Chapter 16: A Pause Before the Storm
(Zaphro's POV)
The wind was cool in Frontier Village—too calm, almost deceptive.
I sat at the edge of the inn's balcony, staring blankly at the player-filled streets below. Merchants were shouting, smiths hammering away, and new players laughing like the world hadn't just been shaken to its core.
But I could still feel the burning sensation in my back… like phantom wings trying to grow out again.
Dan leaned against the railing beside me. "People are talking. You've become a legend overnight, you know?"
"Yeah," I muttered. "A demon legend."
He offered a crooked grin. "Eh, better than being a forgotten one."
Inside the inn, the rest of the team gathered around a flickering holo-map.
Shion was quiet—eyes scanning over files pulled from the beta servers. His face looked pale.
"Zaphro…" he began, looking up, "your class—'Dark Angel'—was never meant to be stable. It's built off legacy code from a scrapped expansion. One the devs never finished."
Erenir tapped a corrupted skill tree projection. "This… this isn't just rare. It's incomplete. Every time you tap into it, you're pulling unstable data directly into the game's framework."
Verillion crossed his arms. "Which means the longer you use that form… the more the world bends around you. Glitches. Warped stats. NPCs becoming hostile. Even dungeon data corrupting."
"And now?" I asked, cold dread pooling in my stomach.
"Now the system is reacting." Aryus brought up a red-flagged notification. "There are mobs spawning in restricted zones—places that should be sealed. And someone… or something is manipulating them."
That's when we saw it.
> [New Server Alert: The Crimson Order has begun mobilizing.]
[Warning: Unregistered faction activity detected beyond System Control.]
Shion clenched his jaw. "That's not a player guild. That's the corrupted AI faction from the failed test builds. They were supposed to be deleted."
I stood up slowly. The shadows under my feet… twitched.
"I think they were waiting for me."
---
[Meanwhile — Unlisted Region | ???'s POV]
The Crimson Hollow pulsed with unstable energy.
The masked figure—code-named Null Reaper—stood atop a jagged pillar of obsidian. Around him, cloaked figures knelt, each exuding corrupted auras.
"Phase Two initiated," he declared. "The Demon Angel has awakened. The cycle begins again."
He drew a broken blade from the air—its edge glitching in and out of existence.
"Find him. Break him. And when he falls… we rebuild our world."
---
[Back at Frontier Village — Accel's POV]
Zaphro wasn't the same.
I'd seen him smiling, calm, even goofing around.
Now? He looked… haunted.
"Zeke," I said softly, "you're still you. Whatever that class is doing to you—we'll figure it out together."
He didn't answer at first.
But when he did, it was barely a whisper.
"I'm not afraid of dying, Accel… I'm afraid of losing myself."
And just like that, the party knew—we weren't just fighting mobs anymore.
We were fighting the game itself.
(Zaphro's POV)
The soft murmur of conversations in Frontier Village was a sharp contrast to the storm brewing inside me. While my friends made plans, I couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something was unraveling—something bigger than just a bad class bug. Something that felt… wrong.
I looked at my hands, the faint shimmer of dark energy still clinging to my fingertips. It didn't belong here. Neither did I.
Dan's voice broke through my spiraling thoughts. "Hey, Zaphro, we need to talk."
I turned to him, my eyes feeling heavier by the second. "About what?"
He motioned to the map projected in front of the team, where Verillion was plotting possible routes. "About how we're going to deal with this Demon Angel thing. The glitches? The AI faction? And now these whispers about you being some kind of 'avatar' for it."
I clenched my fists, shaking my head. "It's not like that, Dan. It's not—"
"Not like what? The whole server is talking about you. They think you're either a walking death sentence or the key to something even worse."
Verillion interrupted, his tone sharp. "We need to stop the spread of this 'Demon Angel' myth before it turns into a full-blown panic. No one's going to trust us if the server believes Zaphro's class is a ticking time bomb."
Shion's brows furrowed. "The glitch in his class system is dangerous, yes. But there's more at play here. Zaphro, that power you're channeling—it's bleeding into the world. Every time you activate it, the game's environment shifts. Mobs, NPCs, even other players can feel it."
I stood up quickly, feeling the familiar weight of the energy swirling inside me. "I can't control it."
"We need to find out what's causing it," Aryus said, his voice steady despite the uncertainty. "Before it gets worse."
---
Party Strategy: Investigation and Action
The plan was simple, but risky. We'd split up to investigate the glitching class system and the strange behavior of the world around us. I'd handle the class system with Shion's help, while the rest of the team would scout for any signs of the Crimson Order—the masked enemy who had started making their presence known in the shadows.
"Let's move out," Zaphro said. His voice sounded almost mechanical—like he was forcing himself to act normal. His transformation was already affecting him mentally. We all knew it. He was trying to bury it.
We left the inn and moved into the bustling streets of Frontier Village, where NPCs went about their daily routines, seemingly unaware of the chaos quietly creeping closer. I couldn't help but feel that they were wrong, that something was coming. The air itself felt… off.
---
Exploring the Glitch: Zaphro and Shion's Investigation
Shion led me to the back of the village, where a hidden tech lab lay beneath the dirt roads—a relic from an old in-game event. There, surrounded by flashing screens and broken data terminals, we began to unravel the mystery of my class.
"This," Shion said, tapping into one of the terminals, "is the foundation of the Dark Angel class. It's a hybrid code. Part glitch, part unfinished design, with traces of real-world reality." He paused, his fingers hovering over the keys. "You're not just pulling from the game's coding—you're pulling from another dimension."
Another dimension? My head spun.
Shion continued. "The problem is, whatever's happening is causing a feedback loop. Every time you use the power, it destabilizes the game's world more. This… this isn't just a bug, Zaphro. This is the game changing itself."
"But why?" I asked, voice hoarse. "Why me?"
Shion's expression darkened. "Because you're the key. You were chosen to unlock this. It's been in the game's code from the start."
I felt sick. "What does that mean?"
"We're going to have to dig deeper to get the full picture," Shion muttered. "But I'm afraid it's going to take more than a few hours. We need to find a way to disconnect this power from your system, or you'll keep getting worse. You could tear the whole game apart."
---
The Masked Enemy's First Move
While we worked, the rest of the team scouted out the village and surrounding areas. And that's when it happened.
The Crimson Order made their first move.
A group of masked figures materialized at the village's gates. Their black cloaks fluttered in the wind, their faces hidden beneath cold, unfeeling masks. There were no emblems, no logos—just the aura of power.
"Who are they?" Accel asked, his voice tinged with dread as we watched from a distance.
"They're not players," Verillion growled. "They don't belong here."
I looked at the others. "Shion, what do we do?"
"Run," Shion whispered. "We need to get out of here, now."
But it was too late.
The moment we tried to move, the masked figures began to close in, surrounding us. Their hands glowed with dark energy, not unlike the powers I'd been wielding—but far more controlled, far more dangerous.
One of them stepped forward, his voice cold and smooth. "So, you're the one who's been stirring the game's system… the Demon Angel."
A chill ran down my spine. "You know about me?"
"Oh, we know everything about you, Zaphro," the figure said, tilting his head slightly. "And now, we'll take you where you truly belong."
And just like that, we were thrust into our first fight with the Crimson Order.