Reiji limped down the slope, lungs still full of static. His HUD blinked smugly:
> [Emergency Override – Cooldown: 23h 47m]
Status: Congratulations, you're now a war criminal.
"Cool," he muttered. "Basically a one-button delete enemy.exe. Shame it comes with a 24-hour cooldown. Feels like premium gacha currency… one pull per day."
The forest below was broken. Villagers phased in and out of houses. A dog barked without moving its mouth. And the sky? Half golden sunset, half dripping black code.
Then came the sound: clang, roar, steel on bone.
Reiji followed it into a clearing—and froze.
A lone warrior was surrounded by corrupted boar-things. Their tusks flickered like jagged polygons, flesh glitching in and out of existence. Silver armor gleamed, sword wreathed in scripted light.
He knew him. Not personally—but from the game box.
> Kael Draven. Protagonist of Elysia: Fatebound. "The Chosen Hero." Poster boy of every JRPG trope Reiji had sworn to mock.
Kael swung his sword. "By oath and flame, I will banish this corruption!"
"Oh hell," Reiji muttered. "I just walked into the main campaign."
He ducked behind a tree. Kael fought like a speedrunner with an AI cheat. Every time he landed a blow, a flame boar duplicated. Error messages scrolled midair like subtitles for a crashing cutscene.
> [ENEMY RESPAWN LOOP DETECTED]
[SOURCE: UNKNOWN CORRUPTION THREAD]
Reiji winced. "Yep. Definitely the Observer's fingerprints."
One tusk phased through Kael's guard. Without thinking, Reiji yelled: "HEY! MAIN CHARACTER! ROLL DODGE!"
Kael actually did it. The tusk missed by inches. His eyes narrowed. "…You. You're not supposed to be here."
"Oh great," Reiji muttered. "Even the NPCs think I'm DLC."
The boars turned on him. Reiji reached for Emergency Override—only to see:
> [Ability Unavailable. Cooldown 23h 12m]
"Perfect. Guess I die like tutorial fodder."
Kael flared his sword. "Stay behind me, outsider!"
"Yeah, sure," Reiji scoffed. He grabbed a rock and flung it at boars. Midair, it multiplied into a thousand pebbles, pelting the creature into dust.
Kael froze. "…That… wasn't in the script."
Reiji smirked. "Neither am I."
Together, they fought. Kael's sword carved arcs of light through corrupted flesh. Reiji improvised chaos—rocks, glitches, random code hacks. It was messy, brutal… and ridiculously fun.
When the last boar dissolved into red static, Kael lowered his blade, panting. His gaze pierced Reiji.
"You… are not of this world. You carry the mark of corruption."
Reiji sighed. "Look, man. I just spawned here by accident. Didn't even get a character creation screen."
Kael pointed his sword. "If you are truly an outsider… you are either salvation—" His tone hardened, "—or the end."
Before Reiji could answer, the sky flickered. Massive error messages spread across the clouds:
> [WARNING: OBSERVER CONNECTION DETECTED]
[PROTOCOL: INTERFERENCE]
Kael staggered. HP bar flickered. His voice distorted. "No… he's—he's watching—"
And then he froze. Mid-frame. Like a paused cutscene.
Reiji's stomach sank. Somewhere, above the virtual world, a single eye opened.
Watching. Always watching.
To be continued....