Chapter 144 Face Yourself
The jungle held its breath.
Her eyes fixed on the distorting mirror reflection as it rushed toward her, Natasha remained motionless. The copy fought with the same style as her but unleashed its attacks more quickly and aggressively and with complete cold-blooded. Each hit from her mirror fight mirrored her previous choices yet it dodged like she would before she decided to act in a mockery of that indecisiveness. The confrontation was beyond a simple battle—they faced each other in judgment.
The jungle remained quiet except for the intense sounds of metal striking metal repeatedly. The impact between Natasha's blade and its double caused the vibrating shocks to run across her arms. The dimmed mirror with broken light eyes let out a final snarl while absorbing power from their confrontation. Each movement the weapon performed seemed familiar but strange because the actions resembled her skills in a wicked imitation.
Alison hurried toward the dying man when the ground beneath him crumbled with a loud roar at that moment. A profound explosion emitted from the fissure as it tore him into an artificial battle zone designed by the glitch. Vines recoiled, pixelating. A dim and flickering open screen displayed the signs of signal loss in the sky above.
"Ira!" Natasha yelled. "Help Alison!"
But Ira's hands glowed erratically. Her powers moved through space like an undulating youth of petroleum creating disorder in its path. The spell she cast for a barrier turned into electric strokes while failing against her face. The snatcher Dren swiftly saved her before she would have plummeted backward.
The established principles no longer work anymore. Ira gasped, breath ragged. "This world is rewriting itself."
Natasha dodged a blade strike then attacked with her knife in a spinning motion but her duplicate effortlessly caught the hit. The impact struck both of them hard enough for them to slide across the ground. Her attempt to stay upright on the moving ground caused memory fragments to emerge in her mind.
___
The battlefield morphed with every second. The program transformed tree structures into fishlike liquid code which finally rearranged into writhing thorny vines. A wave-like motion spread across the ground where Natasha stood. She needed to depend on instinct since strategy would not work in this situation.
The doppelgänger spoke again with the same hissing tone as it approached her. Her voice emerged different from before since metallic distortion added a spooky layer to it. "Your brother. Crying out. You heard him. And you chose yourself."
"No," Natasha whispered, eyes narrowing.
Her grip loosened on the sword blade.
Strikes of memory hit her about the first game night and the glitch outbreak followed by her brother yelling through her earpiece. The silence afterward. She self-assured herself that everything was okay with him. He would live through the same way she managed to survive. That she didn't fail him.
The double pressed that you had assured yourself you bore no responsibility. "You lied."
Another strike came at her even quicker than before. Natasha parried, but barely. The double sliced her arm with a brief cut that left an opening across the surface. Physical and emotional pain consumed her at that moment. Her defenses were crumbling.
That fateful raid in the past caused the double to alter its disguise into Nyra—the alliance leader whom Natasha had deserted during that operation.
The voice that spoke belonged to Nyra while the double struck.
The intensity of her fury made Natasha unleash a shriek as she drove her body forward. The jungle around her responded. The vines started moving while the roots glided under her footsteps toward the ground. Whatever strength remained in her after the Source transferred its power warmed her body with electrical energy.
She produced a hurricane of pure energy which stemmed naturally from inside her body. Theimpact of the shockwave forced the clone to move backward. Trees shattered. Code rained like ash.
___
While within his broken virtual realm Alison battled against opposing challenges. The simulated world transformed into a bad dream that she had experienced before. The company's tower lay in complete destruction below him. A firestorm rose to the sky while employees panicked wildly around him. Multiple computer displays showed the emergency warning message "CRITICAL FAILURE" with their screens partially broken.
The central figure resembled the man in a suit who had his father's face though his eyes held nothing but emptiness. "You built this on borrowed ambition," the figure said. "What did you think would happen when the game stopped playing by your rules?"
Alison clenched his fists. "I did what I had to. I signed up for the Quest with the purpose of preserving this business. To fix what he started."
The figure showed a flat expression while smiling. "And now look. The algorithms you created have become disorder at its peak. Can you fix this too?"
The wave of shadows advanced at him in the shape of his deceased former colleagues from the company he had worked for. All employees whose positions he removed through automation. Friends he'd abandoned.
The weapon he held proved inadequate because it was simply a piece of failed code merged into a broken prototype. Using his unsteadiness he managed to lift the object.
He confessed to being unable to perform the task. "But I'll try."
___
Inside the jungle Natasha fought her inner double entity as she fell further into her psychological state of mind. Every parry sparked another memory. Each defensive failure brought forth fresh moments he wished to forget.
From the first day she entered the game she fled as an outlaw rather than a participant. Her sibling had urged her to stay away from this plan. She had dismissed him although she swore she would return within a brief span of time. That was weeks ago.
"You are me," the double whispered, now bearing her brother's voice. "The liar. The coward."
Natasha gritted her teeth. "Maybe I was. But I'm not her anymore."
The terrain collapsed around them. The jungle revealed a bleeding pixelated hole which lay among writhing roots. Natasha dashed between the empty space and connected with her alternate self in the air. They clashed, blades sparking.
Her double delivered a double-footed kick that thrust her body against the serrated edge of an ill-formed tree. Blood bloomed across her back. She sank to her knee while she panted heavily.
But something else stirred.
A warmth.
A heartbeat that wasn't hers.
The fragment of the Source.
___
She closed her eyes. Release the numerical data together with the technical aspects and control networks. Let instinct take over.
And the world responded.
She rose to her feet slowly. The jungle emitted faint lights from her body while it responded to her presence. Her blade transformed itself into heavy form while its dimensions changed. The weapon tore free from its original design parameters. It was something else. Hers.
The double charged, roaring.
Natasha didn't flinch. She let out a battle cry before penetrating her glitch-self with her blade through the chest.
It froze.
And smiled.
"You win," it whispered, before shattering into a thousand shards of fractured light.
The floating pieces began their brief suspension before turning into a radiant symbol that formed its spiral pattern.
It shot into Natasha's chest.
Light burst inside her body when she reacted with surprise.
The system installed a new protocol which activated EXILE MODE at its Level 1.
She collapsed to her knees. The jungle stabilized. The shadows quieted.
Ira ran to her, eyes wide. "You did it. Natasha, you—"
The surrounding world revealed its first fractures at that moment.
Like glass breaking.
Natasha made an attempt to stand up and extend her hand but it vanished right through Ira as if she was transparent. Dren's voice echoed, distorted. From a distance Alison screamed to get her attention.
Then it all shattered.
She fell—through darkness.
New Realm
Cold.
Still.
She woke in surprise while lying on metal plates.
A place she didn't recognize. Dim lights flickered above. No HUD. No indicators. No jungle.
Her fingers twitched. Her appearance within the suit reminded her of space-based isolation equipment. Her blade was gone. Her breath fogged in the air. Something felt… real. Too real.
Then—
A whisper.
"Natasha…"
She turned.
An obscure figure materialized in front of her.
Not a monster.
Not a glitch.
The tall man possessed pale eyes which seemed to emit a faint light under the dim illumination of the room.
He greeted her with these words. "Player Zero."
The door behind him slid open, revealing a corridor of sterile metal and distant alarms.
"Welcome to Exile."