2025-07-14 13:21:06Chapter 5
Smoke lingered in the air, clinging to ruins like ghosts unwilling to let go. Zarek Voss stood on shaky legs, body pulsing with residual energy from the Alpha-Class’s destruction. Every breath came with static. His muscles twitched with overload. His system interface stuttered between functioning and reboot. And yet, the most dangerous thing in the field wasn’t the aftermath. It was the man standing ten feet in front of him. Clad in dusk-black armor laced with flickering code, the stranger looked as if he had stepped out of a corrupted prophecy—solid, quiet, unreadable. His presence triggered nothing. No scans. No threat indicators. He wasn’t there according to the System. And that alone made Zarek’s grip tighten around his blade. “Don’t bother,” the man said calmly. “I don’t register.” “Who are you?” Zarek asked. The man tilted his head, voice low but resonant. “You can call me Kalen. I’m what happens after a Glitchborn wins.” Zarek’s eyes narrowed. “Glitchborns don’t win.” Kalen smiled. “Exactly.” The tension between them felt like a blade waiting to fall. Zarek’s mind raced. His Godroot Core was stabilizing—slowly. His Reaper’s Sigil had entered cooldown. Most of his offensive protocols were burned out. And still, this man stood there, unreadable, unshaken. “You know Azerion,” Zarek said. “I fought him,” Kalen replied. “Watched him burn down a thousand Core Units before they finally caught him in a Reaper Loop. He screamed for three weeks before the system locked him into myth.” Zarek felt a chill run through his spine. He didn’t know what scared him more—what Azerion had done, or the casual way this man said it. “So you’re like me?” Zarek asked. Kalen walked a slow circle around him. “I was like you. For a while. Then I made a choice you haven’t yet.” “What choice?” “To stop trying to survive the system... and start owning it.” Zarek didn’t respond. Kalen stopped walking. “You think this ends with agents and fragment hunts? That the System will just let you keep evolving?” “I don’t care what it allows,” Zarek said coldly. “I’ll rewrite the rules.” Kalen chuckled. “Good answer. But you’re not ready. Not yet.” Zarek shifted. “Then train me.” “No,” Kalen said. “I’m not here to train you. I’m here to test you.” System Interruption: Quest Triggered [Unknown Protocol Detected] Quest Name: Proving Ground Objective: Survive Kalen’s Trial Reward: Access to Thronecode Layer 1 Zarek’s interface sparked. The environment around him changed. The city vanished. Replaced by black space. Endless, open, crackling with threads of light. He floated—freefalling in a dimension between code and concept. Kalen stood at the center, surrounded by rotating glyphs of unknown origin. “Defend yourself,” he said. “Let’s see if you’re worth what Azerion died for.” The battle began with silence. Zarek struck first—activating Phase Edge and blinking forward, slashing from the left. Kalen parried barehanded. Zarek’s blade fractured. Weapon Durability Lost: 92% Kalen moved with absolute efficiency. No flash. No chaos. Just cold precision. Every step he took changed the arena—light bent, concepts inverted. Zarek activated Kinetic Backlash, redirected a punch, and launched himself upward. He formed a temporary blade from glitch residue—Codeburn Sabre—and hurled it like a missile. Kalen caught it. Absorbed it. Warning: Opponent possesses Sigil Tier Override Zarek gritted his teeth. “Your raw power is there,” Kalen said. “But your system isn’t aligned yet. You’re reactive. Still trying to survive.” He vanished. Reappeared behind Zarek. Damage Taken: 47% – Internal Systems Rerouting Zarek coughed blood, dropped to one knee. Then something strange happened. The Sigil pulsed—this time without his input. Bloodline Override: Hidden Thread Unlocked Trait Revealed: Heir of the Coreless Throne Zarek’s eyes widened. A new menu bloomed in his interface—Thronecode Layer 0.1—something no Glitchborn had ever accessed. Kalen stepped back. “You weren’t supposed to trigger that yet,” he murmured. Zarek rose. His entire frame lit with blue-red inversion flame. He lashed out. Time stuttered. Reality bled. Even Kalen looked surprised as the force of Zarek’s strike split the arena into fragments—data shards, echoes, glitch ghosts screaming through space. He launched forward, chaining Sigil Reap + Flicker in a fusion attack. Kalen vanished again—this time slower. He reappeared across the arena, crouched, panting. Trial Completion: 73% Force Interrupt Triggered The arena collapsed. The city returned. Zarek dropped to one knee, smoking, exhausted. Kalen stood above him. “You’re not ready,” he said. “But you will be.” Quest Complete: Proving Ground Reward Unlocked: Thronecode Layer 1 – Access Granted New Trait: Code Sovereign (Seeded) Kalen turned away. “One last thing,” he said. Zarek looked up. Kalen didn’t turn around as he spoke: “You’re not the only heir, Zarek. And the others... they don’t want to rewrite the System. They want to own it.” He vanished.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
The Signal that shouldn't exist
CHAPTER 17 Zarek Pov Zarek woke before dawn. Not from a nightmare, but from instinct. Something had changed in the air. He sat up on the makeshift cot Maren had given him. Kio’s soft breathing echoed across the far side of the outpost. Outside, the wind whispered through the fractured cliffside like a warning. The pulse he’d felt last night still rang faintly in the back of his mind. A signal. Small. Faint. But alive. And wrong. He grabbed his coat, ignoring the sting in his ribs, and moved without waking them. Outside, the world looked like it was holding its breath. Ash floated through the morning mist like dying snowflakes. The mountains beyond the valley cracked with static light from the old war—a sign the border fields were active again. But the signal
A God without a Name
CHAPTER 16 Zarek pov The first thing he noticed was the absence. Of data. Of tracking lines. Of the ever-present hum of the System in his ear. Zarek opened his eyes in a clearing surrounded by mist and ruin. His body ached in ways that didn’t make sense—organic, grounded, fragile. He had stripped away every piece of his former self. No link. No ID. No system tether. Just a name whispering at the edge of memory: Voss. He said it out loud. It didn’t echo. That unsettled him. There was no feedback. No surveillance node pinged his location. No HUD scanned his vitals. He was no longer inside their framework. He was outside the System. Truly off the grid. And that meant the world was about to become infinitely more dangerous. He stagger
Code of the Broken King
CHAPTER 15 Zarek POV Zarek didn’t breathe until the cold wind cut across his face again. He stumbled downhill through the wreckage of the Eastern Citadel, his coat torn, blood soaking the band around his ribs. Every step burned. Every breath felt like dragging broken glass into his chest. But it wasn’t the pain that kept him awake. It was the whispers. Not from the System. Not from Null. From inside him. From whatever that red portal had awakened. He’d seen them. Copies. Fractures. Broken Sovereigns, each one a failed ghost of himself—faces he didn’t remember having, versions of him that never should have survived. But they had. And they were being unleashed. By his own codebase. “You idiot,” he muttered, staggering into a tree trunk for balance. “You thought you were the only one who got
The First Reaper rises
CHAPTER 14 Zarek POV There was a smell in the wind—like burned circuitry and wet stone. Not natural. Not from this world. It was the scent of a system breach. Zarek stood on the edge of the collapsed citadel plateau, boots grinding into fractured crystal, his chest rising slowly. Beside him, Nyx winced as she pressed gauze over her bleeding temple, her cloak torn and her dagger coated in synth-blood. They had survived the first wave. But something had changed. “They’re not pulling back,” she muttered, voice low and tight. “That wasn’t a test squad. That was an execution unit.” “They needed confirmation,” Zarek said. “Now they have it.” Nyx looked at him sideways. “You sent a damn beacon.” He didn’t deny it. He had triggered the old signature. That meant the network had recognized him—Zarek Voss, former System Sovereign
Ashes of the Forgotten Crown
CHAPTER 13 Zarek Voss Pov The wind over Ashvale didn’t howl—it hissed, low and mean, like it had a memory to settle. A memory soaked in blood and iron and judgment. Zarek crouched near the shattered obsidian altar, his fingers tracing the cold, ancient grooves. Every line pulsed faintly under his skin like the aftershock of something buried too deep. It wasn’t just a ruin. It was his ruin. “What kind of place is this?” Nyx asked, her voice cut through the air behind him, sharp with nerves. “It feels like it’s breathing.” “It should be dead,” Zarek muttered. “But the System doesn't bury its sins. It archives them.” He stood slowly, his boots crunching against bone fragments and fractured glass. Ashvale had once been a Citadel—his Citadel. The throne of the Western Code Ring. Until the System erased him from it like a smudge. [System Notification: Sub-Th
Ghost Protocol: Reap.exe
Chapter 12 The entire chamber groaned beneath the pressure of the system-breaking presence. Zarek’s eyes locked onto the figure emerging from the void like it was being carved out of reality itself.Entity Detected: Crown Hunter Unit Ω – Reap.exeThreat Level: Ω-Red (Auto-Eradication Protocols Engaged)Objective: Sovereign Termination – Priority ClassCrown Sync Disruption Probability: 87%It was huge. A towering juggernaut of shifting metal, black glass, and blood-red algorithmic light. Its joints hissed like grinding tectonic plates, and its single eye scanned the chamber with perfect focus. In its right hand, a blade longer than Zarek was tall—serrated with glowing inscriptions—each line a Sovereign it had killed."Fallback to Ghost Protocol now," Zarek muttered. “Nyx—engage Silence Field Alpha.”Nyx nodded sharply, a rare flicker of urgency breaking her usual calm. She raised her hand, channeling her Crown’s core into the chamber. The light bent and warped as silence swallowed th
You may also like
Become a Super Rich With Destiny Changer System
BOSSSESamaaaa30.4K viewsThe Ultimate Heir System
Ramdani Abdul70.6K viewsSystem Activated: Revenge of the bullied.
Ella Chimezie25.3K viewsFrom A Useless Cripple To An Almighty Boss
Sweet savage28.3K viewsMy World Domination System
Tony Jericho5.0K viewsMY SUDDEN RICH GAME SYSTEM
Author Riele6.4K viewsThe Charismatic Steve With System
Jusuf Morris 25.6K viewsRise of the Greatest Prodigy
Khay Phynom 2.2K views