[Curretn Obejctive: rAEch rYmElL]

Scott wasn’t joking when he claimed he’d transformed himself into a god. At level ninety-two, he stormed through the Wulfenmensch hordes as if they were mere obstacles in a poorly designed obstacle course. The shadowy creatures emerged in droves, but they were nothing more than fodder for his wrath.

“Let’s go, Sparky!” Scott bellowed, his grip firm on his electrified hammer. “Time to show this idiot what happens when it dares to mess with my game. We’ll crush whatever freakish monstrosities it throws at us and cleanse its corruption from the map.” With a laugh that bordered on the maniacal, he swung his hammer into a wolfman’s knees, unleashing a storm of electrical fury that shattered its lower legs in a dazzling explosion of sparks and fur. The beast crumpled to the ground, twitching in a final, defeated spasm.

As Scott continued his tirade and swept through the waves of monsters, I struggled to keep track of his ramblings. It was evident he wasn’t referring to me as the “damn fool,” but then who was he addressing? And what was this “viral node” he mentioned earlier? A nagging suspicion grew that Scott was hiding something—a deeper involvement in whatever was unfolding, beyond just being a high-level player out for a thrill.

But there was no time to ponder the mysteries of Scott’s motives. I was left to mop up the stragglers from his rampage. Apocalypta, stubbornly rooted in its single-player origins, offered no experience-sharing system to benefit from Scott’s destruction. Still, the remaining Wulfenmensch were easy prey. My Heartless perk made quick work of them, and my experience bar surged from level four to level six as we reached the riverbed.

“This sucks,” Scott gasped, leaning heavily on Sparky for support. Despite his formidable level, the battle had clearly taken a toll. His breaths came in labored heaves, and my Empathy perk—augmented by the Cool Bandana of Insight—revealed a faint undercurrent of worry in his aura. The intelligence boost was not only sharpening my mind but also granting me a rare glimpse into Scott’s emotional state.

“You okay?” I asked, my voice betraying a hint of concern. “You seem a bit winded for what we just faced. They weren’t exactly high-level enemies for you, were they?”

Scott’s grin faltered momentarily before he spoke. “Nah, dude. I’m far from okay. The corruption in the air—it’s tearing me apart. I didn’t think it could affect me in this body, but I was wrong. There’s nothing you can do to help. Up ahead, there’s a pond, and something nasty is waiting for us there. When we reach it, you need to stay back. Find a tree, hide—whatever. Once I’m done, follow the river. It’ll lead you where I need you to go.”

“Where you need me to go?” I asked, puzzled. “I thought you were just playing the Mirror Man for kicks. What’s happening, Scott? This doesn’t make any sense.”

He let out a hollow laugh. “You’re right—it doesn’t. I wanted to be the Mirror Man a little longer, but timelines are accelerating. We need to move before more of those things find us.”

And with that, Scott bolted down the riverbed, leaving me in a whirlpool of questions and uncertainties. I had no choice but to follow, my instincts screaming that whatever lay ahead would be far more nightmarish than what we had just encountered.

It wasn’t long before we reached the pond. The water glowed with an eerie, pulsating purple light, reminiscent of the unsettling luminescence I’d seen in the bugs and snakes earlier. But this time, the glow centered around a mass in the middle of the pond—a grotesque, writhing entity that seemed to be clawing its way into existence. Lilac lightning crackled over its surface, and something within it shifted and slithered.

A wave of nausea hit me like a freight train. The sight of the viral node made my skin crawl, and I struggled to keep my stomach from betraying me. Scott gestured to a hollow tree nearby, and I dove for cover, using my suitcase as a makeshift shield against the suffocating wrongness emanating from the node. The air felt heavy, oppressive, urging me to rip off the bandanna and succumb to the all-encompassing dread. I was on the verge of obeying that primal urge when Scott’s voice cut through the fog of panic.

“Yo, Big Nasty!” he shouted, hammer at the ready. “I know you’re lurking in there. How about you come out and face me before I erase you from the map? Come on, show me what pathetic power you’ve got.”

A voice hissed from the void around us, a discordant screech that sent chills down my spine. “Pathetic little sprite,” it sneered, the tone somewhere between a snake’s hiss and nails scraping a chalkboard. “Who are you to demand anything of me?”

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Scott cracked his knuckles and rolled his shoulders, preparing for the confrontation with a grim determination. “You’re in my world now, asshole. This was my sanctuary before you and your kind wormed your way in. So show some respect and face me like the abomination you are.”

“Are you okay?” I asked hesitantly, my voice betraying a mix of concern and confusion. Scott had always projected an air of invincibility, and questioning his condition felt like stepping on a sacred rule. But I couldn’t ignore the signs—he looked exhausted. “You seem more out of breath than expected. Those enemies were numerous, sure, but not exactly high-level for you.”

His grin faltered, revealing the strain beneath. “Nah, dude. I’m far from okay,” he admitted, his voice taut with strain. “The corruption in the air—it’s eating me alive from the inside out. I didn’t think it could affect me in this form, but I was wrong. And there’s nothing you can do about it.” He wiped the sweat from his brow, his hand trembling more than I’d like to admit. “Up ahead, there’s a pond, and something wicked is waiting for us there. When we get there, you stay back. Find cover. Hide. After we deal with it, follow the river. It’ll lead you where I need you to go.”

“Where you need me to go?” I repeated, bewildered. “I thought you were just playing the Mirror Man for kicks. Now you’re giving me orders? This doesn’t add up.”

Scott emitted a dry, humorless laugh—one that sent an icy shiver racing down my spine. “You’re right, it doesn’t make sense. I wanted to revel in the role of the Mirror Man a little longer, but things are accelerating faster than I anticipated. Timelines are collapsing into themselves. We don’t have the luxury of waiting anymore.” His gaze darted to the shadows that encroached upon us. “Let’s move before more of those Wulfenmensch track us down. There’s likely a den nearby.”

Without pausing for further explanation, he sprinted down the stream, his footsteps splashing rhythmically through the shallow water. Whatever lay ahead took precedence over my mounting questions. With a resigned sigh, I followed, my instincts telling me my concerns were well-founded.

We reached the pond sooner than I would have preferred. It sprawled across half a mile, a grotesque expanse of glowing, purple water. The same twisted luminescence I’d seen in the creatures earlier now radiated from a pulsating mass at the pond’s center—a malformed blob crackling with jagged bolts of lilac lightning. It emitted a garbled, glitchy screech reminiscent of the Wulfenmensch, a sound that chilled me to my core. Within the mass, something writhed, its movements defying any natural order.

My stomach roiled. The sheer malevolence of the thing—the viral node, I presumed—was a far cry from the disquieting berries I’d encountered. The bile surged up my throat, but I fought to keep my composure. Scott pointed to a hollow in a nearby tree, and I didn’t need to be told twice. I dove into the hollow, using my suitcase as a shield against the nightmarish sight across the water.

Even in my makeshift refuge, the oppressive hunger emanating from the node pressed against me, invading my senses like a relentless predator. It wrapped around me, a living force of malignancy that whispered and taunted. The voices urged me to tear off the bandana, to surrender. For a heartbeat, I almost succumbed.

But Scott’s voice cut through the madness, sharp and unwavering. “Yo, Big Nasty! I know you’re in there,” he called out, his bravado as thick as ever. “Why don’t you come out and play before I erase you from the map? I know you’re not fully formed yet, but let’s see that pathetic power of yours!”

A voice responded—not so much a voice as an all-encompassing hiss that seemed to come from everywhere at once. It crackled with static, sending a jolt of dread through me. “Pathetic little sprite,” it sneered, each word like nails on a chalkboard. “Who are you to demand anything of me?”

Scott smirked, rolling his shoulders as if preparing for a casual sparring match. “You’re in my world, asshole. This was my sanctuary before you and your kind wormed your way in. Show some respect and face me like the abomination you are.”

The challenge in Scott’s voice hung in the air, swallowed by an eerie silence. For a moment, nothing moved. Then, from the stillness, lilac lights began to swirl around the viral node. They pulsed and twinkled, coalescing to reveal a grotesque, glitch-riddled serpent. It was enormous, easily a hundred feet long, coiling around the node with the possessive fervor of a treasure guardian. Its maw gaped open, revealing rows of crystalline teeth akin to the Corrupted Wulfenmensch, flanked by fangs the size of a man. Its gaze, from eyes that were nothing but voids, bore down on Scott with an overwhelming force of hunger, destruction, and death. An icy certainty gripped me: if I were anywhere near Scott right now, I would be obliterated in an instant.

“Little Sprite,” the serpent’s voice slithered through the air, dripping with a sickly, venomous sweetness. “You speak as if you are the architect of this realm. By what right do you address Skexxeth the Devourer? I have wandered the interdimensional web longer than any memory can hold. I have feasted upon countless worlds, paving the way for my kin. I am a harbinger of the end and, at this very moment, your god. Surrender to me, and I might grant you a merciful end.”

Scott’s shoulders began to tremble, and it took me a moment to realize he was laughing.

“Okay Big Skexy, listen up. First of all, bro, you are correct. I am the architect of this world, or at least an aspect of it repackaged as the hero who played this game the first time around. That means, I can hurt you. A lot. And that’s exactly what I plan to do. Secondly, you ain't a God, you are a damn parasite that wormed your way in without my notice. You’re a bitch-tier bit of junk code that is about to be deleted. And, third -

The explosion erupted with a sudden, dramatic flourish. A colossal wave of pressure erupted from the side of Skexxeth’s face, transforming the once serene pond into a mini tsunami that flooded the treeline and nearly drowned me in my decidedly inadequate hiding spot. My eyes struggled to keep up with the chaotic ballet unfolding before me, but thanks to my newly enhanced intelligence, my brain managed to piece together some semblance of understanding.

In the blink of an eye, Scott stood in the pond, looking as casually annoyed as someone who had just stepped in a puddle. Then, as if afflicted by a particularly inconvenient glitch, he vanished and reappeared almost instantaneously next to Skexxeth’s gargantuan face, swinging Sparky with a zeal that suggested he was in the middle of a particularly satisfying game of whack-a-mole.

What was even more bewildering, though hardly surprising given the cosmic circus I found myself in, was Scott “The Rock” Harley casually announcing that he was an avatar of Apocalypta’s AI. This revelation should have landed with the weight of a meteorite, but instead, I was so engrossed in the celestial smackdown unfolding before me that my attention was entirely monopolized by the rather theatrical duel between gods.