The hall of the Mainframe was silent, save for the rhythmic humming of the golden circuits running through the walls. Caelum stood ten paces away from the throne, staring into eyes that were identical to his own, yet completely devoid of soul.
The System Avatar stood up slowly. Its movements were fluid, lacking any of the 'glitches' or stutters that defined Caelum's existence.
"You are a mistake that has survived too long," the Avatar spoke. Its voice was Caelum's voice, but polished and cold. "I am the original blueprint. You are the corrupted copy. To restore the world, the copy must be deleted."
[BATTLE_INITIATED: BLUEPRINT_VS_ERROR]
[COUNTDOWN: 22:15:30]
The Avatar didn't draw a weapon. It simply waved its hand, and the laws of physics in the room shifted. Caelum felt his feet leave the ground as gravity was deleted. Suddenly, a thousand blades of pure light materialized in the air, all aimed at his heart.
Caelum swung his Scythe, but the Avatar moved faster than the frame-rate of the world. It appeared behind him and touched his shoulder.
[COMMAND: SYSTEM_RESTORE_LEVEL_1]
Caelum screamed as he felt his strength being sucked away. His silver-gold aura flickered and dimmed. He was being reverted back to the weak, level 1 NPC he used to be.
"You fight with passion, but passion is just an unoptimized variable," the Avatar whispered. "Order is eternal."
Caelum lay on the floor, his body trembling. He looked at his hands—they were translucent, almost fading away. But then, he felt a warmth in his pocket. It was the black glass shard Kira had given him, glowing with the names of all the 'Glitch Legion' members.
"You're right," Caelum coughed, a smirk playing on his lips. "I am a copy. A broken, messy, unoptimized copy."
He gripped the floor, forcing himself to stand despite the 'Restore' command. "But you... you are just a script. You do what you're told. I do what I choose!"
[SKILL_EVOLUTION: PARADOX_BURST]
Instead of fighting the 'Restore' command, Caelum embraced it. He channeled the corruption of his own glitches into the Avatar's hand. Since the Avatar was 'Perfect', it had no defense against 'Imperfection'.
The Avatar's arm began to flicker wildly. For the first time, its hollow eyes showed a spark of data-driven fear.
"If I'm being deleted," Caelum roared, his Scythe turning into a chaotic blade of black-and-silver lightning, "I'm taking the whole Mainframe with me!"