The corrupted forest roared to life.
From the shadows, monsters spilled forth—wolves with jagged frames, boars fused with tree roots, and humanoid husks whose faces stretched into broken polygons. Each one twitched unnaturally, their bodies glitching as though the system could barely hold them together.
Lyra's grip tightened on her flickering blade. Her corruption pulsed across her arm, sending waves of distortion into the air. Arin stole a glance at her—her stance was firm, but her breathing uneven. She was fighting more than the monsters.
"Stay close to me," Arin called.
Lyra shot him a sharp glare. "Don't think I'm fragile just because I'm cracked."
Before Arin could respond, a corrupted wolf lunged.
Pause Function.
The world froze mid-motion. Arin darted sideways, yanking a jagged branch from the glitching ground. He positioned himself just right.
3… 2… 1.
The wolf resumed, only to slam into the branch, its head exploding into shards of data.
Lyra smirked faintly. "Not bad." She slashed her corrupted blade through another creature, but her attack left behind trails of unstable energy that lashed out in random arcs. One arc nearly struck Arin.
"Watch it!" he barked.
Her expression tightened. "I told you—I can't always control it."
Arin clenched his jaw. He remembered what she had said: whispers in her head, pulling her deeper into corruption. Her skills were powerful, but unstable—just like the world they were in.
A massive boar-like beast tore into the clearing, its tusks made of corrupted stone, eyes glowing red. It bellowed, shaking the unstable ground.
"Big one's mine," Lyra muttered, stepping forward.
The boar charged. Lyra's body flickered like static, vanishing, then reappearing above it. Her blade slashed downward, striking its skull. The impact shattered its head into fragments—But the corruption backlash surged up her arm, sending her crashing to the ground.
"Lyra!" Arin rushed forward.
The boar, headless but not defeated, swung its corrupted tusks blindly, its body still rampaging. Arin's mind raced. He couldn't take it head-on—not without a plan.
Pause Function.
The world froze again. Arin looked at Lyra, lying dazed. Her blade was still lodged in the boar's skull fragments, but her corruption glow pulsed dangerously.
He sprinted, grabbed her weapon, and rammed it deeper into the boar's body. Then, using Code Rewrite, he forced the terrain beneath the beast to spike upward, impaling it.
3… 2… 1.
Time resumed.
The boar shrieked as the ground erupted beneath it, its body shattering into corrupted dust. Lyra groaned, pushing herself up just in time to see the explosion.
She blinked at Arin, a crooked smile forming. "You… used my weapon… and your exploit together."
Arin extended a hand to pull her up. "Yeah. And it worked."
The system chimed.
[New Combat Technique Unlocked: Exploit Sync]
Description: When fighting alongside another bugged player, your skills can merge into unstable but powerful combo effects.
Arin's eyes widened. "A combo skill…?"
Lyra chuckled, wiping blood—no, corrupted static—from her lip. "Guess we're stuck with each other now."
The rest of the monsters circled warily, their movements faltering. For the first time, Arin and Lyra stood back-to-back, their mismatched powers pulsing in sync.
Arin grinned. "Alright then. Let's show them what broken players can really do."
The corrupted army lunged. And the fractured alliance of two bugged souls fought as one.