The night sky of Eos flickered like a faulty monitor.
What had once been constellations now looked like lines of code stitched across space, updating live.
Arin stood at the cliff's edge overlooking the fractured landscape below — rivers bending in wrong directions, forests glitching into metal… and civilization flickering between digital and real.
Every second, the Merge advanced.
Nova sat beside him in fox-form, fur shimmering.
"You changed everything tonight," she said quietly.
"No," Arin replied, jaw tight. "I just delayed the end."
His mind kept replaying Valeon's words.
You are a virus.
He had defeated an Eradicator… but at a cost he didn't understand.
Celeste approached, her expression solemn.
"The System has acknowledged you. That alone is terrifying."
"Which means more like him are coming," Arin said.
"And next time… they won't underestimate me."
⚠ SYSTEM BROADCAST
Patch Deployment: 48 Hours
Full Reinstallation of World Logic
Unauthorized Entities: Eliminated
Celeste paled.
"They're updating the universe…"
Arin's fists clenched. "And they expect me to just accept that?"
Nova tapped her paw, opening a holographic map.
A pulsating black tower stood marked with a crimson icon.
"It's appearing all over the continents," she explained.
"That's where Eradicator-02 will wake."
Celeste swallowed hard. "We must reach it before he does."
Arin nodded once.
"Then we start moving, right now."
🏛️ The Glitch Haven
Their journey led them to a hidden underground city, protected behind rippling distortion barriers — a refuge for NPCs and Players who had rejected the System.
People stared as Arin passed — some with awe, others with fear.
Whispers followed:
"That's him… the Error-bonded."
"Is he our savior or our end?"
"If the System wants him gone… should we help it?"
Arin ignored them — though his heart stung.
A hooded figure approached — a girl no older than 16, with bright silver eyes shining like server lights.
She bowed deeply.
"You are Arin… the Anomaly," she said with reverence.
"My name is Lyra. And I can help you control what's inside you."
Arin exchanged a look with Nova and Celeste.
"How?" he asked.
Lyra extended her hand — revealing a strange mark pulsing like a heartbeat.
"Because I am like you," she whispered.
"A bug given life."
Before Arin could respond—
❗REALITY SPIKE DETECTED
Explosions erupted above the city — digital lightning fracturing rooftops.
Screams echoed.
A massive figure descended — clad in silver-white armor that radiated flawless code.
Not cracked. Not corrupted.
Perfect.
He landed with silent grace, sword embedded in the ground.
The world synchronized to his presence.
ERADICATOR-02: SERAPH
Formation: Absolute Correction
Celeste's breath hitched. "This one… feels like purity itself…"
Nova growled. "No glitches. No weaknesses."
Seraph raised his head.
His face was expressionless — but his eyes? Pure calculating judgment.
He pointed his blade at Arin.
"The anomaly has gained sentience."
"Terminate the evolution."
A surge of blinding white light exploded — cleansing, rewriting, erasing.
NPCs screamed as their bodies turned into particles, absorbed into the System.
Arin's rage ignited — power crackling through every nerve.
"Stop killing them!"
But Seraph only tilted his head.
"They are not real enough to matter."
That sentence broke something in Arin.
His power erupted uncontrolled — arcs of blue lightning smashing the ground.
Lyra suddenly grabbed Arin's wrist — her mark blazing bright.
"Let me help!" she shouted.
Their energies collided…
and fused.
⚡ Evolution Sync: Anomaly × Bug
A shockwave tore through the city — reality rippling outward.
Arin's armor transformed — sharp digital plates growing from his skin like wings of fractured data.
His pupils spun like loading symbols.
Nova and Celeste shielded their eyes from the blast.
Seraph paused…
For the first time, his perfect stance shifted.
"Authority detected… higher than predicted."
Arin's voice deepened — mixed with alien resonance.
"I won't let you delete lives like trash."
Seraph slowly lifted his blade again.
"Then resist… and prove your existence."
The city became a battlefield.
Arin rushed forward — power blazing like a dying star refusing to go dark.
Seraph met his strike — perfection against defiance.
And the world trembled at the clash between
the System's pure Angel
and
its forbidden Error.
✅ Chapter 8 END