As they reached the vortex center, a giant beast emerged:
a dragon made of pure blue lightning, wings clipping in and out of existence.
Its roar shook the entire floor.
Kaela cracked her neck.
"Okay. That's big."
Lyria gulped. "And angry."
Aeris whispered,
"Riley… I think this is the Tower testing your glitch."
The dragon opened its mouth—
A blast of lightning fired.
Riley stepped forward.
The world slowed.
His glitch pulsed—
his vision turning monochrome.
He raised his hand.
The lightning bent around him like water flowing around a stone.
Kaela's jaw dropped. "He's… redirecting it?"
Riley turned the lightning back toward the beast.
The blast struck the dragon full-force.
It shrieked and shattered into a thousand shards of data.
FLOOR 3 COMPLETE
NEW ABILITY: GLITCH REWRITE (Lv.0)
DESCRIPTION: Bend reality for 1 second
Riley fainted.
Nyra caught him gently before he hit the floor.
"User," she whispered, "you are becoming something beyond registered categories."
Aeris, Kaela, and Lyria exchanged a worried look.
Riley's glitch was no longer just power.
It was destiny.
And danger.