Caelum felt the weight of the World Key in his pocket, its cold surface humming against his thigh. He was no longer just a student; he was a walking anomaly.
[WARNING: SYSTEM OVERSEER 'MALPHAS' IS INITIATING A SECTOR SWEEP...]
[STABILITY LEVEL: CRITICAL]
"So soon?" Caelum muttered, his eyes narrowing. In his past life, Malphas was known as the 'Executioner of Bugs'. He was a high-level entity designed to erase anything that didn't fit the System's perfect logic.
Suddenly, the air around Caelum grew heavy. The chirping of the insects in the Barrens stopped. The shadows of the trees began to stretch and twist, forming a tall, faceless figure in the middle of the path.
Overseer Malphas. "Identity: Caelum Thorne," the entity's voice was like grinding metal. "Status: F-Rank. Current Location: Forbidden Zone. Discrepancy detected: Manual Mana Level does not match historical logs."
Malphas raised a hand, and a massive red 'X' appeared in the air above Caelum. [COMMAND: DELETE_CORE].
Caelum felt a searing pain in his chest as the System tried to rip his mana heart out. But he only smiled.
"You're trying to delete me using the System's commands," Caelum gasped, his hand reaching out to touch the red 'X'. "But what happens when the command itself... is broken?"
[ACTION: ACTIVATE 'REFLECTIVE_GLITCH']
[TARGET: OVERSEER_MALPHAS]
The red 'X' suddenly turned blue and inverted. Instead of deleting Caelum, the command shot back at Malphas. The Overseer's arm began to pixelate and dissolve.
"ERROR... ERROR..." Malphas hissed, his form flickering like a broken television screen. "SUBJECT 001 IS... UNTOUCHABLE..."
"Go back to your masters," Caelum said, his eyes glowing with a dark, forbidden mana. "Tell them the King is back. And I'm coming for the Throne."
With a final glitchy scream, the Overseer vanished. Caelum fell to one knee, breathing hard. He had won this round, but he knew Malphas would be back—and next time, he wouldn't be alone.