corner. A seventeen-year-old version of himself stared back.
"Ten years..." he breathed. "I'm back."
Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced his skull. A notification window, but not the clean blue one everyone else had. This one was flickering, distorted with static.
[WELCOME BACK, USER CAELUM]
[STATUS: UNKNOWN]
[SYSTEM STATE: CRACKED]
[CURRENT RANK: F]
[NOTICE: A HIDDEN GLITCH HAS BEEN DETECTED IN YOUR MANA CIRCULATION]
[WOULD YOU LIKE TO EXPLOIT THE 'INFINITE MANA' BUG?]
Caelum stared at the window, his heart hammering against his ribs. In his past life, he followed the rules and ended up with a sword in his heart. This time, he would be the one holding the blade.
"Yes," Caelum whispered. "Exploit it."
[INITIALIZING GLITCH...]
[THE GLITCH KING HAS AWAKENED.]