POV: ??? (demon, Creed of Whispers)

No, no, no! That can't be! The Defect prototype... a lot of research... everything destroyed...

That damn green stuff is spilled over everything!

At least the glitches are not active, else we'd have to abandon the whole lab... but holy shit... why now!? We were so close to finalizing the next step!!

Argh, damn it all!

None of my coworkers have any clue what went wrong, there was no innertuber, err, intruder either.

How will I explain that to the boss!?

...

There's no helping it. Besl'atoth will find out anyway...

I make my way over to the communication device and dial in his contact.

Please be in a good mood...

Beep Beep

Click

He picks up, "Yo?"

"Boss, we have a major problem. The Defect... It is no more."

"What do you mean?"

"It...uh, has passed on?"

He sounds doubtful, "Come again?"

"Ah, you know... It has bought the farm, canceled its 'flix sub. The prototype has upgraded its OS to 11. With its warranty expired, its hardware shut off reporting back to its maker. Its computing processes now belong in a museum. It saw a blue screen for the last time. It ate the bucket, divorced the mortal coil, gave up its ghost and took a nap without setting the alarm. It is, as you say, become a Feature!"

He's confused, "What the hell are you talking about? Wait a sec, I haven't had my fiftieth coffee yet..."

Uh...

Slurping Noises

"Okay, better. Please try once more, maybe I get it now."

"Right... So we've, uh, had a glitch outbreak here, and it wrecked the Defect and most of our research..."

He sounds disappointed, "Oh... that's all?"

"Pardon? All of our progress is just-"

The boss sounds ecstatic, "Itht, my friend-"

I interrupt him, "It is Ithta'agor, sir."

"ITHT", he uncorrects me, then inquires, "or do you prefer Iggy? Or maybe Jimmy? I'm open for a different nickname if you want."

"Uh, no, ...Itht will do then, Besl'atoth, sir."

"Eh, why so formal? We know each other long enough. Just call me Bert. Most of my friends do."

Not sure how I feel about calling my superior a 'friend', but I think I may give it a try. For now.

I cautiously agree, "If you're fine with it, ...Bert."

"Sure thing. So some may call me dumb but I'm certainly not blind. I can read some simple instruments, Itht, and they tell me that we had a massive Glitch Spike last night. So if you tell me half your lab is in tatters that is about the expected outcome. Your sensors should've picked up the spike as well, didn't they?"

"Sorry, sir, uh, I mean, Bert, but the sensor station has also moved on."

Boss tries but fails to get mad, "...I don't want a repeat."

"Sorry... but, uh, what exactly is a Glitch Spike, sir?"

He sighs, "You don't... Right, you are too young for that. Well, I take it you're at least familiar with the Second System Crash half a decade or so ago. The first one was nearly seven-and-a-half millennia ago, you should know that since I bring it up about every second creed meeting where I summarize our goals."

"Uh, yeah, I... kinda doze off at those, I've heard it too often by now, uh, nothing personal, Bert, sir. But I totally recall how several worlds got destroyed just from the side effects, your home world included."

Mr. systemless continues his explanation, "Right, that. So we still have no clue about the second one, but the first crash was caused by what we now call a Glitch Spike, rather several of those at the same time. A Glitch Spike is a devastating ripple effect that is usually caused by massive glitch activity. Itht, I'm talking something on the scale of a few Glitch Zones being created at the same time and engulfing whole planets within minutes level of activity."

"Ah, those things. Uh, I didn't know we had a concrete name for them besides just random calamities."

"Yeah, so, anyway, our research is indecisive about how many of those catastrophes were needed for such a crash, some go as low as three, others as high as ten. And as it turns out, yesterday a single Glitch Spike occurred. What damage it has caused to the system is of yet unclear but it won't be good. It won't be anything as big as wiping out several solar systems but you can bet your behind that it will negatively impact several system features."

"I see. So that just reaffirms that we need to succeed in our endeavor and delete the system as soon as possible. No system, no more casualties through all of its flaws and errors."

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"Yeah, among other things", he drifts off, "...well, since you're in for a different reason, you may take this as your last opportunity to get off this crazy train. I'm ready and willing to-"

I interrupt him, "No, boss, uh, I mean, Bert. The devas have taken everything from me, and crushing their precious system is the only adequate response. If not for me, then for everyone else who had and still has to suffer under them."

He sneers, "And there's not a single doubt in your mind that it is worth all those casualties? No wink of fate nonsense? You know as well as I do that only thirty percent or so of our test subjects survived being freed from the system. I tell ya from personal experience, learning to think anew was the hardest part."

They branded us heretics, demons or whatever slur they could come up with, just because some of us contracted glitches from their godforsaken system. Do you really expect me to forgive them for that shit?!

"And even thirty percent may be just a fluke, sir, our sample size is way too small to say anything for certain except that it can be done at all."

He agrees, "Yeah, we still not to work out some kinks. But who knows how much time we have left for that. We may have to employ a solution that is as unreliable as what we have right now."

"Either way, I'm in, sir, all the way to the bitter end. Whatever the cost shall be, it can't be worse than a random glitch hitting another critical system feature and forcing us all to need to breathe concrete or drive life to extinction in a different way. And you don't have to advertise the system-free life to me, I've already met your children. They are proof enough that the system is not a necessity."

Bert laughs, "Glad to hear it. So, yeah, as I was saying earlier, your equipment malfunction was probably caused by the Glitch Spike, nothing you can do about it. So tell your guys to not panic, you're not at fault - for once. Not like last time with the rampaging heptapus."

"I... choose to not know what you're talking about. That event was embarrassing enough."

He chuckles, "Heh, don't get your hopes up the others will ever let you forget. Speaking of, was that everything that got damaged? Only the prototype and some research? Is the artifact still secure?"

"No, the crystal stone is unharmed. Energy readings are all within the expected range as well, and all attached machinery seems to be operating normally. Well, if you want to call it processing a mere three deceased since last night normal. All duds, of course."

"Eh, that's all within expectations. So anyway, you can focus on salvaging what you can for now, in the meantime, I'll send someone, now who's available... let me think... uh, D5 should be available. I'll send him with another copy of our wobbly friend and some new equipment for your lab. That should get you back up to speed. Any idea how much our goal was pushed back?"

Wobbly friend... which wobbly friend... Oh, he means prodding the glitch beast for another offspring. Right, that thing. The one where we want to imitate its annoying property for our bioweapon project.

"D5? Uhhh... do you mean that chuuni?"

Bert confirms, "Precisely. He currently goes by Dread Dark Deathman of Doom and Destruction, or Taxman for short. I'm curious what dumb name he makes up next month."

"Urgh, just kill me already..."

"No can do. We still need your expertise. So, uh, how big was the damage to your research exactly, Itht? How much were we thrown back."

Hesitantly I admit, "Uh, about... ten years?"

"So little? Damn, and here I thought I could pull a bit less overtime for a while... Taylor and Smith were so successful I can barely keep up with the results despite forgoing sleep for weeks now..."

"What exactly did they pull off? I'm not exactly up to speed on that part."

"They were only supposed to steal some intel for us and cause a diversion or two, to keep the devas off our back for a while. Instead... they managed to actually off the big guy. Can you believe it? Our main obstacle Todo is DEAD."

"...that sounds implausible. Shouldn't he be, uh, immortal, invincible and everything?"

Boss audibly shrugs, "I've no clue how, they don't either, but... well, it is one problem less for us but one more for me. This whole situation moved the timetables way forward."

"I can imagine... by the way, have you heard anything about Asholog? I'm waiting for some research results from his team but he's overdue for a couple of weeks now and I've heard nothing."

He's distraught, "Yeah, bad news for that. One of the devas found their lab and slaughtered every last one of them. I had to write a lot of condolence cards..."

"That's... bad. When will he be back? He should recall most of the relevant info when his soul returns back to the cycle of life."

"Not happening. You remember when we stole the design for the reincarnation machine from the devas? It turns out one of its parts was connected to Todo's existence. With him dead... we'll need to find a new workaround. But until then, all souls will just wither away into nothingness."

"Wait, wait. Did I just hear you right? The machines were connected to him? So... couldn't that mean our hacked-together rip-off overstressed this connection? You know, until it caused Todo to croak."

He contemplates it for a moment, "Interesting possibility. Honestly hadn't thought of that. But no, I doubt it. They have done this business basically since the dawn of time, and they were responsible for a near-infinite amount of souls each year. Even if our patchwork hack was a billion times more draining on him, our few hundred revivals wouldn't even cause a blip on the radar. No, there must be a different cause. The leading theory of the other guys is that he simply isn't above the system, just like everyone else, and a random Glitch Spike got to him."

"Yeah, I'd believe that possibility. If not that, then the clean-up of glitch-infested souls got to him."

Bert continues, "Anyway, fact is that for now, all deaths are final. No reincarnation or anything. All comrades that die now, will have given their entire being permanently for the cause. We can't let that be in vain."

That means I've seen several of my closest friends already for the last time...

I give the now permanently deceased a moment of silence.

...

Boss asks me, "Are you still there?"

"Yeah, just letting that sink in, that was... heavy... sorry."

He sighs, "Understandable, but I have a few more things you may want to hear. Are you receptive again or should I call back tomorrow?"

I hesitate for a moment, "...no, go on."

"Okay. So remember how we sent that one girl to your world to drive the reincarnation costs up for the devas? According to Smith's findings that didn't work. They sent someone to you to Deteoh and costs were still down. So you should expect to meet resistance from their little Lost Lamb in some way at some point."

Eh, as if one tiny soul could achieve anything in this hellscape.

"I doubt they'll achieve much, we've most of the world under control thanks to the Monster Lord. Instead, I'd really worry about our friend B. They are still an unaccounted wildcard."

Boss disagrees, "Nah, B is not much of an issue. Amon has planted plenty of bait, several seemingly shoddy divine classes. B has already wasted a lot of divine resources on force-deleting them. We might run them dry soon if they don't wisen up, and going by past experiences, they won't. Too proud to admit falling for such an obvious trap."

"Hmm... Boss, I have an idea. Why don't we try to win the most recent Lost One over? We can show them plenty of proof that it is a bad idea to side with the devas."

I can basically hear him smirk, "A fine idea, do that. Though, I'll do you one better. If the intel from T&S is correct then your... friend Gyev is personally invested in this one. Now if you were to steal his precious student..."

I really like what I hear, "Is he now? In that case, I'll redouble my effort with the powerpoint presentation. Yeah, that could be a decent first step in payback."

"I'll leave the details to you, Itht. But remember, this is an optional objective! If the guy doesn't want to join... well, send him home or something."

I understand, "Yessir!"

"Heh, also make sure you tell your guys to take the next two weeks off, this includes you. There's no point in hustling around when you lack the necessary materials. You're better off relaxing for a bit, take your heads off of that disaster and then give it your all once you've had time to get back on track. I think Taxman will need about a year to reach you. That should be plenty of time to prepare everything."

"That's much appreciated, boss."