With the system still offline and no one answering their calls, the four warriors settled into a makeshift camp on a broken cliff inside the crimson-sky simulation.
Felicia roasted a phantom rabbit on a summoned flame spit. Kamaki sharpened his gauntlets, muttering insults at the heavens.
Lihanna sat cross-legged on a floating rock, humming.
Tyrone lay flat on the ground, scythe stabbed in beside him like a camp flag.
Kamaki: "I swear, if one more AI voice tells me to 'remain calm,' I'm gonna ignite this realm myself."
Felicia: "Do it. Might make the rabbit taste better."
Lihanna: (Peering over at Tyrone) "Hey."
Tyrone: (Half-lidded eyes) "Yeah?"
Lihanna: "You fought well. I didn't go easy."
Tyrone: "Neither did I. If I blinked once more, I'd have lost my nose."
Lihanna: (Smirking) "It's a good nose. Would've been a shame."
Tyrone: (Internally) DID SHE JUST COMPLIMENT MY NOSE?? STAY COOL, STAY—
Felicia: (Interrupting with a sharp tone) "So… Lihanna. You ever gonna tell him?"
Silence.
Tyrone: (Sits up) "Tell me what?"
Lihanna: (Expression flickers) "Nothing. Just… that I'm glad we finally fought. That's all."
Felicia raised an eyebrow but didn't push. Kamaki glanced between them and snorted.
Kamaki: "You two flirt harder than a sitcom finale."
Felicia: "Coming from the guy who tried to suplex me midair and screamed 'You're hot!' in the middle of combat."
Kamaki: "It was the temperature, not— You know what, never mind."
Suddenly—
ZZZT. SPARK. BOOOOM.
The ground trembled. Simulated clouds twisted.
The sky above opened—a tear in the code. Purple light flickered unnaturally.
A mechanical voice screamed:
WARNING: CODE INTRUSION DETECTED. SYSTEM COMPROMISED. UNKNOWN ENTITY BREACHING STAGE 4.
Tyrone: "What the hell is—"
A dark figure descended from the sky—cloaked in glitching pixels, its form distorting every second.
No face. No voice. Just a low, echoing hum.
Lihanna: (Standing slowly) "That's not part of the simulation…"
Felicia: (Summoning her flame again) "We're not alone anymore."
Kamaki: (Eyes narrowing) "Guess this sleepover just turned into a raid boss run."
Tyrone stood, twirling his scythe.
Tyrone: "Now this… is more like it."
⸻ [Crimson Battlefield – Glitched Nightfall] ⸻
The simulated sky cracked open with a static hiss, like a thousand cicadas caught in a microwave. From the tear crawled a grotesque form—a tangled mass of writhing tendrils, chitinous plates, and glowing parasitic eyes that blinked independently. The ground beneath it pulsed as if infected.
Felicia's flames sputtered nervously. Kamaki's fiery aura flickered, struggling against a creeping chill.
Operator (glitching):
"Unauthorized entity detected… error… quarantine breach… ID: Parasite-Dynasty-X9."
Felicia: (Clenching her fists) "Uh, nope. Nope nope nope. Time to roast this walking science experiment."
She unleashed a spear of blazing fire. It pierced through the parasite's outer shell—
FWOOSH—
—and vanished like a candle flicker in the wind.
Kamaki: "That's cheating!"
He charged, fist blazing with kinetic fire. His punch connected—kind of.
WHAM!
The parasite convulsed, splitting into a dozen smaller writhing blobs that reassembled instantly behind him.
Felicia: "Kamaki! Duck!"
Too late.
ZRAAAAK!
A spiked tendril jabbed into Kamaki's back, tossing him like a ragdoll into the rocky ground. Dust and sparks flew.
⸻
⸻ Tyrone & Lihanna: Bug Hunt Begins ⸻
Tyrone: (Stepping up, aura flaring) "Okay, I don't know if this is a bug or a feature, but I've got a killer patch for you."
He swung his scythe, sending arcs of shadow energy slicing through the air.
The parasite twitched—then absorbed the shadows, spitting them back out as twitchy, glitchy pixelated parasites swarming Tyrone.
Tyrone: (Rolling his eyes) "Oh great, now it's a virus and a parasite."
Lihanna: (Appearing beside him, blades shimmering like water) "Let's flush this infestation."
She moved like a tidal wave, blades carving spirals that cleaved through the swarm. Tyrone followed, slashing shadows into the gaps she opened.
SLASH—DODGE—DIVE—CLANG!
The parasite writhed and shrieked, trying to adapt and mutate with each strike.
Lihanna flipped over Tyrone, her blade dripping with a high-pressure aquatic strike.
"Aqua Severance!"
SCHWOOOOM!
The parasite shrieked as part of its writhing mass exploded into mist.
But—
The core writhed, pulsating—still alive.
⸻
⸻ Parasite Core: "Dynasty Spawn" ⸻
The parasite's form stabilized, revealing a massive insectoid maw surrounded by writhing tendrils and a cluster of glowing eyes.
Tyrone: (Uneasy) "Yeah, that's not getting any less gross."
Felicia: (Steeling herself) "Gross is about to get crispy."
⸻
⸻ Kamaki's (Reluctant) Comeback ⸻
Suddenly—BOOM!
Kamaki rocketed up from the dust, half-singed but grinning like a maniac.
Kamaki: "WHO'S READY TO GET BUGGED OUT?"
Felicia: "You're nuts."
Kamaki: "And fireproof!"
⸻
⸻ Team Ultimate: Extermination Protocol ⸻
Felicia: (Calling out) "Cover me, shadows!"
Tyrone: "On it."
Lihanna: "I'll cage it."
Kamaki: "And I'll smash it!"
They moved as one:
Lihanna summoned a swirling dome of water, trapping the parasite in a vortex that slowed its movements like molasses.
Tyrone created six shadow clones, each slicing from different angles, confusing and distracting the beast.
Kamaki gathered every ounce of fiery rage, charging a blazing uppercut that cracked the air.
Felicia ascended, flames burning hotter, summoning her ultimate:
"Hellflame Nova: Devour Protocol."
She unleashed a blazing sunbeam that struck the parasite's core.
KRA-KA-BOOOOOOM!
The battlefield exploded in a fiery storm.
The parasite screeched, shattered, and disintegrated into harmless sparks.
⸻
⸻ Aftermath ⸻
The simulation stabilized; the glitch was gone.
Operator's voice buzzed back online:
"Simulation… restored. Intrusion neutralized. Estimated origin: Monster Dynasty Parasite—unknown variant."
Tyrone wiped sweat from his brow.
Tyrone: "Good thing it wasn't neve … she gives me nightmares."
Lihanna smirked.
Lihanna: "Yeah, but somehow I think Kazimir's gonna love hearing about a bug infestation in the simulation."