They walked in silence.
Behind them, the battlefield was still dissolving — red code rising like ash, fading into the void. Ahead, the path shimmered. Not solid ground anymore, but a translucent bridge of data strands that stretched toward a flickering horizon.
Raka kept glancing back.
"You ever feel like we're leaving something behind every time we move forward?" he muttered.
Iqiww walked beside him, gaze locked ahead. "In here? We're always leaving pieces of ourselves behind."
---
After the fall of the Code Knight, the system had shifted.
It no longer felt passive.
Everything moved subtly — sounds echoed longer, shadows twitched even without light, and the HUD pulsed softly like a heartbeat.
Raka opened his inventory.
The Lost Code: FRAG_ID_04 hovered at the top — a glowing shard of broken UI, shaped like a crystal blade fragment, shimmering with lines of unreadable script.
When he tapped it, a new screen opened:
> [CODE FRAGMENT – V1.R.EX]
"Built to protect. Corrupted by time. Now serves silence."
Passive Skill Unlocked: Data Sync (LV.1)
Your mind partially syncs with system AI.
Gain brief precognition in combat.
Risk: System might sync back.
Raka frowned. "That last part. 'System might sync back.' You seeing this?"
Iqiww nodded slowly. "Yeah. That's… new."
They kept walking.
---
The bridge led them to a strange place — not a map, not quite a loading zone either. It was a Terminal Chamber: a vast, floating space filled with shattered environments, glitched terrain pieces, and flickering memory echoes. Buildings from long-forgotten maps stood half-formed — a corner of Ninja Village, a broken corner of Monkart Base, even an incomplete throne room from Castle Map.
"This is… the Archive," Iqiww said, almost whispering.
Raka turned to him. "You know this place?"
Iqiww nodded. "Every major player ends up here at some point. But not like this. This place wasn't open before. It used to be locked by dev code."
"Until we beat the Knight?"
"Maybe," Iqiww replied. "Or maybe… it's reacting to you."
They explored.
Each step triggered echoes — voice lines from old players, system sounds, fragments of chat logs.
> "1v1 di Pirate? Jangan nangis ya."
"Bray, DC gua. Invite lagi dong."
"Astaga, itu combo apa barusan?!"
Ghosts of the past — preserved in sound.
---
Then they found her.
At the center of the Terminal Chamber stood a girl — back turned, cloak flowing, staring into a giant cracked screen showing static and flashes of old matches.
Her voice, when she spoke, was soft. Glitching.
"You beat one of them."
Raka blinked. "One of what?"
She turned around.
Her eyes were completely pixelated.
> [UNREGISTERED NPC – NAME: NULL]
[System Status: Unknown | Behavior Pattern: Unstable]
"I used to be the announcer," she said. "Back when people played for fun. Before… this."
She pointed at the screen.
It showed a match from years ago. Raka recognized it.
It was his. A tournament final from when he was 14.
His old avatar. His old name. The final kill.
But in this version… he lost.
"What the hell is this?" Raka breathed.
"This world remembers everything," the girl said. "Even the lies you tell yourself."
---
Iqiww stepped in front. "What do you want from us?"
"Not me," she said. "It. The system. It's learning you. Testing you. Each fragment is a key. Seven fragments unlock the Core."
Raka narrowed his eyes. "And what happens if we unlock it?"
She smiled.
But it was the saddest smile Raka had ever seen.
"Then you'll finally understand why no one ever logs out."
A pulse of static hit the room. The screen shattered.
The girl vanished.
A new system message blinked:
> [New Objective Unlocked: Locate the Next Fragment]
[Map Unlocked: Hollow Market - Offline District]
Raka turned to Iqiww. "Did she just say no one ever logs out?"
Iqiww sighed. "Welcome to the next level."
---
To Be Continued…