GLITCH

Inevitable Death

OUTSIDE CRYSTAL CITY

Tuesday, November 16, 2500

10:20am

"…Grandma?"

Sven is stoned upon seeing his grandmother defeated just like that. It's not just him; the Silver Crux party members were glued out of astonishment.

Lucy Fleming

HP: 1/10000

She can still be saved!

I was about to say it but Sach did speak first.

"That woman is still alive! Take her away from here!"

"Right…!"

"On it…!"

Furio and Cram are sprinting towards Granny but then they're blocked by Vlad with his spikes made out of blood.

"This is a personal matter my dear youngsters; don't interfere."

Cassiopeia HP: 90000/90000 MP: 170000/270000

Mantle: Lady Decay Lv. 168

Strength: 3200

Dexterity: 3170

Constitution: 3020

Intelligence: 9430

Skill:

WITHER [ACTIVE]

- Casts a status debuff to an opponent.

LIGHTING BARRAGE [ACTIVE]

- Casts a barrage of lightning strikes over an area or on just a single target

SPELL BOOST [ACTIVE]

- Spell damage is boosted thrice

PAINFUL RECOVERY [UNIQUE ACTIVE]

- Casts a healing magic that can even restore life and enclose wounds in exchange for an invigorating pain the casted gained before being healed.

PAIN FOR YOU [UNIQUE ACTIVE]

- A skill associated with [Painful Recovery]; returns the damage x4 to whoever dealt damage to the healed target; leaving at least 1HP.

MANA STEAL 1000 [ACTIVE]

- Steals mana according to the skill capacity.

MANA PRESERVATION [PASSIVE]

- Lets the caster cast spells with 40% less mana used

DECAYING GRACE [UNIQUE PASSIVE]

- Every time a skill is casted and hits the target, the target also obtains one stack of [Decay]. Every stock deals 20HP damage whenever the target; [Initiation Root] is also casted in the area. Whoever takes initiation to move with his/her INT lower than 9000, they'll be rooted for 20 seconds, root cooldown in 40 seconds.

Status Condition:

Cursed Remnant – Obtained from drinking the Fallen Blood.

For her to immediately defeat Granny like that! Her skills are formidable! Wait, this isn't the time to be astonished!

"Kuh…!"

"W-what…?"

"I can't move!"

…?

Her skill [Decaying Grace] affected all of us already!? Seriously…!?

"[Moho Break]…!"

Cram and Furio used their incomplete limit break but alas, with the enemy's passive skill that requires an INT over 9000, they can't still move.

"You're open wide boys. Time to pierce you two…"

As Vlad said it, many spikes of blood sprouted quickly from the ground, piercing the two of them, though not in the lethal spots. Vlad released a mocking laugh afterwards, signifying that he's toying with the two. With a scream of agony, Cram and Furio could only resist the pain inflicted by the spikes.

Darn it.

Darn it all!

•••

"Ugh…"

W-what just happened?

Why did the two of them succumb in the darkness? Where did we go wrong?

Back then when we're still in a party, we always laugh and idly chat all day long. George plays guitar, Stella plays tambourine, I, Lucy, am the vocalist; it was truly a fun time. We travel throughout the world, going on an epic adventure and slay glitches for the sake of humanity.

"…say Lucy."

"Hmm…?"

"What should we do right now?"

"Let's see…"

The three of us were sitting near the bonfire while the others are sleeping. We discussed our future plans. We planned that after traveling all places in the map; we will quit being glints and instead made a band.

But all of it changed when we got a request from a certain person. It was written in a letter; it seems shady but all of us agreed unanimously to explore the newly discovered Glitch Island, an irregular place in the continent northeast of Lecrucia that is noted as a dense area of glitch manifestation; a labyrinth of a higher caliber than that of Island of Ruins. In there, we fought against formidable Glitches. We somehow managed to pave our way to the center of the island where a huge red crystal is found floating atop of a small puddle. Instead of water, a pure blood red liquid is in it, all coming from the floating crystal we're now looking at. According to the letter, this red crystal is called "Fallen Blood Crystal", a crystal made up of the accumulated life force of the slain Glitches here. We were sent here for a certain reason, and that is to collect a sample of its fluid.

The mission completed without us suffering injuries. The shady man appeared in the bar where he told us to enter. The transaction was made successfully but as we walked away happily while carrying the hefty sum that guy has given to us, he made an offer that he said is a "bonus reward". He talked about something along the lines of "going more powerful enough to protect what we wanted to protect". It seems pretty shady, so I declined the offer. As I walked away, the rest of the party stayed and gave a thought about it.

Could it possibly be that all of them are now…?

...

"Ugh..."

"Oh? You're finally awake trash."

When I opened my eyes, I saw Stella with a smug face. She's holding my chin as I lay down with my front on the ground.

"S-Stella…what did that guy do to you?"

"Oh, him? Nothing much; he did make us stronger", Stella said as she shows me her chest.

!?

Isn't this…

"…a Fallen Blood Crystal…!? What in the seventh hell have you done to your body Stella!?"

Stella stood up and stepped her right foot on my head and said, "Heh…? What's wrong with it? It's a small price for a great exchange."

"Is becoming an artificial Glitch with a Fallen Blood Crystal embedded on your body a small price!? Didn't you know that–"

"…that this crystal is also known as 'Demon Glitch Crystal'… Is that what you're about to say? That I already know."

!?

"And with that, this conversation ends here. Goodbye Lucy."

She grabs my neck and lifts me with just one hand. Then, a large blood red spike pierced my chest from the ground behind me.

"Grandmother…!"

"Granny Lucy…!"

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…!"

"Ah, this is it! The sound of agony! Ah, it's the perfect music in my ears."

I looked at Rylai, Sven's friend, and smiled.

She's someone I adored. She's someone who helped my grandson prosper. I'm pretty sure that she'll help me out with this request of mine.

I mumbled the words that I know she'll never hear but might read it through my lips.

The last thing I heard while my body's getting numb is a malicious laugh from George and Stella, the cry of my beloved grandson and his friend, and the gushing of my own blood.

…

"Rylai…please…take care of Sven for me."