The Iron Mare's common room was empty except for Vanguard. The innkeeper had taken one look at their blood-spattered, exhausted group and wordlessly brought out four massive plates of food and a pitcher of something stronger than ale.
Nero collapsed into a chair and immediately regretted every life decision that had led to having functional nerve endings. Everything hurt. His muscles screamed. His head pounded. And his Corruption sat at 57/100 like a ticking time bomb in the back of his mind.
But they were alive.
Kade dropped into the chair across from him with a groan that suggested several new bruises had just made themselves known. "I think that Debugger cracked a rib. Maybe three ribs. Possibly all my ribs."
"You need a healer," Lyra said, already standing.
"I need food first. Then a healer. Then sleep for approximately one thousand years."
Finn appeared with the pitcher and four mugs, having somehow cleaned up already. "How are you not covered in dirt and blood?" Nero demanded.
"Professional standards." Finn poured drinks with the smooth efficiency of someone who'd done this a hundred times. "Also, I keep emergency cleaning supplies in my pack. You three look like you fought a mud monster."
"We fought three reality deleters," Kade pointed out.
"And you look like it." Finn slid mugs across the table. "Drink. You've earned it."
Nero took a sip and immediately coughed. "What is this?"
"Dwarven whiskey. Fifty percent alcohol, fifty percent regret, one hundred percent effective at making you forget you almost died." Finn raised his own mug. "To not being erased from existence."
"I'll drink to that," Lyra said, returning to the table with a visible wince as she sat. Even she wasn't immune to exhaustion.
They drank. The whiskey burned going down but settled into a warm glow that made the pain slightly more bearable.
"So," Finn said, leaning back in his chair with deceptive casualness. "Three days until the Arbiter arrives. What's our brilliant plan?"
Silence.
"That's what I thought," Finn continued. "We don't have one. We just fought three Debuggers and barely survived. Whatever the Arbiter is, it's going to be worse."
"Then we get better," Kade said firmly. "We've got three days. We train, we level, we find every advantage we can."
"Level up in three days?" Finn's eyebrow rose. "What are you planning, a montage?"
"If that's what it takes."
"We're all exhausted, possibly concussed, and running on fumes. Training right now is a great way to get ourselves killed."
"Finn's right," Lyra cut in before the argument could escalate. "We need recovery first. Tonight, we eat, we heal, we sleep. Tomorrow, we assess our situation and make a real plan."
She had that tone — the one that meant the discussion was over. Kade grumbled but nodded. Finn smirked into his drink.
Nero just ate. The food was simple; roasted chicken, bread, vegetables but it tasted like heaven after burning through stamina fighting for his life.
"Question," he said between bites. "How much did you guys level from that fight?"
"Didn't," Kade said. "We're too overleveled. The XP gain was minimal."
"Same," Lyra confirmed. "Maybe five percent progress. Not enough to matter."
"I got about ten percent," Finn added. "But Rogues level slower at higher tiers. It's the class balance penalty."
Nero pulled up his own status.
```
[NERO CROSS - Level 10]
XP: 1,480/2,000 (74% to Level 11)
HP: 310/310
MP: 420/420
CORRUPTION: 57/100
```
"I'm at seventy-four percent," he said. "Close to eleven."
"Of course you are," Finn said without heat. "You're low level, so the XP scaling favors you. Plus, you're the one who actually debugged them. The system probably gave you bonus credit."
"Is that how it works?"
Finn shrugged. "That's how it *seems* to work. The system rewards innovation and risk. You did both."
"While we just hit things," Kade added cheerfully. "Which is fine by me. Hitting things is what I do best."
"You also take hits really well," Finn said. "It's very impressive, the way you stood there and let that Debugger almost kill you."
"It's called tanking, Finn. It's a legitimate strategy."
"It's called having a death wish."
"Boys," Lyra said tiredly. "Can we not?"
They subsided, but Nero caught the small smile on Lyra's face. This was normal for them — the banter, the teasing. It was how they decompressed after near-death experiences.
Found family, Nero thought, warmth spreading through his chest that had nothing to do with the alcohol.
"Hey," Finn said suddenly, his tone shifting. "Real talk for a minute. Nero, how are you doing? Actually doing, not the 'I'm fine' deflection you always give."
Nero opened his mouth to say he was fine, then closed it. These people had earned honesty.
"Terrified," he admitted. "I'm at fifty-seven Corruption. More than halfway to Terminal Event. I just found out the Arbiter is coming specifically for me. And if I use my abilities to fight it, I might push myself over the edge anyway."
"So we find another way," Kade said immediately.
"What other way? My glitch abilities are the only reason we won today. Without them, we'd be deleted."
"Then we make sure you don't have to use them as much," Lyra said. "We get stronger. Cover your weaknesses. Take the load off you."
"That's not—"
"It's exactly how it works," Finn interrupted. "You're thinking like a solo player. You're not. You're in a party. Our job is to make sure you don't have to carry everything alone."
Nero stared at them. "You're really okay with this? With me potentially turning into a dungeon boss if my Corruption hits one hundred?"
"No," Kade said honestly. "I'm not okay with it. Which is why we're going to make damn sure it doesn't happen."
"And if it does?" Nero pressed. "If I hit one hundred and transform into something that wants to kill you?"
Kade met his eyes, unflinching. "Then we'll figure that out too. But it won't come to that."
"You don't know that."
"I know you." Kade's hand landed on the table between them, palm up. An offering. "I know you're not going to let that happen. You'll fight it with everything you have. And we'll fight with you."
Nero looked at the offered hand. At Kade's absolute, unshakeable faith.
He took it.
Kade's grip was warm and solid. Through their connection, Nero felt the man's determination, his loyalty, his complete refusal to give up.
"Brothers," Kade said simply.
"Brothers," Nero echoed.
"Oh gods, they're having a moment," Finn stage-whispered to Lyra. "Should we give them privacy?"
"Shut up, Finn," Lyra said, but she was smiling.
"I'm just saying, this is very romantic. The hand-holding, the intense eye contact, the declarations of eternal loyalty—"
Kade threw a piece of bread at him. Finn caught it without looking and took a bite.
"Thank you for that," he said through a mouthful of bread. "I was still hungry."
The tension broke. Nero laughed for the first time since reading that ominous letter.
"You're an ass," he told Finn.
"That's literally my job description. 'Finn Cooper: Professional Ass.' It's on my Guild registration and everything."
"It really isn't," Lyra said.
"Should be."
They finished eating as the alcohol and exhaustion caught up with them. The conversation drifted to lighter topics—embarrassing dungeon stories, terrible adventurers they'd met, that time Kade accidentally destroyed a merchant's cart and had to work off the debt.
"I maintain that the cart was structurally unsound," Kade protested.
"You walked past it and it collapsed," Finn said. "Your presence is structurally unsound."
"That doesn't even make sense!"
"Doesn't have to. I'm the wit, you're the target."
Lyra stood, cutting off the argument before it could escalate. "Bed. All of you. We've got three days to prepare, and we're wasting the first night if we don't sleep."
"Yes ma'am," Finn said with mock seriousness.
She glared at him. "Don't call me ma'am. I'm twenty-three."
"Yes, Lyra. Right away, Lyra. Whatever you say, Lyra."
"I'm going to shoot you."
"You'd miss me."
"That's not what I—" She stopped, realizing he'd baited her into admitting she valued him. "I hate you."
"No you don't." Finn's grin was insufferable.
Nero watched the exchange with amusement. They were like siblings—constantly bickering but with obvious affection underneath.
*This is what family looks like,* he thought. *This chaos and teasing and absolute loyalty.*
They headed upstairs. Kade's room was next to Nero's, Finn and Lyra across the hall. Before going into his room, Kade paused.
"Hey. You good?"
"Getting there," Nero said honestly.
"Good. And Nero?" Kade's expression turned serious. "What Finn said earlier. About you not being alone. He's right. Whatever happens in three days, we face it together."
"I know."
"Good." Kade's grin returned. "Now get some sleep before I carry you to bed like a sack of potatoes. And I will. I've done it before."
"To who?"
"Finn. He got drunk and tried to fight a statue. Lost badly. I had to carry him home."
"The statue cheated!" Finn's voice called from his room.
"STATUES DON'T CHEAT, THEY'RE MADE OF STONE!"
"THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT A CHEATING STATUE WOULD SAY!"
Nero laughed and escaped into his room before the argument could pull him in.
He collapsed onto the bed still wearing most of his gear. Too tired to care. Too exhausted to even pull up his status screen. But sleep didn't come immediately. His mind raced with everything that had happened.
Three days. The Arbiter was coming in three days.
And he had no idea if they could win.
His system pinged softly. Notification he'd been ignoring.
```
[NEW QUEST AVAILABLE]
[OPTIONAL: Personal Development]
Description: Your party has faith in you. Do you have faith in yourself?
Objective: Reflect on your journey.
Choose: What kind of person do you want to be?
Reward: ???
Time Limit: None
```
Nero stared at the notification. What kind of person do I want to be?
In his old life, he'd been nobody. A cog in a machine, working himself to death for a game company that barely knew his name.
Here? He had people who cared. People who'd risk their lives for him.
"I want to be someone worthy of that," he thought. " Someone who deserves their faith."
```
[QUEST ACCEPTED]
[Progress will be tracked through your choices]
[No system notification will tell you when it's complete]
[You'll just know]
```
The notification faded. Nero closed his eyes.
Three days. He'd make them count.
—
In the room next door, Kade lay awake, staring at the ceiling. His ribs hurt. His whole body hurt. But that wasn't what kept him awake.
It was the letter. The threat. The Arbiter coming for Nero specifically.
"I won't let them take him," Kade thought fiercely. "I don't care what I have to do. Brothers don't abandon brothers."
He felt the echo of Nero's presence through their connection—anxiety, determination, exhaustion. Still awake despite needing sleep.
"Sleep, you idiot," Kade thought at him, knowing Nero couldn't hear but hoping somehow the sentiment would reach him anyway.
The presence shifted. Settled. Slept.
Kade smiled in the darkness and finally let himself drift off.
—
Across the hall, Lyra sat at her window, bow across her lap, watching the street below. Curfew meant the town was quiet. Empty streets. Closed shops. But she couldn't shake the feeling of being watched.
"The Arbiter," she thought. "What are you? What can you do that three Debuggers couldn't?"
She'd seen Nero's fear. His Corruption count. The way he looked at them like he expected them to abandon him any moment.
"Idiot boy,"she thought with a mix of frustration and fondness. Doesn't he understand we're in this now? There's no backing out.
She'd made her choice. Vanguard was her family. And family protected their own. Even if it meant fighting the system itself.
—
In his room, Finn sat cross-legged on his bed, journal open, writing by candlelight.
"Day 3 of the Error User Crisis," he wrote. "We killed three Debuggers. Nero's at 57% Corruption. The Arbiter arrives in 72 hours. Odds of survival: Estimated 30%."
Odds of me finding a way to cheat those odds: Much higher.
He closed the journal and pulled out a different book—the old diary from the Guild archives. There had been more in there. Information he hadn't shared yet. About what happened to Error Users who survived Debugger encounters. They didn't stay free for long.
"But maybe," Finn thought, studying the pages, "there's a pattern. A weakness. Something I can exploit."
He'd find it. He always did. That's what he was good at—finding the angle no one else saw.
Three days, he thought. Plenty of time.
He hoped he wasn't lying to himself.
—
Far away, in a facility that existed outside normal space, the Arbiter awoke. It stood in a chamber of pure white, its form perfect and terrible—humanoid but wrong, like a statue carved by something that didn't quite understand humanity. A screen flickered to life before it.
TARGET: NERO CROSS
CORRUPTION: 57%
THREAT LEVEL: HIGH
TERMINATION PRIORITY: ABSOLUTE
The Arbiter processed this information in 0.3 seconds. Then it began to move, each step precise and purposeful. Seventy-two hours.
It would be enough.