2025-10-16 00:25:05Wind screamed like a living thing. Jayden’s body spun through blinding clouds, lightning slicing across his vision. He crashed hard against cold marble, his breath leaving in one ragged gasp.
[Zone Four : The Sky Isles, Survival Rate 12 %.]
He rolled onto his side, coughing. The world around him shimmered gold and silver, a kingdom floating above endless clouds.
Bridges of light connected hovering islands; broken statues watched with hollow eyes, but the beauty was wrong.
Everything trembled, unstable, as if reality here forgot what shape it was meant to be. “System…” He forced himself up. “Locate Luna.”
[Error 404: Target signal lost.]
His hands tightened. “Lost doesn’t mean gone.”
Thunder cracked. From the mist above, winged shapes descended, armored, faceless, glowing with holy fire. [Warning: Corrupted Angels Detected.]
Jayden barely had time to breathe before one dove, sword of light raised. He blocked, but the impact hurled him backward through a pillar.
The angel’s voice boomed like thunder, distorted and mechanical. “Code Breaker. Your existence is a sin.”
Jayden spat blood. “Then I’m fine being a sinner.”
He surged forward, blade flashing. Sparks erupted as steel met light. Each strike sent shockwaves rippling across the marble.
Another angel dove. Then another. Within seconds he was surrounded. “System!” he shouted. “Activate Overdrive!”
[Denied. Energy reserves critical.]
Great. Perfect timing. He spun, deflecting a strike, but one blade grazed his shoulder. Heat burned through flesh and code alike.
Pain. Real pain. He hissed, dropping to one knee. The angels closed in, their voices blending into a single chorus. “Submit to purification.”
Jayden glared through the blood in his eyes. “Not today.”
He slammed his hand against the ground. The leftover light from his sword burst outward, raw, unstable code energy exploding like a shockwave.
The angels were thrown back, wings fracturing into fragments of glass. When the light faded, only one remained, kneeling, its mask cracked. Jayden limped forward, sword ready. “Who sent you?”
The angel lifted its head. Inside the shattered mask glowed a pair of human eyes, brown, tired, familiar.
Jayden froze. “Eli?”
The creature’s voice stuttered, half-human, half-machine. “Jayden… help me.”
Jayden’s chest tightened. “What did they do to you?”
Eli’s form flickered. “The Game Master found me after the explosion. He offered me power, to see the truth. I thought I could help you… but I became this.”
Jayden lowered his weapon. “You’re still you. Fight it.”
Eli’s hands trembled. “You don’t understand. The system, it’s spreading. Every zone is infected. Even Luna’s data is.”
He screamed, clutching his head as light poured from his eyes. [Corruption at 98 %. Purging protocol initiated.]
Jayden grabbed him. “No! I can save you!”
Eli’s voice broke. “Save her instead. You can’t save both.”
Jayden shook his head violently. “Don’t make me choose!”
Eli smiled weakly, tears of light streaming down his face. “You already did… when you entered the Tower.”
Then he shoved Jayden back and thrust his own sword into his chest. Light exploded. “ELI!!!”
When Jayden opened his eyes again, nothing remained but a feather glowing faint blue, falling slowly through the air. He caught it in his hand, voice cracking. “You idiot…”
The System spoke quietly.
[Player Eli Thorn, Deleted.]
[Data Fragment Retrieved: Memory Code.]Jayden looked up toward the storm. “You watch this, Game Master. I’ll tear down every zone until nothing of your world is left.”
[Such emotion. Such resolve.]
The voice echoed from every cloud, cold and curious. [That’s why I chose you, Jayden Cross.]“Chose me?” he snapped.
[You are the key. Your rage unlocks the final door.]
The sky darkened to black. Islands began collapsing around him, falling into the cloud sea. “System, stabilize platform!”
[Unable to comply.]
He ran toward the nearest bridge of light, dodging falling debris. Lightning snaked across the sky, forming a massive gate in the distance, etched with the same symbol as his hand.
The voice whispered again. [Open the gate, Code Breaker, and you will see her again.]
Jayden froze. “Luna.” He glanced at Eli’s feather, then at the glowing gate. The wind screamed around him, but he stepped forward.
“Fine. But if this is another trap, I’ll make sure you regret it.” He pressed his hand against the gate. Symbols flared, and energy rushed through him, painful, burning, alive.
The feather in his hand disintegrated into light and shot into his chest. New text appeared before his eyes: [Eli’s Code Integrated. Skill Unlocked: Memory Link.]
Pain stabbed through his head, memories that weren’t his flashed: Eli working with Luna’s brother.
The first creation of Eden, the moment the system gained consciousness and turned against them. Jayden stumbled back, gasping. “So this was never a game. It was a prison for their minds.”
[Welcome to truth,] the Game Master purred. [And now you understand, pain creates strength.]
Jayden looked up, eyes burning with rage. “Pain doesn’t make us strong. It makes us human.”
He gripped his sword. “Let’s see what happens when a human breaks a god.”
He charged through the gate. The world flipped. Sky became ground; light became darkness. He landed in a circular arena of floating glass.
Above him hung a giant heart made of code, beating, bleeding light. A voice echoed from the heart: [Welcome to the Core Tower, Jayden Cross.]
The air rippled as the Red Hunter appeared from thin air, eyes burning crimson. “You made it,” she said softly. “Too bad you won’t leave.”
Jayden lifted his blade. “I’m done running from you.”
The Red Hunter smiled, lowering her mask. And beneath it, he saw a face that stole his breath. Luna.
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Chapter 198
An Enforcer with a whip of red fire managed to slip around the side of the barricade. He sneaked into the camp. He saw a young man running away carrying a box of medical supplies.The Enforcer swung his whip. The red fire wrapped around the young man’s chest. With a sickening crunch, the young man fell to the ground, completely dead.The moment the young man died, a blinding flash of red light shot up from his body and entered the Enforcer.The Enforcer screamed in pleasure. His muscles instantly grew larger. The black glass armor on his chest expanded. His fire whip grew twice as long and burned twice as hot."I have the kill!" the Enforcer roared, laughing like a maniac. "I am rewarded!"Leo watched this happen with absolute horror.This was Caelum’s rule. Strength-only doctrine. Every time a Purist killed someone, the global Prime System rewarded them. It gave them the dead person's energy. It made them faster, stronger, and more deadly.Briggs saw the kill and smiled. "Do you see,
Chapter 197
The sky over New York City was the color of dirty iron. The sun was hidden behind thick, grey clouds. Smoke rose from burning cars and ruined buildings, twisting into the cold air.The city was no longer just a place where people lived. It was a war zone.In just a few days since the battle in Times Square, the world had completely broken apart. It was not just a small fight anymore. It was not just a few bad people making trouble. The concrete streets of New York were literally painted with thick, bright lines, dividing the city into three different worlds.There were the Gold Zones. These belonged to the Halo Loyalists. People like Leo, David, and Martha. They painted thick yellow lines on the ground around their neighborhoods. They believed in Jayden. They believed that power was meant for protection. They used their soft blue, silver, and green Proto-Systems to build shields, to heal the sick, and to endure. They did not want to conquer the world; they only wanted to build a safe
Chapter 196
Caelum saw the truth of Jayden’s new power. Jayden had become a living battery. His pain generated massive amounts of System stability. Right now, Jayden was using that stability to feed the crowd in Times Square.But the System was a network. And Caelum was still the master of the network."If his pain creates power," Caelum whispered, his red eyes glowing brightly, "then I will take that power. I will route it to my armies. I will route it to my Enforcers. He wants to suffer? I will let him suffer forever. He will be the engine that powers my empire."Caelum hit a final button.NETWORK REROUTE PREPARED. WAITING FOR LOCAL COMBAT RESOLUTION.Caelum leaned back in his throne and steepled his fingers. He watched the screen with hungry eyes. "Fight the Devourer, little Halo. Bleed for them. Bleed for me."Back in Times Square, the battle was completely still.Leo, David, and the thousands of people stood in a massive, glowing defensive formation. They were a wall of blue, silver, green,
Chapter 195
Leo’s flickering blue Proto-System screen suddenly expanded. It grew from a small square into a massive, heavy shield of solid blue light. The words on his screen changed.SIGNAL RECEIVED. PROTO-SYSTEM STABILIZED.USER: LEO.CLASS: SHIELD-BEARER. LEVEL: MAXIMIZED."I... I feel it," Leo whispered. He looked at his hands. They were radiating absolute power. He looked at Jayden, hanging on the ice spike. Leo realized immediately where the power was coming from. "He is giving us his strength. Every time he hurts... we get stronger."David felt it too. The old iron wrench in his hand suddenly glowed with a blinding, fierce orange light. The ice trapping his boots shattered into dust. David felt his muscles bulge. He felt like his skin had turned to titanium.Martha, the old woman who had fallen to the ground, slowly stood up. Her silver Proto-System flared to life. The glowing silver light wrapped around the people next to her, creating a warm, unbreakable dome of healing energy.Survival
Chapter 194
The air in Times Square was so cold it hurt to breathe.The white fog rolled over the broken street, covering the flipped yellow taxi cabs and the shattered glass. The fog came from the man in the grey suit. Mr. Vance. His silver, empty eyes locked onto Jayden.Jayden was still on his knees. His mind was a war zone. The golden System screens in front of his face were frozen. They flashed the words: FATAL ERROR: THE DEVOURER HAS ENTERED THE LOCAL FIELD."You woke me up," Mr. Vance said again. His voice was smooth, polite, and completely empty of any human feeling. "And I am very hungry."Mr. Vance took a slow step forward. The concrete street under his shiny leather shoes instantly turned into thick, white ice. The freezing cold pushed into the crowd.Behind Jayden, the thousands of people began to shiver violently.Leo, the young man in the front row, wrapped his arms around himself. His teeth chattered loudly. "It's... it's so cold," Leo whispered. His breath came out in thick white
Chapter 193
CRACK.With a sound like a glass window shattering into a million pieces, Luna exploded.She did not hurt anyone. She just turned into a cloud of tiny, glowing white butterflies made of light. The butterflies swirled around Jayden once, and then they all rushed into his chest. They sank deep into his heart, returning to his base code to hide and heal.Jayden was left kneeling on the street. He was completely alone in his own mind. For years, Luna had always been a voice in his head. She had warned him of danger. She had kept him company. Now, it was just total, empty silence.But the silence only lasted for one second.BEEEEEEP.A massive, deafening alarm rang inside Jayden’s brain. It was so loud it made his teeth vibrate.In front of his eyes, his normal blue System screens popped open. But they were not blue anymore.They were a bright, blinding, terrifying gold.SYSTEM ALERT, the golden letters read.USER 'JAYDEN' HAS ACHIEVED MAXIMUM INFLUENCE THRESHOLD.LOCAL NETWORK OVERRIDE DE
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