The aftermath of Cain's duel left the Glitchborn Vale trembling. Fractured terrain shimmered like broken glass, suspended in midair by the lingering effects of spatial rupture. The Origin Protocol was still active, humming within his core, threads of multiversal code slowly untangling like divine circuitry.
But Cain had no time to rest.
His Reality Interface pinged with a rare red-gold System Notification:
[SYSTEM ALERT: Unauthorized access detected. Trace initiated.]
Cain's eyes narrowed. "Someone's trying to hack the System Lab?"
He dove into the System Core. A tunnel of cascading code enveloped him, launching him into a glitched cross-reality environment.
[WELCOME TO: GLITCHED DOMAIN ALPHA-001] [OBJECTIVE: Identify and Neutralize Intruder Entity]
The atmosphere distorted. Cain stood upon a fragmented data platform. Binary rains fell from above, merging with shifting landscapes: ruined databanks, corrupted realm code, and phantom echoes of alternate timelines.
A figure emerged—hooded, wearing a cracked admin badge labeled Beta.EXE.
"Nice firewall," the entity smirked. "But I've tunneled deeper before."
Cain accessed the Reality Editor, summoning System Constructs—floating cubes bearing the mark of his dominion.
[LOADING: Firewall Guardian Constructs — SSS-RANK]
Three shimmering protectors emerged: hybrid golems encoded with chronomantic arrays and arcane syntax.
The duel was instantaneous.
Beta.EXE flung logic bombs that fractured nearby code structures. Cain rewrote defense protocols mid-fight, warping construct blueprints in real-time. With every clash, he gleaned insights—not just about Beta.EXE, but the vulnerability of the very world layer he stood on.
[NEW ABILITY UNLOCKED: System Intrusion Counter — Traceback Glitch Halo]
Time slowed. Cain activated the Glitch Halo, pulling Beta.EXE into a memory echo—a simulation of his own hacked origin.
Suddenly, Cain was reliving his death on Earth, the void of reincarnation, and the glitch that birthed his infinite MP. But this time, Beta.EXE was forced to experience it alongside him.
"YOU'RE... YOU'RE FROM—THE GHOST PROTOCOL?" Beta.EXE panicked.
Cain's eyes gleamed. "Wrong. I'm the Rewrite."
He compressed the glitch memory into a pulse of corrupted enlightenment and fired it directly at Beta.EXE's core.
[INTRUDER PURGED. TRACE COMPLETE.]
[REWARD CLAIMED: Interdimensional Root Key — Rank: GOD-TIER]
Cain stood alone as the Glitched Domain collapsed, absorbed into the layers of his System Lab.
Back in the waking world, a new structure had materialized near his dominion: the Hackspace Spire, a vertical interface for cross-reality upgrades, AI reconstruction, and fragmented realm fusion.
But deeper still, Cain now saw a new thread in the System Source:
[THREAT IDENTIFIED: NULL WARDEN ENTITY — SECTOR ZETA: DEEP VOID] [WARNING: Upcoming Event — Invasion of Patch 0.0.9e Legacy Code Begins in 72 Hours.]
Cain's breath hitched.
"Looks like the next chapter is already writing itself."