Hero Hunter: The Glitch in the God System

Chapter 5

The tannery’s rafters rained dust as the Council’s elite landed, their movements unnaturally jagged, like marionettes pulled by invisible, frantic wires.

"You two are making a terrible mess of the order," the lead assassin spat, his eyes glowing with that same sickly violet hue.

Freecs clutched his chest, his fingernails digging into his own palms. The System’s interface screamed behind his eyes, a strobing, jagged crimson.

[Error. Host compliance at 0%. Initiating forced recalibration.]

"Freecs, talk to me! What’s happening?" Vivina demanded, her blade humming with golden light as she deflected a strike from the nearest Council member.

"It… it wants me to cut your throat," Freecs gasped, his vision fracturing into a thousand shards of blue static. "It’s burning me from the inside out."

"Then don't listen to it! Fight back!"

"Easy for you to say," Freecs groaned, dropping to one knee as the System spiked his nerves with white-hot agony. "You aren't literally being rewritten by a god-complex code."

"Well, fix it, because we have guests!"

Vivina ducked a serrated blade, her heel shattering the skull of an attacker.

"They aren't human," Freecs noted, his breathing shallow. "Look at their eyes. The purple haze. They’re being controlled by the same thing that sent the Warden."

"Then stop worrying about your brain and start helping me with their bodies!" she yelled, parrying a heavy blow that sent sparks showering across the dark room.

"Fine," Freecs snarled, shaking the numbness from his limbs. "Just keep them off me for five seconds."

[Warning: Host deviation detected. System Enforcer manifest.]

The shadows beneath the assassins began to boil. Out of the darkness, clawed, amorphous entities—hollow-eyed reflections of Freecs’s own 'glitch' nature—began to drag themselves into reality.

"What in the light is that?" Vivina gasped, her golden aura faltering as the temperature in the room plummeted.

"That’s my problem," Freecs said, his voice dropping an octave. He gripped his dagger, his knuckles white. "They're copies of me. Only… louder."

The Enforcer lunged, a blur of jagged dark energy. Freecs pivoted, his movements no longer hesitant. He felt the System’s rage—not his own, but the machine's—and he turned it against the monster.

"You want a fight?" Freecs muttered, lunging into the shadow. "Have it."

Clang.

His blade connected with the Enforcer’s spectral defense, the force of the impact sending a ripple through the room.

"It’s copying your style, Freecs!" Vivina shouted, casting a blinding burst of holy fire that scorched the encroaching darkness. "Use your blind spot!"

"I can't! It knows the sequence!" Freecs dodged a swipe that shredded his cloak. "It’s a mirror!"

"Then stop looking at it! Close your eyes!"

"Are you insane?"

"Do it! I’ll be your eyes!" Vivina dashed forward, her hand grasping his shoulder, guiding his posture. "Trust me. Now, strike to the left!"

Freecs didn't think. He trusted the cold steel of her grip and swung. The blade didn't hit an armor plate; it sank into something yielding and cold. The Enforcer shrieked, a sound like tearing metal.

"Again!" she commanded.

"Under the ribs!" Freecs surged forward, driving his dagger into the monster’s core.

The Enforcer dissolved into a pile of black soot. The Council assassins hesitated, their eyes wide with disbelief.

"They're afraid," Freecs panted, blood dripping from his chin. "Good."

"They're not just afraid," Vivina said, her face pale as she looked toward the rafters. "They’re being discarded."

The remaining Council members began to twitch uncontrollably, their bodies bloating and warping as the purple light consumed them from within.

"The System is purging them," Freecs realized, the dread settling into his bones. "They’re just fuel for the next wave."

"Freecs, the ceiling!"

A massive, distorted hand—far larger than any human’s—burst through the roof. It wasn't an assassin. It was a mass of fused, twisted limbs and glowing, fractured code.

"That's not an Enforcer," Freecs whispered, staring up at the monstrosity.

"It’s a System Architect," Vivina corrected, her voice barely a breath. "It’s the immune system of this place."

"It’s here to delete us both."

"So, what’s the plan, 'Hunter'?" she asked, her sword glowing with a desperate, brilliant intensity. "Run, or die fighting?"

Freecs looked at the screen hovering before him. The text was no longer blue; it was a corrupted, pulsing, demonic red.

[Objective: Eradication of anomalies. Priority: Absolute.]

"The plan?" Freecs grinned, though his eyes were frantic. "We break the game."

"How?"

"We stop taking orders."

The giant hand descended, tearing the entire tannery structure apart. Freecs reached out and grabbed Vivina’s hand, his fingers interlacing with hers. The interface flickered violently, struggling to process their connection.

"Are you ready to be a criminal?" he asked.

"I’ve been a hero long enough," she replied, her eyes meeting his with a terrifying, wild resolve. "Let’s burn this system to the ground."

The ceiling collapsed entirely, drowning them in shadow, but as the debris fell, a golden and blue light erupted from their clasped hands, tearing a hole through the darkness itself.

"The System isn't just watching us," Freecs realized, his voice trembling as the truth slammed into him. "It’s afraid of us."

"Good," Vivina whispered as they braced for the impact of the Architect. "Let's give it something to be truly terrified of."