Everyone Thinks I'm the Strongest

The sky didn't just turn red; it hemorrhaged. A violent, pulsating crimson bled across the horizon, turning Rian’s window into a frame for a dying world. Then came the hum—a low-frequency vibration that rattled his teeth and made the air taste like ozone and copper.

"Hey, Rian! You seeing this?"

Marcus, his neighbor, was screaming through the thin apartment wall. Rian stumbled back from the glass, his heart hammering against his ribs.

"I’m looking at it, Marcus! Is the sun actually bleeding? What the hell is going on?"

"It’s not just the sky, man! Check your phone! My screen is literally glowing. It’s like a hologram is stuck to my eyeballs."

"My phone is dead. It’s been dead for hours."

"Forget the phone! Look at the air, Rian! Look at the text!"

Rian blinked, and finally, he saw it. Floating in the middle of his living room, translucent blue letters burned with a sickening neon intensity.

‘INTEGRATION COMMENCING. 0.01%... 0.05%...’

"You seeing the blue letters, Rian? I just got a prompt. It says I’m an ‘A-Rank Firestarter.’ I can feel the heat, dude! My hands are literally smoking!"

Rian reached out, his fingers trembling as they touched the glowing text. Instead of a status screen, his vision fractured.

"Marcus, I don't have a rank. My screen... it’s all just gibberish. Everything is scrolling in lines of red code."

"What do you mean, gibberish? Everyone gets a class. Try hitting the help button."

"There is no help button! It’s all flashing ‘ERROR: CORRUPTED DATA’ and ‘SYSTEM OVERFLOW.’ My head feels like it’s being carved out with a spoon."

"Maybe you’re just glitching? Refresh it or something! Close your eyes and reopen them."

"I’m closing them, Marcus, I’m reopening them, I’m screaming at the wall—nothing! It’s just showing me a black hole of broken symbols. I think the system missed me."

"Missed you? That’s impossible. Wait, hold on. There’s a scream coming from the hallway."

Rian pressed his ear to the door. Outside, the muffled sound of tearing fabric and wet, rhythmic thuds echoed through the corridor.

"Marcus, someone’s dying out there."

"I can’t help them! I’m still trying to figure out how to stop my curtains from catching fire. My hands won’t stop sparking!"

"Control it, Marcus! Try to focus on the fire, not the fear!"

"I’m trying! But the blue screen won’t go away! It says I have to 'Initiate Combat' to stabilize my core. What does that even mean?"

"It means we’re screwed. My screen just turned solid black. It’s not even showing error codes anymore."

"Rian, listen to me. Get out of there. My wall is shaking. Something big is moving in the hallway."

"I’m locked in, Marcus! The door handle won’t turn. It’s like the apartment became a cage."

CRACK.

The solid oak of Rian’s front door splintered inward. A heavy, clawed limb, slick with gore, punched through the wood, inches from Rian’s face.

"Marcus! There’s a thing! It’s inside the apartment!"

"Run, Rian! Use your skills! Do something!"

"I told you, I don't have any! I’m just a guy in his underwear with a broken interface!"

"Throw something! Improvise! The system rewards tactical initiative!"

The creature shoved harder, the door groaning under the pressure of its bulk. It was a mass of grey, twisted muscle and elongated, needle-like teeth. Rian scrambled backward, his heel catching on the heavy marble bust of his grandfather that sat on the entryway table.

"I’m not a tactical genius, Marcus! I’m a liability!"

"Then die fighting! Don't just sit there!"

Rian tripped, his body sprawling backward. The marble statue tumbled with him, but as he hit the floor, his foot clipped the heavy base. The statue didn't fall to the carpet; it went airborne, spinning end-over-end.

The monster lunged, teeth bared, eyes glowing with a feral, system-induced malice. It didn't expect a projectile.

THUD.

The heavy stone base connected perfectly with the creature’s temple. A spray of black, viscous fluid coated the wall. The beast crumpled, sliding to the floor with a wheeze that sounded like a deflating tire.

Silence reclaimed the room, thick and suffocating.

"Rian? Rian! Did you hit it? Tell me you hit it!"

Rian sat on the floor, chest heaving, staring at the motionless lump of meat. Suddenly, his black screen flickered back to life, but the text wasn't blue. It was a jagged, pulsing purple.

‘CRITICAL ERROR: EXTERNAL ENTITY ELIMINATED BY NON-USER. CALCULATING REWARDS...’

"Marcus," Rian whispered, his voice trembling. "It’s doing something. The screen… it’s changing."

"What? What does it say?"

Rian stood up, his eyes locked on the purple text that began to rewrite his entire existence.

‘USER STATUS: NULL. CLASS: GLITCH. ABILITY UNLOCKED: THIEF OF VOIDS.’

"It says I’m a thief, Marcus. And the door… the door just unlocked."