"You tried to corrupt me… and I evolved your corruption."
---
The ground beneath him cracked—code and stone splitting as Hari's knees hit the floor.
> [System Alert: Evolution Core Overloading]
Warning: Evolution threshold breached prematurely — mutation risk 74.2%
Stabilization required: FORCE EVOLUTION INITIATED.
His veins glowed.
Purple-black energy pulsed under his skin—raw, unstable, and beautiful. His left eye shattered into a mirrored spiral, while his right bled violet flames.
The Patchbeast lunged again, screeching through broken data.
But Hari—half-conscious, half-awakening—raised his hand.
> [Core Fragment Assimilation: Success]
➤ Skill Created: CODEFLARE ARMAMENT — "Adapt corrupted traits into weapons"
A blade of shifting energy formed in his palm.
Not steel. Not mana.
Pure rewritten system error.
He slashed without even standing. A glitchwave tore through the beast and the air behind it—warping space as it passed.
> BOOM!
The Patchbeast's torso disintegrated midair, torn apart by a wave it couldn't comprehend.
---
👁 Inside the Core
Hari saw visions.
Glitches. Forgotten players. Code-chained entities trying to scream. Pieces of monsters stitched together by admin hands.
And at the center of it all… a burning silver throne.
On it sat a figure shrouded in glitchfire. A hooded being with an identical mirrored eye.
> "Welcome to the other side, Reclaimer," the figure whispered.
"But know this—if you truly want to change this world, you must be willing to erase what you once were."
Hari clenched his fists.
> "Then so be it."
---
🧬 New Form Unlocked
> [Evolution Complete: Reclaimer Ascendant Form Activated]
➤ Traits Gained: – Glitchstep (teleport through unstable code lines)
– Mirror Rewrite (reflect one skill per fight, fully adapted to your core)
– Core Theft (Passive) (steal a skill from any system-bound enemy defeated)
Hari rose.
Hair flowing, eyes glowing like collapsed stars. His armor now shimmered between material and code—a living construct adapting by the second.
The Patchbeast tried to regenerate—
> [Glitchstep → Mirror Rewrite → CODEFLARE STRIKE]
Hari moved like light cracking through a mirror—appearing behind the beast before it could finish its scream.
SHINK.
One slice.
One clean end.
The Patchbeast fell, not dead—but erased.
---
⚠ The System Reacts
> [ALERT: Forbidden Evolution Confirmed]
[Anomaly "Harindra" has exceeded designed class boundaries]
→ Deploying Countermeasure: REAPER-NODE_00 from Root Layer
→ Location: Tracing… Tracing… Sector Null breach detected.
---
💀 The Reaper Awakens
In a broken vault at the bottom of Sector Null…
A black capsule opened. Inside it, an armored figure stirred—bound by red runes, blindfolded, yet reaching for its blade.
> "Harindra... the one who rewrote himself."
Its HUD lit up.
> Target: Kill the Reclaimer. Absorb Core. Reset Timeline.
---
🎭 Hari's Decision
Hari knelt near the Patchbeast's shattered core. His hand hovered over the last fragment—still flickering with unstable code.
He could leave. Escape. Hide.
But he didn't.
> "Let them come."
> "I'm not running anymore."
The light from the portal to the Inner Core Layer cracked open behind him—only accessible to Reclaimers.
Hari stepped through—head high.
---