Level 999: The Glitch King

The Heir Of Zero

The blade fell.

Jace didn't have time to think of a plan or beg for mercy. He had a heartbeat to will his body to live through the next few seconds. Something inside of him screamed that it wasn't over yet.

The world around him seemed to glitch and rewind like old film strips unraveling, revealing the fibrous threads holding it together. This close, he could see the fine workmanship that went into the chiseled steel of the sword - white flames woven through veins of gold, held together by invisible tension and raw power. And just above where the blade met the hilt, a single thread of light failed to keep its place for the span of a fraction of a second.

Something in him screamed,

That's it!

Jace dove forward, not thinking.

[GLITCH PROTOCOL: Breach Sight unlocked.]

[Unauthorized pattern recognition enabled.]

He barely avoided the business end of the blade, the tip slicing through the concrete where his skull had been a fraction of a second ago. The force knocked him back, sending him flying through the framework of a bus shelter, shattering glass and metal around him like confetti. He landed hard on his backside, skidding across the pavement before coming to rest on one knee, tasting blood and hearing the sound of his own heartbeat pounding in his ears.

He had dodged death, but barely. It was a miracle really, something he should have taken stock of and run, but he barely had time to register it before the enforcer stumbled, its wings whirring feebly as it's balance failed.

Jace was on his feet and diving forward before the enforcer could recover, his attack clumsy but fast. He landed a glancing blow to the enforcer's throat, the impact driving it to the pavement where it lay unmoving. As he pulled away, Jace stared at the enforcer's unmoving form in shock, heart hammering in his chest. He had done it, barely, and with no real understanding of how it happened. It was exhilarating and terrifying all at once.

The enforcer shuddered on the pavement, its wings twitching feebly before it finally stopped moving altogether, the light in its chest dimming to nothing.

Jace stood over the fallen enforcer, his breath coming in short gasps as he stared down at the thing that would have killed him. He felt hollow, as if he'd just stolen something big and powerful and had no idea what to do with it now.

He barely had time to process the enormity of what had just happened before the sky split open, pouring light and fire down onto the square in sheets. Thousands of white spears of light rained down on the square in an effort to finish what the enforcer had started, coming to a rest in craters scattered across the pavement.

From these craters rose hundreds of wardens, their white ceramic shells taking in the light as if drinking in the morning sun. At the head of them all was a single warden, easily twice as big as the rest, his cloak flowing like smoke from his very presence. His boots touched the ground, and it seemed to bend inward, as if in respect.

"So," The towering warden's voice seemed to come from everywhere at once, but Jace could hear it in his skull nonetheless. He sounded almost amused as he spoke, "This is the 'Glitch,' is it?"

Almost apologetic, almost mocking. Jace couldn't tell which. "If you 'accidentally' took out one of my scouts..." The giant's voice was surprisingly soft, almost as if he were speaking to a child.

"...then I suggest you take a good look at what's coming next. Scouts always find their way home, but I'm afraid conquerors..."

His voice trailed off as he looked at Jace up and down, calculating. "...I prefer to take with me."

Jace's hands were shaking, but he forced himself to stay still. He wanted to say something, to respond to the giant's casual threat, but his tongue felt clumsy in his mouth. Every word seemed like a child's toy, useless and ineffective.

Commander Vane's lips curled upward in something that almost looked like a smile. "A Level 1 scrap-heap with a stolen core," Vane chuckled, shaking his head. "Tell me, child, do you even know how to use that power? Or are you just waiting for us to come and rip it from your bones?"

Behind him, the other wardens let out a combined hum that reverberated through the square, sending a shiver up Jace's spine.

They were going to kill him. Slowly, painfully. He could see it in their eyes, in the way they moved, careful and methodical. They weren't here to fight - they were here to execute.

Fine.

If he was going to die, he would leave them with a healthy respect for the power they were about to unleash.

Jace closed his eyes, focusing, feeling for the familiar sensation of the 'glitch'.

It was there, just out of reach, a tiny tear in reality, but it was much too far for his untrained hands to reach. Whatever this was, it wasn't some power he could just access at will. It was something deeply ingrained in him, a part of who he was.

Maybe that's what made it so much worse.

Vane took a step forward, testing the waters, so to speak.

Jace tensed, ready to react, and raised a hand in warning. Vane's hand shot forward, aiming for Jace's arm, and hissed in pain as the space between them failed to obey.

The force of it sent jolts of electricity up and down his spine, and his vision blurred, his teeth grinding together in frustration.

"Interesting,"

Vane muttered, taking stock of what he'd just seen. "I suppose I'll have to recalibrate my expectations then, won't I?"

Once more, Vane raised his hand, and this time, he didn't hesitate. The wardens moved forward, surrounding Jace in a loose circle, closing in on him slowly. Jace's stomach twisted as their glowing eyes bore into him, but he forced himself to stand his ground. He would not show them any fear. He would not, under any circumstances, let them see him sweat.

After twenty heartbeats, he lost count. There were just too many to keep track of, and he could feel them circling him all at once. One of the wardens planted a fist into his ribs, sending him sprawling backward over broken glass, and cried out in pain. He barely registered the feeling of blood running down his leg as he pushed himself up off the pavement, teeth clenched tightly together.

"Get off me," he growled, his voice not his own, somehow deeper and steadier than before. "You're not getting anywhere near him."

Something answered him, deep in his bones, and for the briefest moment, he could see everything in slow motion. The square stretched out before him like a dream, the Wardens moving with unnatural slowness, their movements almost ponderous, as if Jace had stepped into another plane of existence.

[System Identification...]

[Bloodline Scan: 100% Match]

[Source: Origin-Thread Alpha]

[Status: The Forbidden Heir of the Zero-Protocol]

[Current Authority: Unstable Surge]

[GLITCH PROTOCOL]

Access: 45% (from 1%)

Corruption Load: 55% (from 0%)

He didn't know what any of it meant, but the dull ache behind his eyes told him he'd seen something that wasn't meant for him to see. Images assaulted his mind, flickering too quickly to make out. A doorway with no door, a shadowy hand on his shoulder, a throne of some sort, too far away to make out clearly. None of it was real, but somehow, he could feel it all the same.

It didn't stop his hands from shaking, though. "No," he whispered, just loud enough for the wardens to hear. "...That's not my name."

Vane's fist was already rising when whatever had happened to Jace stopped him mid-swing.

"Level 1?" Vane's voice was incredulous as he looked up at Jace. "That's the best you can do?"

Something inside of Jace snapped. He felt it in his bones, in the marrow of his teeth, in the very core of his being. He didn't know what it was, but he wanted it to know what it was like to feel powerless.

The force erupted from deep within him, and suddenly the entire battlefield was on fire. The front line of wardens was the first to go, vaporized in an instant, their forms dissolving into nothingness. One by one, the ones behind them went, their armor clinking to the ground in odd, unnatural patterns, as if gravity itself had failed them.

"Level 1?" Jace said again, his voice coming out as something between a growl and a whisper. "I wrote your levels. I defined your power. And right now...I'm revoking your license to exist."

The next wave of power to come from him wasn't his, but it might as well have been. He felt it surge through him, twisting his insides, black and gold light spilling from him in all directions, tearing the sky asunder. The wardens at the rear of the formation were the next to go, not one of them making a sound as they simply ceased to be.

"Your name is..." Jace paused, staring at the carnage he'd wrought, his voice quiet, almost reverent, "...Jace. But your system calls me..."

[The Owner]

"...The Owner."

As the light faded away, the square was silent, save for the sound of Jace's breathing. Where there had once been hundreds of wardens, there was now a great, gaping crater in the pavement. Jace stood in the middle of it, staring out at the charred remains of the battlefield, his heart pounding in his ears. He didn't feel proud exactly, but there was a strange sense of accomplishment that came with the realization that he'd just decimated an army of wardens.

He barely had time to feel the full extent of what he'd done before pain lanced through his ribs, sharp and sudden. He gasped in surprise, clutching at his side where blood was seeping through his fingers. He looked down at the dark stain on his shirt, frowning.

"You idiot," he muttered under his breath. "You should have run."

He looked up at Vane, who was still kneeling in the crater, one hand pressed against a crack in his chest plate. "Impossible," Vane rasped, his voice lacking the usual power it had before. "Only the High King commands such power. Who gave you permission to-"

"Nobody did," Jace said, his voice cutting off whatever Vane was about to say next. He stared at the man, taking in the look of sheer disbelief on his face. "You just didn't check who you were standing on, apparently."

Vane looked up at him, his expression one of utter shock. "You killed all of them? All at once?" The thought clearly horrified him, but there was something else there too, deeper, something stronger. "...What happened to you?"

"You think I just conjured it up, is what you're thinking," Jace replied, shaking his head. He didn't know what to say really. This wasn't something he could explain, not fully. "It's not like that."

"It's always like that for you, isn't it?" Vane said softly, almost fondly. "That's why you're my favorite." There was a pause, a long one, before he added, "...Until now."

Jace frowned. He wanted to press the man, to demand answers, but something inside him stopped him. Whatever this power was, it wasn't something he wanted to share.

"Looks like I'm taking you with me," Jace said instead, kneeling behind Vane and pressing a knife to his neck. "Sorry about that."

"Senseless," Vane said with a strange smile. "So fittingly you."

The world around him seemed to shift, the crater in the square shrinking as Jace's grip on it tightened. He was barely aware of the change happening, but he could feel it nonetheless, this foreign force flowing through his veins, twisting everything, turning it all into something new. It was exhilarating, but at the same time, frighteningly intimate. It was like looking in a mirror and seeing yourself for the first time.

He barely had time to marvel at the sensation before a new voice echoed through the square, speaking directly into his skull.

[Alert! Alert!]

[Sentinel Army: 100% Casualties]

[Warden Commander Vane: Uninstalled]

[New Skill Acquired: Emperor's Authority]

[Passive Skill Unlocked: Reality Anchor]

[Warning: The High King has been alerted.]

[Estimated Time to Arrival: 180 Seconds]

Jace didn't bother looking at the message, but he could feel it nonetheless, a strange weight pressing against his ribs. He turned his gaze to the sky, where the sun was just beginning to set. It was beautiful, really, but he barely had time to appreciate it before another thought occurred to him.

He glanced down at the small space between the two slabs of concrete, the one that had saved him from the enforcer's blade. It was strange really, how something so seemingly insignificant could be the difference between life and death. He looked around, taking in the destruction he'd caused, and for the first time since the battle had begun, he felt a sense of pride well up inside of him.

It was a strange feeling, foreign and unfamiliar, but not unwelcome.

"Let him come," Jace murmured to himself, his voice barely more than a whisper. "I want my throne back."

It shouldn't have been what he wanted, but for reasons he couldn't quite explain, it was.