The ancient door groaned open like it hadn't moved in centuries, stone grinding against stone and kicking up a cloud of dust that made both of them cough. Kael stepped through first, Fracture Pulse humming at the edge of his mind like a half-charged weapon that was still buffering. Ryn followed close behind, greatsword held ready, her patched armor creaking softly with each step.
"Watch your footing," Ryn muttered, eyes scanning the darkness ahead. "These old ruins love dropping you into pits just for fun. Seen it happen twice already this week. Last guy didn't even scream — just gone."
Kael nodded, keeping his voice low. "Got it. My Analyze is still taking its sweet time, but it says the guardian ahead is pre-Nexus. Old code. Might not play nice with modern skills."
Ryn snorted. "Good. Maybe it'll hate the same things I do. I'm getting real tired of everything shiny and new screwing me over."
The chamber opened up into a wide circular room lit by faint gray runes along the walls. In the center stood a massive guardian — a towering construct of blackened stone and glowing script, easily twice Ryn's height. Its eyes flickered with the same dull gray as Kael's system, but corrupted, angry. Ancient chains hung from its wrists, etched with commands that looked half-erased.
Kael swallowed. "... That thing looks like it wants to delete us just for breathing."
Ryn shifted her grip on the sword, rolling her shoulders. "Then we don't give it the chance. I'll draw its attention — I'm built for soaking hits. You hit it with whatever that weird slow system of yours can do. Don't hold back, and don't die on me before we even start."
Before Kael could answer, the guardian stirred. A deep, grinding voice echoed from its core, words layered with static and delay.
"Intruders… in the old code… Delete… or be deleted…"
It lunged, one massive fist slamming down where Ryn had been standing a second earlier. She rolled aside with a grunt, bringing her greatsword up in a heavy arc that sparked off its stone arm.
"Big and slow — just how I like them!" she shouted, voice steady despite the impact that clearly rattled her bones. "Kael, now! Don't make me do all the work!"
Kael circled to the side, heart pounding. He activated Analyze first, watching the bar crawl.
[Analyze (Deprecated) activated…]
[Loading enemy data… 19%… 47%… 82%…]
[Result: Corrupted Guardian – Level ?? . Core vulnerability: Direct code injection. Modern skills may backlash.]
"Got it," he called back. "Try to keep it facing you!"
He triggered Echo Strike, landing a weak punch on the guardian's leg after the usual delay. The attack echoed four times, each hit chipping away tiny fragments of stone. The guardian roared and swung toward him, but Ryn stepped in, slamming her shield-like shoulder into its knee and forcing its attention back.
"Not so fast, you overgrown paperweight!" she growled, breathing hard. "Come on, hit me instead! I've taken worse from my old party!"
The fight turned brutal fast. Ryn tanked hit after hit, her Iron Warden skills absorbing the worst of the damage, but Kael could see her health dropping steadily. His own body still ached from the betrayal wound, movements slower than he wanted while his system lagged on every command.
"... Can't let her carry everything," he muttered under his breath.
When the guardian reared back for a heavy overhead smash, Kael saw the opening. He pushed everything he had into Fracture Pulse.
The skill released with a silent ripple after its usual slow wind-up. Gray energy washed over the guardian and brushed against Ryn for a split second.
For eight long seconds, the guardian's movements stuttered like a bad connection. Its stone fists slowed, scripts flickering with errors. One of Ryn's defensive buffs glitched out briefly, but she adapted instantly, driving her greatsword into a newly exposed crack in the guardian's chest.
"Yes!" Ryn yelled, voice fierce through the strain. "Whatever you just did — keep doing it! The big bastard actually slowed down for once!"
Kael felt the cost immediately — 25% of his health vanishing in a burn that made his scar scream. He pushed through, following up with another Echo Strike combo on the same crack.
The echoes landed harder than before, widening the fissure. The guardian let out a distorted screech, chains rattling as it tried to reassert control after another visible lag.
Ryn pressed the advantage, breathing hard but grinning through the pain. "Not bad for someone fresh out of the grave. Keep it up — I can't hold this forever!"
"Save the compliments until we're not dead," Kael shot back, dodging a sluggish swipe that still nearly took his head off. "This thing's core is fighting back — I can feel it pushing against my code. And my system is taking its sweet time with everything!"
The guardian's eyes flared brighter. It broke free from the pulse early, swinging wildly. One fist clipped Ryn's side, sending her skidding across the floor with a pained grunt.
"Ryn!" Kael called, rushing closer while his own system buffered a warning.
She pushed herself up on one elbow, blood on her lip but eyes still sharp. "I'm fine — just winded. Finish it before it resets! Don't let my ass get flattened for nothing!"
Kael didn't hesitate. He closed the distance and slammed his palm against the cracked chest plate, forcing every bit of legacy code he could into the contact.
"Override Protocol Alpha — activate!"
The five-second rollback hit after its usual delay. The guardian's self-repair script froze mid-cast. Its attacks slowed to nothing.
Ryn surged forward with a raw shout, driving her greatsword straight into the exposed core. "This one's for every time the damn system screwed me over!"
The blade sank deep. The guardian convulsed, gray light exploding outward in a shower of sparks and fading runes. With one final, garbled screech, it collapsed into a heap of broken stone and dissolving code.
Silence fell over the chamber, broken only by their heavy breathing and the occasional glitchy beep from Kael's system.
Kael dropped to one knee, vision swimming from the combined costs of his skills. Ryn leaned on her sword, wiping blood from her mouth with the back of her hand.
"... That actually worked," she said after a moment, voice rough but impressed. "You weren't kidding about breaking rules. My interface is still buzzing, but damn — that pulse thing made the big bastard look like a training dummy for a second there. Felt good."
Kael managed a tired laugh that turned into a cough. "Yeah… cost me though. Feels like I just ran a marathon with broken ribs. But we did it. Together. Even if my system took its time celebrating."
Ryn offered him a hand up, grip firm and steady. "Didn't expect to find a partner down here, let alone one with a cursed system that actually helps. You're full of surprises, Kael. Just don't die on me before we figure out what comes next. I've had enough of solo runs."
He took the hand, pulling himself up with a wince. "Same goes for you. We're both exiles now. Might as well make it count."
The system pinged privately for Kael only, text loading slowly as usual.
[Guardian Defeated. Legacy Core absorbed.]
Level up! Level 9
Stats increased. Fracture Pulse cooldown reduced to 36 hours.
[New Passive: Shared Fracture – Allies within range gain minor resistance to modern skill backlash when near you.]
Quest Update: Build the Fracture – First ally recruited and bonded through combat. Progress: 1/??
Kael felt a small surge of strength settle into his limbs. The scar on his chest itched less. Not healed, but… manageable.
Ryn tilted her head, noticing something on her own screen. "Hey… my tank cooldowns just shaved a few seconds. Your doing?"
"Probably," Kael admitted with a small shrug. "My system leaks a bit. Hope that's not a problem."
She shrugged back, sheathing her sword with a tired grin. "As long as it keeps us alive, leak all you want. Come on — there's loot in that pile. Let's see if the old code left us anything useful before more things wake up and ruin the mood."
They rummaged through the guardian's remains together. Kael found a small gray crystal that Analyze identified as a "Legacy Stabilizer — reduces soul strain from deprecated skills." Ryn pulled out a battered but still functional reinforcement charm for her armor.
As they sat for a short rest against one of the pillars, Ryn passed him a strip of dried meat from her pack.
"So," she said around a bite of her own ration, tone casual but eyes serious. "Tell me straight — what's your real plan here? Just surviving, or are you actually planning to go back up there and make your fancy family regret every smile they gave while stabbing you?"
Kael chewed slowly, staring into the fading gray light of the chamber.
"Both," he said quietly. "They left me to bleed out so they could climb higher. My brother, my sister, my ex-fiancée. Smiled while they did it. I'm not dying quietly. But I need power first. Real power. The kind their perfect system can't patch out. You still in for that ride?"
Ryn looked at him for a long moment, then nodded once, her scarred face set. "Yeah. I'm in. Got nothing left upstairs anyway. Might as well burn a few bridges on the way down… or up, I guess. Just don't make me regret saying yes."
Kael felt the cold weight in his chest settle a little deeper — not lighter, but shared now.
'... One step. One ally who gets it. This isn't an army yet, but it's no longer just me against the world. They think the error is gone. Let them keep thinking that...'
____________________________________
Back on the surface, in the lavish training grounds of Voss Keep, Lady Elara sparred with Darius under the watchful eye of their father. Her ice lances flew true, but midway through a combo, her skill stuttered for half a second — just long enough for Darius to land a grazing hit.
"What was that?" Darius snapped, lowering his scythe. "Your form slipped again."
Elara frowned, checking her status. "Nothing. Just… a momentary lag. It's been happening since the Spire."
Baron Harlan watched from the sidelines, expression unreadable. "See it corrected. We cannot afford weaknesses now that the house is rising again."
Deep below, as Kael and Ryn prepared to push even deeper into the ruins, a new notification appeared only for Kael, loading line by line.
[Warning: Surface monitoring increased. Deprecated Entity trace detected by Nexus administrators.]
[They are starting to notice the error persists.]
Kael clenched his fist, the gray window pulsing beside him.
"... Good. Let them notice."
He turned to Ryn with a small, tired smirk. "Ready to keep moving? There's more old code down here — I can feel it calling."
Ryn hefted her newly reinforced sword and gave a sharp nod. "Yeah. Let's give them something real to worry about."
The tunnels beckoned deeper, older, darker.
And somewhere far above, the first tiny crack had appeared in the flawless world of v4.7.