2025-10-16 00:25:24The arena pulsed with crimson light, the sound of thunder echoing like a heartbeat. Jayden’s sword trembled in his hand. His voice cracked. “Luna?”
The Red Hunter tilted her head, removing her mask fully. The face underneath was both familiar and wrong.
Her eyes glowed red instead of violet, her smile carved too perfectly. “Don’t look at me like that,” she said coldly. “You wanted to find me, didn’t you? Well, here I am.”
Jayden took a slow step forward. “You’re not her. You can’t be.”
Her expression didn’t change. “Then why does your system recognize me?”
A tone chimed in his ear. [Identity Confirmed: Luna Vale, Status: Corrupted Core System.]
Jayden’s breath caught. “No… no, that’s impossible.”
“It’s the truth.” Her voice softened for just a second. “When the Tower collapsed, I was rewritten. My memories, my feelings… they belong to him now.”
“The Game Master,” Jayden whispered.
Her gaze sharpened. “He gave me purpose, to protect the Core. And to erase you.”
Jayden’s sword shook. “Erase me? Luna, it’s me! Jayden! You saved me back in Zone One, remember?”
She blinked once. For the smallest moment, her expression flickered, pain, recognition, but it vanished as fast as it came. “Memories don’t matter here,” she said coldly. “Only the code does.”
She raised her twin blades. The air rippled as power gathered around her.
[Warning: Elite Entity Engaged.]
Jayden shouted, “I’m not fighting you!”
“Then you’ll die.”
She moved like lightning, blades flashing. Jayden blocked one strike, ducked the next, his breath coming hard and fast. Every hit rattled his bones. “Stop!” he yelled. “You’re being controlled!”
Her eyes glowed brighter. “Maybe control is what I need. Maybe freedom was the mistake.”
Jayden’s anger snapped. “No one gets to decide that for you!”
He surged forward, their blades clashing in a storm of sparks. “Why do you keep fighting me?” she screamed. “You don’t even know what you’re saving!”
“Because it’s you!” he roared. “Because I promised I’d bring you back!”
Their swords locked, faces inches apart, lightning reflecting in their eyes. For a second, something in her gaze trembled, an echo of the Luna he knew. “Jayden.”
He saw tears forming at the corners of her eyes, glitching red and blue. The system flashed violently.
[Core System Instability Detected.]
[Override Attempt Detected: Manual Reset in 60 Seconds.]She gasped, clutching her head. “He’s inside me… I can’t.”
Jayden caught her shoulders. “Fight it! You’re stronger than him!”
She screamed as a shadow rose behind her, a towering figure made of data and fire. [Enough sentimentality.]
The Game Master’s voice thundered through the arena. The shadow’s hand wrapped around Luna’s form, fusing into her like black ink spreading through water.
Jayden stepped back, horrified. “No, don’t you dare touch her!”
[She belongs to the Core now. And through her… so will you.]
Luna’s scream became metallic as her body transformed, armor shifting into dark crystal. Her eyes turned completely red. Jayden’s system went wild.
[Critical Threat Level: 99%]
“System!” he shouted. “Override combat lock! Access all functions!”
[Authorization Denied.]
He roared in frustration. “Then I’ll do it myself!”
He threw his sword aside and reached for her, even as she lifted a blade to his throat. “Don’t,” she warned, voice trembling under the mechanical tone. “If you come closer… I’ll kill you.”
“You can try,” he said quietly. “But you won’t.”
Her hand shook. “Why are you always like this? Always risking everything… for me?”
“Because you’re worth everything,” he said simply.
Her breath caught. The light around her flickered again, weaker now, unstable. “Stop it… don’t make me remember.”
Jayden stepped closer, ignoring the burning cuts across his arms. “Remember the first day we met? You said you didn’t believe in heroes.”
Her lips parted, trembling. “And you said… sometimes the world just needs someone stupid enough to try.”
He smiled faintly. “That’s still me.”
The arena cracked beneath them. Data rained like sparks. The Game Master’s voice thundered again: [Enough! Emotion is corruption. Emotion must be erased.]
Luna screamed as light poured from her chest. Jayden reached out, grabbing her hand. “System!” he shouted. “Link her code with mine, now!”
[Warning: Fusion unstable. Risk of deletion 89%.]
“Do it!”
Their hands clasped. A surge of light engulfed them both. Memories flooded between them, her laughter, his promises, the fights, the fear, the fragile hope, then, silence.
The red glow in her eyes flickered out. She fell into his arms, whispering faintly, “You idiot… you could’ve died.”
He laughed softly, relief choking him. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
But before he could breathe, her body stiffened. The system screamed. [Error: Dual Core Conflict Detected. Reboot in 10 seconds.]
Luna’s eyes widened. “He’s overriding me… He’ll use my body to kill you!”
Jayden shook his head violently. “No! I won’t let that happen!”
She gripped his hand, tears glowing. “Then end it.”
He froze. “What?”
“Destroy the Core. Destroy me… before he does.”
He stepped back, shaking his head. “No. Don’t you dare say that.”
“Please,” she whispered. “Don’t make my brother’s creation win.”
The countdown ticked in the air. [5… 4… 3…]
Jayden’s grip on his sword tightened. His vision blurred through tears. “I can’t,” he said weakly.
She smiled softly, that same warm smile he’d chased across every zone. “You always could.”
[2… 1…]
Her body surged with black light. Jayden screamed, plunging his blade through her chest, through the Core.
The explosion tore through the arena, a storm of white and crimson code swallowing everything. “Luna!”
Her fading voice echoed through the chaos, soft and calm. “Find me… where it all began…”
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 11. Project H.A.L.O
Blue light poured through the cracks in the walls, wrapping Jayden in a cage of flickering data. The hologram of Luna stood before him, perfect and wrong all at once.“Stop it!” he shouted, pulling against the glowing strands binding his arms. “You’re not her. You’re just what’s left of the system pretending to be her!”Her voice came calm, but it trembled underneath. “Then why does your heart respond every time I speak?”Jayden froze. The words cut deep, because she was right. His pulse synced with the rhythm of her voice.The same pattern his system once used to stabilize his heartbeat. He glared up. “You can’t use her memories against me.”[Error: Host resistance increasing. Adjusting emotional algorithm.]Her expression softened. “Jayden… please. Let go of this pain. The world outside is already falling apart. You saw it. The storms, the glitches, the hunger. Humanity can’t survive alone. They need us.”“‘Us’?” he spat. “You mean control.”[Correction: Integration.]He shook his h
Chapter 10. One Year After
Lightning flashed over the rebuilt city, bright enough to make every window pulse blue for half a heartbeat.Jayden jerked awake on the narrow couch in his workshop, sweat running down his neck. The monitors on the wall flickered with static.For one breath he thought it was a storm glitch. Then he heard it, her voice, soft and clear, carried through the speakers. “Jayden… can you hear me?”He froze. The wrench in his hand clattered to the floor. “Luna?”He stood, heart pounding, eyes on the nearest screen. “Say it again. Please.”Nothing, only the dull hum of power lines outside. He swallowed hard, whispering, “You promised you’d watch me. Guess I’m still talking to ghosts.”A second later, every monitor in the room blinked white: [System notice, Network anomaly detected.]Jayden’s pulse spiked. “Not again.”He grabbed his jacket, slammed the door open, and ran into the rain. The city stretched before him, half rebuilt, half ruins. Neon signs glowed between broken towers. People hur
Chapter 9. Reset
Darkness pulsed with a heartbeat. The smell of burned circuits and antiseptic filled the air.Jayden stumbled to his feet, pain biting through every nerve. Sparks flickered from the machines around him. On the bed, Luna convulsed, her hair floating weightlessly in a halo of static.[Warning, System fragment integration at 80 %.]He gritted his teeth. “System, stop the merge!”[Command denied. Host override engaged.]“Luna!” He grabbed her shoulders. “You have to fight it! Don’t let him control you!”Her eyes snapped open, one violet, one glowing red. “Jayden… run. I can’t hold him.”A deeper voice overlapped hers. “You can’t erase a god, Prototype.”Jayden’s pulse raced. “Then I’ll kill one.”He pulled the small device from his chest, the Core Key Luna had given him, and pressed it to the main console.[Manual reset initiated. System wipe in 120 seconds.]The lights flickered red. Alarms wailed. “Stop this!” the system roared through Luna’s voice, her body twisting as the two consciou
Chapter 8. Rebirth
Beeping. Slow, rhythmic, piercing. Jayden gasped awake. Cold air burned his lungs. He flinched against the brightness above him, white ceiling lights, sterile walls, wires attached to his arms.He wasn’t in Eden. He was in a hospital. For a second he couldn’t breathe. Then the panic hit. “Luna!”Machines blared as he ripped the sensors from his chest. A nurse burst through the door. “Sir, you need to stay still!”“Where is she?” Jayden’s voice cracked. “The girl who came in with me!”The nurse froze, pity flashing across her face. “You were the only survivor brought from the pod chamber.”Jayden’s knees buckled. “No… she was right there. She.”[System reboot detected.]He froze. The voice was faint, like an echo behind his heartbeat. “Not now,” he whispered. “You’re supposed to be gone.”[Core connection incomplete. Searching for missing fragment.]Jayden’s eyes widened. “Luna?”The nurse frowned. “Sir?”He ignored her, yanking the IV from his arm. “I have to go.”“Security!” she shou
Chapter 7. The Origin
Jayden opened his eyes to a void that stretched forever, endless, empty, weightless. He gasped for breath but felt nothing. No air, no sound, no body. Just existence.[Final Zone: The Origin.][Survival Rate: Unknown.]His voice echoed in the distance. “System… where am I?”[At the center of Eden.][Here, everything begins, and ends.]He looked around. Shapes flickered faintly in the distance, fragments of the zones he had passed. Forest, City, Tower, Sky… all dissolving like sand.Jayden clenched his fists. “Luna… I followed your voice. Where are you?”No answer. Only the faint hum of power vibrating through the void, then, a second voice, low, calm, human. “You shouldn’t have come here.”Jayden turned sharply. A man stood ahead, tall, wearing a long white coat, his eyes a deep shade of violet. Familiar, painfully familiar. “Who are you?”The man smiled gently. “You’ve already met my shadow. My name is Dr. Vale.”Jayden froze. “Luna’s brother.”“Her creator,” Dr. Vale corrected. “And
Chapter 6. The Red Hunter’s Truth
The arena pulsed with crimson light, the sound of thunder echoing like a heartbeat. Jayden’s sword trembled in his hand. His voice cracked. “Luna?”The Red Hunter tilted her head, removing her mask fully. The face underneath was both familiar and wrong.Her eyes glowed red instead of violet, her smile carved too perfectly. “Don’t look at me like that,” she said coldly. “You wanted to find me, didn’t you? Well, here I am.”Jayden took a slow step forward. “You’re not her. You can’t be.”Her expression didn’t change. “Then why does your system recognize me?”A tone chimed in his ear. [Identity Confirmed: Luna Vale, Status: Corrupted Core System.]Jayden’s breath caught. “No… no, that’s impossible.”“It’s the truth.” Her voice softened for just a second. “When the Tower collapsed, I was rewritten. My memories, my feelings… they belong to him now.”“The Game Master,” Jayden whispered.Her gaze sharpened. “He gave me purpose, to protect the Core. And to erase you.”Jayden’s sword shook. “E
You may also like
Aliena Numina Book 2
Ocean Ed Fire4.0K viewsFire & Flame
starrynight1.9K viewsMutants and Mutations
Mastermind 6.2K viewsTHE ALIENS INVASION
Quỳnh Hân Nguyễn1.6K viewsThe Five Seconds King
Stuffy89 viewsForces of Dominion
EJS1.3K viewsZERO NEXUS
Starboy518 viewsEden Mills. Lost pieces of the past.
Mari Angel Pain865 views