The air warped as the system responded to their presence. Rifts opened in the sky above, cracks in reality that vibrated with an ominous hum. Violet's heart raced as she scanned the approaching players, each of them dressed in black cloaks and powered by admin-level gear. Her HUD blinked red, flooded with warnings.
[NOTICE: Bounty on Virelia (Fatebreaker Class) Detected]
[Bounty Level: Critical Anomaly | System Override Requested]
Tyler stiffened beside her, his usually calm demeanor replaced with something colder. He reached for his weapon, but not to attack.
"Run," he said quietly.
Violet's eyes darted to the descending figures System Sanctifiers, the most feared bounty hunters in the game. She had heard whispers about them in the forums. These players were no mere guildsmen they were sentient combat programs designed to eliminate anomalies like her.
Before she could process it, the first group descended, cloaked figures appearing like digital wraiths. They were fast too fast. One of them raised a hand, and a blast of magic tore through the air toward them.
Tyler acted immediately.
[Skill Activated: Admin Skip]
In the blink of an eye, Violet was yanked backward, her feet barely touching the ground as they teleported several hundred meters into the thick woods beyond the glade.
The world blurred and snapped back into place.
Violet's heart pounded in her chest as she stumbled to regain her footing. This wasn't just a chase it was a coordinated attack.
"Who are they?" Violet gasped, clutching her staff tighter.
Tyler looked over his shoulder, his eyes flashing with a cold calculation that sent a chill through her.
"System Sanctifiers," he said, his voice tight. "The game's self-correcting agents. Players who've signed a contract to hunt anomalies and glitches."
"They're after me," Violet whispered.
Tyler didn't answer. Instead, he moved toward the shadows of the trees, his every movement graceful and calculated.
[Notice: Teleportation Restriction Active]
[Warning: Player Movement Untraceable | Admin Override Engaged]
Bounty Hunter Squad 1
"Target in the woods. Split and pursue. Trap the anomaly before she can rewrite the terrain."
"Understood."
Violet's HUD flashed, and a red ping appeared at the edge of her vision. They were closing in.
Tyler was already pulling her deeper into the forest, moving with purpose. He activated another admin skill invisible terrain adjustments, changing the digital landscape around them, shifting leaves and trees into nothingness, masking their presence.
[Skill Activated: Veil of the Admin]
You are temporarily invisible to normal players within a 100-meter radius.
Still, the tension hung thick in the air. Tyler's focus was razor-sharp, his every motion precise.
"Stay quiet," he ordered.
Violet barely had time to nod before the first group of bounty hunters appeared at the edge of the trees. Their digital auras shimmered, revealing their level 30+ stats too high for her to handle head-on. They were searching, their eyes sweeping the environment like scanners.
The squad leader, a tall figure in dark armor, raised a hand, and a shimmering sword materialized in his grasp.
"She's close," the leader said, his voice deep and mechanical. "Activate search protocols."
Violet's breath caught in her throat.
The leader's sword lit up with red glitch particles, each one pulsing ominously, as if calling to her.
Tyler pulled her further into the shadows, his grip tightening around her wrist.
[Warning: Target Detection Imminent]
[Skill Activated: Rewind Pulse]
Just as the leader turned to look in their direction, Violet twisted the space around them, and the world flickered.
Time rewound.
[Rewind Pulse Activated: Target Movement Reversed]
[Cooldown: 60 seconds]
The bounty hunters were thrown off balance, their movements slowing as they lost track of their previous trajectory. But the glitch was temporary.
"Now's our chance," Tyler muttered.
Without hesitation, he pulled Violet deeper into the forest.
Violet didn't stop to ask why. They ran.
As they broke through the treeline and emerged into a rocky clearing, Violet's heartbeat thundered in her chest. Her hands were sweaty, her staff tight in her grip, but there was no time to panic.
Suddenly, the forest around them seemed to shatter trees dissolving into jagged code fragments, the ground trembling as the air itself became unstable.
[Warning: Environmental Collapse Triggered]
Localized system breach detected. Terrain rewriting in progress.
Violet's HUD flashed again, this time filled with alerts about the area's integrity failing. She didn't need the warning. She could feel it the world around her glitching, losing its form.
"What's happening?" Violet asked, her voice rising with panic.
Tyler looked over his shoulder, his eyes narrowing. "They're calling for reinforcements."
As if on cue, the sky above them split open once again. Another rift appeared, larger this time, pouring in an endless cascade of glitching players each one armed, each one connected to the system in ways no regular player could be.
[System Error: Control Overload]
Security breach: Bounty Level Escalated to Multi-Target Deletion
Violet's blood ran cold.
Without warning, the first wave of bounty hunters stormed toward them a squad of four, each clad in dark, glitch infused armor, their eyes burning with deadly precision. The leader, a woman with short-cropped hair and a glowing red tattoo on her neck, spoke through a microphone, the distortion echoing in Violet's ears.
"You're not getting out of here alive. This ends now."
The world around them was no longer just a game.
It was a hunt.
Tyler stepped forward, his blade appearing in a flash of light. Violet instinctively raised her staff, but she knew deep down that even all of her abilities combined wouldn't be enough to survive a full-blown fight with these players.
She was out of her league.
[Skill Activated: Anomaly Drift (Passive)]
The world blurred again, and Violet was teleported to a distant part of the clearing, her heart pounding in her chest. The cooldown for the Anomaly Drift skill had just barely triggered in time to save her from the first oncoming attack.
But she wasn't safe.
Tyler wasn't with her.
She looked back just as the leader swung her sword, crashing it into the spot where Violet had been standing. The ground exploded with code, creating a shockwave that pushed her backward.
Tyler appeared between them, his weapon glowing with admin-class power. He spun to meet the leader head-on, his blade clashing with hers in a shower of sparks.
Violet stood frozen, watching as the battle unfolded Tyler dodging, weaving, striking with an impossible speed that didn't match the system's logic.
But the leader was no slouch. She retaliated with swift, flashing attacks, each one designed to disable, not kill.
"You're fighting me now," the leader taunted. "Not her."
Tyler's voice came cold, without hesitation: "I'm not fighting anyone. I'm surviving."
Then, in one clean motion, Tyler parried the leader's blow, and split her sword in half.
[System Alert: Boss Entity in Range]
From the corner of Violet's eye, she saw it a monstrous shadow emerging from the rift. A flood of corrupted entities, glitching beasts with multiple arms, sharp claws, and jagged mouths, all with one purpose.
To kill.
And they were all coming straight for Violet.