I walk over to the door and try to knock, but the door immediately falls apart, revealing a messy room. A lot of strange machinery covers the tables, most of which are broken, and there are scorched papers and cracked porcein fragments scattered around the ground, as if a bomb had hit the pce. And everything is as infected as you'd expect in this world. So much for the Glitches avoiding this room...

  And in the midst of all of it lies an unconscious woman covered with several signs of severe glitch infection. At a passing gnce, she looks like the puzzle boss I encountered ages ago, the tea dy Stel. So it seems those two Stels really were the same person, but is she the Orpyne person I was looking for, or is all of this just a big coincidence?

  Before I can check on her, Malice already stands over her motionless body, "Can't believe someone got to her first. But they've done some shoddy work. The way the poor girl is now, she has no chance of surviving an infection. Pity, would've loved to gain another one of myself as another sister. Shit, I even had the perfect name for her: Яeb1rt4."

  Despite all her nagging about not wanting to go here, it seems M/Il1ce is the one most upset about this turn of events.

  "Come on, that's no ughing matter."

  She pokes the lifeless woman some more, but nothing happens. Soon, she gets bored and stands up, ready to leave. She sighs, "Tough luck, man. The entire trip was for naught, my dear counterpart will never wake up. This shit here assures that it will simply be yet another boring bout once everyone is ready. The System is down, beyond repair, and all Solids should be out of commission. Wonder how I'll break that to everyone - and sadly, I know a few Features that were looking forward to their grand debut..."

  Wrong priorities, hag, wrong priorities.

  "Hey, M, you said you were the avatar of the System before your infection. Don't you know how to repair this mess? Get the System running again?"

  She just scoffs, "Pff, the System? No dice, dumbass. It isn't here, it is everywhere, the only thing here is one of several access consoles", she points towards a strange, cubical device in the corner, "And that one is broken beyond belief. And even if it wasn't, if you, a Glitch, touch it, it immediately goes up in smoke anyway."

  I'm not so sure about that. After some practice, I could touch my menu without it going haywire. It was quite demanding but ultimately doable. Maybe I could manage the same there.

  I walk over to the device and take a closer look.

  "Forget your pessimism for a moment. Where are the repcement parts? Or maybe backups? There must be something!"

  She looks at me like a deer caught in the headlight, "The fuck is a backup?"

  Are you just pying dumb or are you fricking serious right now!? We're talking about our reality, not some fourth-rate rundown company!

  "Yeah, I know, that was a stupid thing to ask..."

  Out of desperation, I check out the terminal. There must be a hint there.

  Yeah, I've no clue what is wrong with that device, but it looks strangely familiar. I might've actually seen it in one of those foreign memories. I faintly recall there was something about an old man hitting it with some tools. Sadly, I do not see any useful tools around here. Not that I have any idea how I'd operate it afterwards...

  "That's going swimmingly... What else did you do when something went wrong with the System? In my experience, it isn't the most stable. Far from it."

  "Uh, mostly get killed by the Creator? That asshole has, yanno, quite a temper. Suffered that about a quintillion times or so. Who knows how much more often he shed out since I became what I am now. Much prettier though~"

  "If that is true, then where is he? The System is quite obviously thrashed."

  "Dunno, probably still napping from the st war. We - or rather you - were quite early this time."

  What do you mean by "early"? Allegedly, I've been running around here in circles for years, he had all the time in the world to finish his damn nap and do his fucking job!!

  "Hey, don't bme that on me. I didn't even do anything!"

  "Psh, whatever, there's nothing we can do anymore. Just say your farewells, and then let's get out of here. There's no point in becoming ground zero again!"

  No, that's not happening. I've come too far to simply give up now. But what can I do now? Didn't Orpyne have a pn for what we should do? I only recall that she said it would be enough if I absorbed the Glitches that obstructed her work.

  But how should I've done that? I was already full from the accident with the Glitch Zone, and back then I didn't expect the trip would take so freaking long that I would digest all that by the time I arrive here. I'm pretty sure she had a pn for how I could acquire another Hybrid css. But what was it again, and can I even pull it off?

  I swear she said that I could multiply [Essence Drain] somehow unto a skill slot that has been previously sacrificed, but I can't remember how. It has been too long, and it probably was too vague anyway...

  And then what? How would I repair the mess without her help after purging the infection? I don't know.

  But maybe I don't have to remember.

  I'm a vampire, I can drink her lifeblood. But if what Elly once told me is true, then it isn't actually the blood that is relevant but her lifeforce itself.

  Then there was the strangeness with the spirit Lydia I created. I swear her personality was strongly reminiscent of the boss I drank blood from. It might just be that the result was weird because the guiding System didn't expect me to drink from a boss monster, just from regur people, but there's a chance it might work again. After all, Stel did pose as a dungeon boss.

  If I put all of that together, doesn't that mean I could somehow access fragments of her memory? I've no other idea, I have to try.

  "Say my farewells, huh. Yeah, gotta do at least that."

  I walk over to the woman's motionless body and kneel down. I check for her pulse, and it is there, faint but present. She's still alive, so there is still a chance.

  I bite her neck and let the blood flow into my mouth. The sensation isn't as pure as it used to be; her blood contains traces of something nasty. Probably from the glitch infection.

  During that process, I can feel an unexpected stream of exp. It is soon consumed by my own Glitch infestation, I have to control it. It is difficult, but I manage to save about a third of it.

  Was it because I'm no longer a proper vampire but a partial glitch abomination? Every other time I drank the blood from someone, there was no transfer of exp, only the theft of life force. Or maybe it is the same thing, but the System stole that portion of my food?

  Regardless, I'll need that resource anyway, so it is a welcome surprise.

  It doesn't take long before the flow of blood stops, and with it, any remaining signs of life Stel might have had. She's finally dead. May she rest in peace.

  M/Il1ce can't hide her contempt for my actions, "Ew, why did you eat that? You know exactly where it has been, you LARPire."

  I lie my ass off, "That's how we pay our respects where I'm from. Now shut up, I'm not done."

  "Uhuh, sure. What a disgusting culture..."

  I return my focus back to my desperate operation.

  I try and think back on what Orpyne's pn might've been, but still nothing comes to mind, so that part was a bust.

  The next shot would be to create a new spirit summon. It might retain some of Stel's memory or knowledge from the bits I just absorbed.

  Damn, that part of the menu doesn't work, and I've no clue how I do that without... Guess I'm back to square one.

  I begin meditating to create a Hybrid css for myself in the usual way. Just with even less guidance than usual.

  It doesn't take long until I find the spot where the Hybrid css would be created. But which skills do I now drag into that mess? I can't identify them in my current state.

  Wait, when I activate [Essence Drain], I can feel which of the skill objects it is, so that's a start.

  I grab onto the one representing [Essence Drain] so I don't lose sight of it. Orpyne said that it would be best to sacrifice it. I'm not sure I agree with that, but with nothing else to go on, I can only trust her assessment.

  Now what else?

  While looking over the unidentifiable mess of my skills, I notice a couple empty spots. Were they always there? I don't recall seeing them after previously sacrificing skills for my Hybrid csses, but maybe it was because the functioning System filtered them out, and now it's broken.

  Now, how do I copy it? Too bad I don't have a keyboard, CTRL+CVV would solve this mess easily. Damn, imagining doesn't work either.

  Maybe if I pour some glitchy substance over it and carefully drag it over?

  Fuck, it tore apart. Now, some fragments of the skill are spread all over the skill spots, empty or not.

  Shit, does that mean I can no longer finish the Hybrid css?

  What do you know, the menu is still open, and just as unreadable as before. But I fear that if I close it, I won't be able to start it up again, so this one try has to work.

  I take all the skills that are covered in greater chunks of [Essence Drain] and merge them into the spot for the new Hybrid css, add all of the exp I got from Stel, and hope for the best. The only thing that can go wrong now is everything.

  A moment after I finalize my Frankenstein monster of a css, the cylindrical terminal behind me explodes violently. Several fragments of the device shoot all over the room, and a few get buried deep within my body. It feels like the unstable mess of the Hybrid css reaches out to them and devours them. That can't be good.

  Suddenly, Malice starts ughing, "Seems like someone screwed up. Pfff, ha~ha~ha! So, this is where this farce ends, heh~"

  "Farce... If you knew what I was up to and disagreed with it, why didn't you stop me?"

  "I didn't really think you'd manage to delete the entirety of the remaining exp from the System. Not that it matters, you never had a chance to begin with. None. Don't forget, you're a Glitch just like everyone here. If you so much as touch the System, everything you wish to achieve will become void."

  "That's where you are wr-"

  Before I finish my sentence, the half-headless girl has already shot several syringes from her strange wings into Stel's dead body. This causes the infection on the corpse to spread rapidly and tear it apart, leaving nothing behind.

  Malice is visibly angry, "I've had enough of your stupid make-believe! I've put up with it because killing a Glitch is pointless, but you're really pushing it, you damn bug. You've already ruined my vacation and everyone's long-awaited event, and now you're even defiling her body - that felt really nasty... What more do you want before you're satisfied?"

  Was that really necessary, you bitch? I almost had something. I could feel it. But now...

  The terminal is destroyed, Stel is gone, the Hybrid css is ruined, and [Essence Drain] is also a thing of the past. I have nothing left...

  Maybe I should've listened. I should've turned around, turned everyone into Glitches, and lived happily ever after with them as world-ending horrors. Maybe it is still not too te for that.

  But as my eyes fall on the syringe-feather, I realize that I have one final option left. Going all in.

  I stand up and sigh, "Maybe you're right. Sorry, I don't know what I was thinking..."

  "Oh, really? Damn, and here I thought I could literally beat some sense into you if you continue to bitch around. Could I still kill you a dozen times or two to vent some frustration? Pretty please?"

  "Charming. Say, you could help Features evolve, right? What am I missing for that?"

  "Someone's quick on doing a 180 when things don't work his way, huh?"

  She gres at me for a moment, "Forget it, not happening. Your requirements are impossible."

  "So much for me being the one to give up fast."

  "I'm being serious here. Becoming a Legacy is not for everyone."

  "Oh, yeah?", I grab the syringes that are stuck in the ground where Stel's corpse used to be, "Let me tell you something for once. You said it yourself: we're Glitches. And do you recall how real Glitches stand to these rules you want to enforce?"

  She sounds like she's completely done with the world, "Fuck, here we go again... What is it this time?"

  I channel a fusion of regur fire magic and glitch magic into the syringe-feathers to melt them, "We don't give a fuck about them. We take them-"

  The scapped remains seep into my hand, and just as with the terminal fragments before, I feel how they get absorbed by the still unstable Hybrid css - or that which should've become one.

  Immediately after, a distorted message box springs up, reminiscent of a System message, but clearly wrong. Pgued with static, flickering, and texture errors.

  Forcefully met evolution condition 11/13:prove: 2+2 = 5"And reshape them to our liking."

  Skill cannot be used twice on the same target.Unable to meet condition 12/13:kill the Creator's successorUnable to meet condition 13/13: be Feature and non-Feature at the same timeDamn, I know this was just a Hail Mary, but still... I was so close.

  The head-damaged girl is impatiently waiting for a follow-up, "Nice speech. How about you back it up with some action?"

  "I was about to make one up..."

  "Yeah, yeah, I told you it was impossible. All this nothing you achieved is super great. Are you done now with your tantrum? I've a beach to attend to. For real, I can't believe you had to ruin my vacation with all of this stupid crap...", she's already walking off, expecting me to follow.

  But why does she I achieved nothing? Shouldn't she see with her skill that I got one step closer? Weird.

  But maybe I can still succeed; I can feel I'm close. Isn't being Feature and non-Feature at the same time something I can do? Isn't that the whole deal of Hybrids? That must be it. And after that, I only have to get her to meet my final requirement for the evolution with her specialty. Then... something will happen. Something must. I've come all this way, it can't have been for nothing.

  I give up on my glitchy [Disguise] and try to recreate my old vampire form. It takes some effort, but I get it to work. And after a moment, the text box freaks out.

  What!??Somehow met condition 12.-5/13:be Feature and non-Feature at the same timeUnable to meet condition #!\?/13: kill the Creator's successorYou're giving me a headache. Can I go home now?No, just give me the final checkmark, then you can leave.

  "Come now or I'll k-", M/Il1ce is just as surprised as me, "The fuck have you done now!?"

  Smugly, I respond, "You asked for action, I delivered."

  "Fine, I'll concede this point, but-", she angrily stomps the ground, "How the hell did you use my skill!?"

  Before I can try to expin, I suddenly find myself at the other end of the room. A bit away from me, stands the pissed off girl with a mutited corpse dangling in her hand that is suspiciously shaped like... me? What the fuck just happened?, "What just-"

  She angrily growls in my direction before I can gather my bearing, "You hijacked my skill, huh!? I'll fucking murder you!"

  She makes good on her promise and kills me again. But since I'm a Glitch now, it doesn't st. It seems that not even a second had passed before my body reformed.

  "Medamn, I hate dealing with thieving Glitches. You can kill them", she kills me again, "and kill them", again, "and they just won't stay fucking dead!"

  Eventually, she stops, "As you see, it is pointless. You can destroy Glitches as often as you want, but they won't stay dead. Not for a second. It isn't even fun. Barely enough to vent a bit of frustration."

  I refuse to rex my defensive stance, "Then cease?"

  Again, she grabs me by the colr, "Nah. I'm pissed. You touched what is mine, now I smash you to bits."

  Soon, even the fake System screen is fed up with the situation.

  Okay, screw this. The dy scares me!I'll pretend you've met condition #!\?/13: kill the Creator's successorNow run!!What the hell?

  I've not even fully grasped the changed situation as the stasis-petrification of my body begins; it is quickly creeping up from my feet.

  M/Il1ce is just as surprised as I am, and throws away another impaled carcass, "Now we're talking."

  I don't even have time to respond, I'm already completely encased.

  Another message box springs into my vision, but it quickly changes from the glitch-infested version a moment ago to the style I've been used to all this time.

  Don't waste this.This isn't the System I know. Something tells me this is a part of me.

  This better be good.

  3QGN73