Level 999: The Glitch King

Galactic Core

Jace remained on the floor longer than he intended.

The throne room was silent except for the groaning of the broken fleet above Manhattan and the pulse in the Spire. His burned hand had already left a stain on the stone floor, palm upturned to reveal the darkened, shifting edges of the mark.

Along the edges of the opening in the ceiling, the gold line was spreading outward.

The remaining ships had fallen silent. All of them faced away from the Spire, presenting their battered fronts to the unseen force beyond the red lattice.

Jace shoved himself onto his side.

"That better not be another fleet."

Seraphina stood near the entrance to the chamber, her good hand pressed to the gap in her shoulder armor. She had not taken her eyes off the sky since the last panel had opened.

"THE KING HAS BEEN NOTIFIED."

The message still hovered in the air.

Jace turned to her. "You got quiet."

"That message was not only for you."

"Then who was it for?"

"Everyone above us."

The line of gold was spreading into the red lattice. Something huge was beyond it, but it did not come any closer. Jace expected to see faces, ships, a throne, something concrete enough to understand.

Instead, he saw lines.

Countless lines stretched from the broken fleet into the opening and out past the Earth. The Spire inched forward, pulling the image closer until the throne room seemed to be made of glass.

Jace focused on the lines until he saw the star.

Swirling around it was a ring so large his mind reeled at the thought. The ring held cities, its walls decorated with platforms, towers, docks, estates, and weapons. Ships moved in steady patterns along the ring's surface. Along its edges, palaces hung from chains while power fed from the star into the ring and then out along the lines to the fleet. Jace felt his heart pound against the floor.

What is that?

Some of the fire left Seraphina's eyes.

"That's where they decide who gets what."

Jace turned back to the throne. "So that's where the leash is."

"That's where the leash is kept."

A new panel opened between them.

Core Connection Established

Unauthorized Claimant Under Review

Inheritance Conflict Detected

The words shifted.

Forbidden Palace Claim Disputed

Current Claimant: JACE

Registered Claimant: SERAPHINA NOBLE

Status: Contaminated Asset

Seraphina's mouth twisted in something like distaste. Jace picked up on it instantly.

"You don't like that either."

"No noble enjoys having their seat reduced to assets." Jace's turn. "Your seat?"

"Our argument is local. That is not."

The floor around the dais vibrated. Another panel opened. From the throne, thin lines of light raced up and through the ceiling. The answer came quickly. The Spire dimmed, and the throne room fell eerily silent except for the grinding of the throne on the floor.

Jace moved toward the seat but stopped when his knees nearly gave out. He turned back to the battle lines above the city. A similar but smaller map of Manhattan had appeared beside the larger faded drawing. The contested territory had shrunk, but flashing red points marked people still within the area.

Jace turned back to the connection above the throne.

"It's taking the claim back."

"It is correcting ownership," Seraphina said. “Same trash, better coat.”

The ships above Manhattan had steadied. The ones that had fallen away from the formation had locked back into place as power flowed into the ships through the lines. Jace watched as the lead vessel rolled to one side, its hull coming together, patching its broken underbelly.

Jace followed the pattern with his marked hand. He could feel the error already forming around his fingers.

Seraphina saw it. "Do not touch those lines."

"You keep saying not after everything is already on fire."

"If you damage the registry, every noble house connected to it will know where you are."

"They already know."

"No," she said, her voice quiet. "Right now, they know there is a problem. If you touch the registry, they will know there is an heir." That word stuck in his throat, heavier than the fleet above.

Jace met her eyes. She clamped her mouth shut, as if she'd said more than she meant to.

A new panel opened.

Hierarchy Overwrite Initializing

Claimant Rank: invalid

Spire Claim: revocation pending

The throne screeched across the floor but did not rise to meet its owner. Jace could feel it in his bones, the fight in his burning palm, and the taste of blood. The seat had accepted him, and now something stronger was forcing him out.

Jace took another step forward, but the pressure pushed him to one knee.

Seraphina started toward him but stopped herself. "You cannot win a superiority dispute with force." That was not what made Jace laugh.

"That all you got? Rank?" His voice rasped from his throat. "It's blood, property, command, and recorded right."

"Sounds like rank with extra paperwork."

The floor cracked beneath his knee.

The light in the Spire peeled away from him, one layer at a time. It felt as if his skin were peeling away with it, the claim sliding off his bones. Outside, the lead ship had opened its weapon again, and this time Jace saw the flashes through the red lattice. A smaller number of spots had been tagged, and the weapon had found its targeting solution.

Jace pressed his hand into the floor. The map changed and narrowed as if drawn in light. The lines marking the contested territory snaked up the tower, following the open space in the ceiling. Seraphina's claim was visible on the other side, a tidy package wrapped in law and the sigil of her house. Her claim had proper shape. Jace's lines snaked around hers, his claim raw and wrong and very much alive.

The Core pushed him down through a wide set of markings, words, and seals. Error Mark could ruin the texture of all of it, but it would take something bigger to break the line.

Jace saw the problem. He did not need to unravel the entire map, just the section telling the Spire to kneel. Seraphina's eyes followed his hand as he reached down.

"If you do this," she said, her voice low, "they will not send another extermination order."

"Good." Jace pressed his palm into the floor. "They can get in line."

The Core pushed him down harder.

Hierarchy Overwrite: 38%

Spire claim integrity failing

Claimant rejection imminent

His arm shook, and his elbow burned from the pressure on his palm. He fed the pain into Error Mark, watching it spread through the markings.

The Core pushed him down harder. The mark in his palm fed the power, twisting the line, but the Spire kept its light. Error Mark could slow it, maybe even stop it for a moment, but the power in the line was far too great to break with one touch.

Seraphina moved closer despite herself. "That will not be enough."

"I noticed." Jace looked up at the connection. "Then stop before it kills you."

The Dyson Ring stretched before him, filling the space in his vision. Along the edges of the ring, estates glittered, and ships moved from dock to dock. Names passed through the connection in neat little packages. Fleets, bloodlines, claims, and estates. Everyone had their place, and no one questioned it. Everyone had a rank.

Jace rolled to his feet, his burning hand still pressed to the Spire's line.

I will not give way

Core push: 61%

Claimant rank: invalid

Authority reduction in process

Jace felt the Spire slipping. He stopped fighting the pain in his arm and reached for something else. Breach Sight showed him the bend in the rule, and Error Mark showed him the weakness in the line. Neither could help him now. The Glitch Protocol lived inside him still, and he reached for it.

"If rank is the problem," Jace said, his voice low, "then break the rank."

The room lurched violently. Seraphina fell backward as black lines ran up and out from his hand. The connection buckled, and the rule line from the Core snapped. Jace heard the panic in the ships above. A strange sound came from the Spire, as if it, too, were frightened.

A panel broke through the ceiling.

[GLITCH PROTOCOL: Rule Fracture unlocked]

[Local hierarchy break authorized]

Jace pulled on the line. The Spire flared, throwing him back against the floor. The throne room dimmed as the lights above the city steadied. The lines on the floor showed the contested territory, but the shrinking area around the Spire did not move. A jagged strip of light ran through the middle of the Core's correction. The ships above Manhattan had jumped back into formation. The lead vessel's weapon had fired but missed, completely empty of power.

Jace looked up the wall at the connection. Far beyond the Earth, the Dyson Ring's lights had gone dark in places. Along the ring's edge, an estate blinked out, then another. A whole section of small buildings darkened long enough for Jace to see the break in the line.

Seraphina stared at the fault line. "You fractured the registry."

Jace landed on his backside, unable to respond immediately. Corruption Load: 81% The number hovered before him, then changed. Corruption Load: 84%. His marked hand had gone numb, and black veins traced up his arm. His chest was tight, and his vision was already failing.

Seraphina crossed the room, came to a stop near his knees. "You did not defend the Palace," she said. “You attacked noble ownership.”

Jace met her eyes. "You're welcome."

"This is not a joke."

"Wasn't funny."

The room shook again. The ceiling opening had not closed. It was widening, and the broken fleet was falling back from the Spire as if it, too, had received a new order. The ships were no longer coming to fire.

Jace turned his head toward the far corner of the room. A new panel had opened.

Hierarchy overwrite failed

Registry fracture detected

Manual noble intervention authorized

Seraphina looked up, and this time, she did not hide the fear in her expression. Jace hated that he could barely stand.

"What now?"

Core connection established

Far beyond the Earth, across the broken Dyson ring, something answered the Spire's call. It was not the King's voice, but it still reached down, smaller than his but closer by far. Another house seal burned in the distance, dark and angular shapes wrapping chains around a sun.

Seraphina took a step back. "No."

Jace turned onto his elbow. "You know them?"

"They recover bloodlines."

The seal glowed brighter. A new, larger panel opened in the ceiling.

Hierarchy overwrite failed.

Manual intervention authorized.

HEIR RECOVERY ORDER ISSUED.