The side sector they moved into felt a little more like home than the rest of Neon Veil.
The lights were dimmer, the noise quieter, the air thicker.
Fewer people passed by, and the ones that did were just as anonymous as the structures surrounding them.
They stopped in front of an abandoned building old, run-down, yet somehow sturdy enough to keep them hidden.
Elric stood near the door, glancing around to make sure the group was all accounted for.
Elen was still recovering, though she was walking better now. Mii was keeping a close eye on her, and Lyra remained alert, scanning their surroundings.
Sera moved up to Elric's side, quietly watching the entrance.
"…it's safe here?" Elric asked her.
She nodded without a word.
Kaida-9 stepped forward, her mechanical joints making a slight whirring noise.
"…Threats remain uncertain."
Pix, as usual, was already inside the building, tapping away at an old console she had found in the corner.
"…You can't just relax, can you?" Elric asked, stepping inside after her.
Pix didn't look up.
"Relaxing is a luxury I don't get to have, Elric."
He stepped closer, watching her as she fiddled with the console.
"…We need to talk," he said softly.
Pix finally paused, glancing up at him with a tired but sharp look.
"…About what?"
"About what's happening to me," Elric said, his voice low but steady.
"You're the one who seems to know more about my… 'root access' or whatever you're calling it."
She straightened up from the console, taking a moment to let her eyes linger on him.
Her grin didn't quite reach her eyes, but the tension between them shifted slightly.
"…Oh," she said after a beat, her voice turning almost too casual. "…So you finally want the truth."
Elric didn't smile. "I don't need all the answers, Pix. I just need to know what I'm dealing with."
Her eyes flickered.
For a moment, she almost seemed to hesitate before speaking.
"…Alright. Fine," she said, crossing her arms as if she were about to tell him something he wasn't ready for.
"Here's the deal. You weren't just lucky when you got here, Elric. You weren't just some random guy who slipped into a crazy reality. You were a part of it. And it wasn't just a game you died in."
Elric stiffened, his heart pounding harder than before.
"What do you mean?"
She held up a hand, stopping him from speaking further.
"…You didn't just fall into this world, Elric. You were pulled in. I'm not sure why yet but you are the root cause of a larger anomaly in this system. Your luck? It's not a gift. It's a glitch."
Elric blinked, not quite able to process what she was saying. He stepped forward, his fists clenching at his sides.
"A glitch?" he repeated, his voice tightening.
"How the hell does that even make sense? I'm not some program I'm a person."
Pix exhaled slowly, her gaze flickering between the old, dusty screen and Elric.
"I know it doesn't make sense," she said, her voice finally losing its usual sharp edge.
"But I've run scans, traced lines of code, tried to access your information within the system... The truth is, you're not just a player here. You're the key."
The words landed heavily in Elric's chest, like a weight he hadn't been prepared to carry.
"…the key?" he echoed.
Pix nodded.
"Your existence, your presence here it broke something."
Sera, standing just behind Elric, stepped forward now, her expression thoughtful. "What kind of something?"
Pix gave her a hard look, like she was deciding how much to share.
She paused,
then shook her head slightly.
"…I'm not sure," she admitted. "But I'm beginning to think it's bigger than what we thought. Your 'root access' isn't just about power it's about control. You're tied to the system in ways that make you impossible to trace. And you're not supposed to be here."
Elric's heart skipped a beat. "Wait, you're saying… I'm not supposed to be here?"
Pix met his gaze.
"…Exactly. And that's the problem."
Her words lingered in the air, heavy with meaning, and it took Elric a few moments to process them fully.
"What's the problem?" Elric asked, his voice shaking slightly.
"What happens if the system knows about me?"
Pix's smile faltered.
"…If the system becomes aware of you," she said slowly,
"there's no telling what could happen. If it starts hunting you down"
She stopped herself and turned back to the console.
"You might not survive."
The silence was thick and suffocating.
Elric's mind raced.
"So... I'm not just some random player who died and got stuck here. I'm... the cause of all this?"
Pix nodded once, sharply.
"You didn't just die in your world, Elric. You... shifted into this one. And now, the system's trying to make sense of you."
"…Trying to make sense of me?"
Elric repeated, confusion and frustration filling his voice.
"And what's going to happen when it finally figures it out?"
Pix didn't answer immediately.
She turned back to the console, but this time, her fingers hovered over the keys without typing anything. It was like she was hesitating, unsure of how much she should reveal.
"Pix?" Elric pressed.
She sighed deeply.
"…When it figures you out," she began quietly, "you'll either be erased or they'll use you."
"…Used how?" Elric asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
Pix didn't answer right away.
Instead, she turned to face him fully, her eyes sharp and serious.
"You're the glitch,"
she said, her voice low.
"And you don't even know what that means yet."
Elric's mind raced.
But before he could say anything else, Mii spoke up from the back of the room.
"So, what exactly are we going to do now? Because I'm getting tired of playing cat-and-mouse with systems that want to eat us."
Lyra stepped forward, her voice sharp.
"Pix," she said firmly, "we need a plan. A real one. If what you're saying is true, then we need to prepare for the worst."
Pix hesitated.
Then, with a quiet but dangerous smile, she said, "I already have a plan. It's not pretty, but it's the only way forward."
Elric's stomach tightened. "What's the plan?"
Pix grinned again, though it was a far more calculated expression now.
"…we break the system."