The Hunt Renewed

"Vassie!"

She was here, in front of the tangles of the White a mere jump from the crowds of people where safety might be sought (but she remembered the tide drowning the Prog and it was just a Mr. Prog but-)

and she was there, far away from where the fragment of her old-self sought. A false-self, a puppet parading in what remaind of her. She wouldn't care but The White would track her forever if it caught her scent and she couldn't have that.

And she was both and neither and above and around it all the out of place music, the tune that didn't fit the way she didn't-couldn't fit into this body anymore and she didn't want it, she couldn't feel-

"Vassie! Protect yourself!"

She adored the nickname. She hated it. It was a diminishment of all that she was, of all that she had done. But she hadn't done much, she was just getting started so it was perfect! It would grow with her and that was why-

The distant connection twisted, frayed.

"I will! Don't worry!"

There was never anything fluid amout her movements; not before and certainly not now. The excrescence all over her body hindered her. The space between her fingers marred by growth and mounds she didn't want. It was harder still with the way she could see the movements she had felt her way through so many times before. The glowing mark she drew, that she slapped to her shoes faded as it touched, its lines disrupted by the bumps and growths and a twist of anger rose up as the magic distorted and sprang forth ephemeral.

The shadows beneath tap-tap-tapped the tile as she tried to accomplish with one what normally took two. Her hand motioned around the aching gap of the other, its movements inferred the existance of a partner that moved in step with it but couldn't be seen. The motions circled, left trails of gleaming light in the air. A little circle, a pair of triangles. A marker, a target.

She threw it and up from the ground rose the shadows and hands. Up from the ground rose the swarm briefly putting its fears aside to grab and pull and [b]corrupt[b] and a faint trickle of petty glee echoed down the distant connection.

The witch-doll jerked, twisted to the door and moved in that direction. A plan, an intent, forced along the connection. It frayed further but the point was made, the plan seeded. They could not protect themselves but they could attack. They could strike back and the narrow hallway was perfect for limiting the foe's approach.

A stretch of the awareness of the connection and a further fraying and Vasilia knew all the options available again, knew the extent of disarray the puppet's body was in.

It would have to be enough.

"I need Shake, Sophia!"

There was a pause and something was said but Vasilia wasn't covered in as many ears and could ignore it as she chose. Could ignore it as she watched the body of fabric and wood turn back toward the White, toward the girl-thing that had been consumed.

She could ignore it, but she didn't.

"Here it is, be careful. The PET is acting really weird, I don't know if I can pull you out!"

The sole remaining hand gestured and a great weight dropped in front of the body. With a kick it was sent spining and twisting toward the White's bulk, a solitary hand rising from it's shadow to reach out claw corruption into form, to rip something contagious and hopefully debilitating into the foe.

The witch doll's body was moved, motions somehow smug and fearful at once as it attempted to escape further down the hallway.

==Summary==

1) Kick Out!
2) Charge time
3) Sigil of Gathering @ Hex
(Armour to Dust: Kick Out!'s shields will fail here if they havent yet.)
4) Movement -> Escape through Door
5) Shake1Damage: 90 + Wide Attack + Break
Accuracy: C
Description: Throws a dumbbell that slides through enemy lines for two turns. Can hit up to three enemies twice, second time having a 50% chance of hitting.
Duration: Two turns
Element: Null
Trader Rank: D
+ Glitch + Contagious @ Hex
6) Movement -> Beyond the Door (hopefully)

Routine Override: Refresh all chips.
Armour to Dust: Any Tier 3 Defense fail here.
A Memory, Shared

[Server U-16Ø, Binary Interior]
[R&D Facility #10 - SciLabs]
[Before]

"Beach day!!! Beach day beach day beach day!" Nona's sprinting for the nearest shoreline the second the three of you are off the pad. Her new white dress would surely be caked with all manner of mysterious stains by cycle's end, but that's hardly a concern of the moment. You watch her shrink to a speck atop the silvery sands, while Aven'mutz exchanges a quiet word with the two acolytes running the transporter.The three are carbon copies of one another: gleaming, faceless, flawless avatars of Grandroot Themself. Your husband is newly ordained, and the shock of hearing his bassy voice from such a slight creature is still fresh enough to make you want to look around for him.

You're taller and broader than him, now. You're not sure you'll ever be used to that. Still, you can spot the minutiae that mark your man if you look closely: the set of his shoulders and the straightness of his back; the way he folds his arms like he expects them to be twice as thick around. It's reassuring to know which one to grab by the arm without having to listen, nevermind that both the other acolytes have women's voices.

The moment you pull Aven across the transporter's threshold and onto island soil, he goes slack. A breeze sets the trees to singing, loud and startling enough you almost the quiet, "Oh my..." as he looks up, and beholds the bubble-world of U-16.

There are islands in the sky. Rather, the ocean, Their ocean was the sky, after a fashion. The bubble drifts through Their depths, large enough for small landmasses to dot the round white sea. A small yellow star sits cupped in an unburning stone cradle at its centre, which spins in accordance with the cycles to give U-16 a mirror of the human world's day and night. Swirling clouds blanket the surface, calculated to evenly distribute that just-right amount of shade for when one's island paradise was getting a little too toasty. The horizon curves up on all sides, giving a curious sensation of standing in a colossal bowl - the horizon is far enough away to simply fade out of sight, far enough away that at night, the lights of the far side bouncing all the way across look like clusters of stars.

That's just what you've gathered from your eyes, your ears and the stories you've been told. Not for the first time, you wonder what it's like for Aven to be connected to it so completely, what he'd say if you asked him what he could see. The other side of the world, for all you know. He's volunteered little insight into his new perspective in the days since, but you can be patient for him, for this.

"Did you plan on spending your whole vacation standing there?" The playful words and your hand twining with his are enough to snap him out of the trance - it's not the first time you've had to. He gives you a small nod of apology-but-thanks, and then you're walking. Soil fades into sand underfoot; you take your boots off and relish the feeling of curling your toes into the fine grain. Nona waves to the two of you, slapping at the waves where they tickle at her ankles and shrieking with uncomplicated joy. The ocean cups her in a safe, shallow bowl even as it breaks well overhead to either side, cradling Their progeny as lovingly as her own parents. She flings herself forward and hugs the ocean back spread-eagle, even as it ruffles her short hair and takes care to stay out of her nose; she could not possibly be safer. Beside you, Aven makes a happy sound, like a faceless smile. You wave back.

You stop once you're just up the beach from Nona, patting the sand beside you. Watching Aven figure out how to make his avatar sit is both fascinating and a little heartwrenching. "Sometimes I miss your old body," you muse as he offers you his hand to hold. You study the fingers a moment: acolytes' fingers, the universe in the shape of a man. A beloved voice in an unfamiliar body...but familiarity would come in time.

Aven'mutz hums, following your gaze across the shore to where Nona plays in the sand. When he speaks up again, blithe as you please, you can hear that damnable smirk clear as day, nevermind you could no longer see it, "Truly? I can't say I expected to hear ambivalence from you, going off your words last night."

"Great Builder, could you not?!" you sputter - you can feel your face blush silver, even more-so when Aven'mutz fluid-shifts and reels you in for an obnoxiously close side-hug. You bat ineffectually at the tentacles, making his translucent chest rumble with laughter against your face. He seems to take this as an invitation to wrap the two of you up several times over and complete the hug. Giving up, you lean in and enjoy the cool daybed of his arms. Rivers of rootcode jangle in his chest like bells in a breeze.

"I do miss it, though. You've wanted this for so long, and you know I'll always support you no matter what. Still, you can't deny it's a lot to get used to." You prod at his chest, feeling rootplasm squish where there had once been broad, solid muscle. "This form is wonderful in its way, but...oh Aven, you were so warm and sturdy, and you gave such good hugs. It's hard not to miss that..." your thoughts begin to wander. Now it's your turn to leer, trying on the other side of playful, "...and your face was a lot more useful before."

"Ohhh reeeeeally?" His tone is an ear-to-ear grin, but Aven'mutz says no more, just lays back and lets the moment pass. A band has kicked up down the beach, playing something bubbly and bouncing. Human music, if you had to guess, but then your husband is talking again, voice low and thoughtful, "I just...the more I learned, the more I wanted, no, needed to do anything I could to help." You're surprised - you thought he was long past needing to justify his choice, but then for once in his life he doesn't content himself with a one-liner and keeps going, and that more than anything stills your tongue, "Grandroot Binary is so vast, and always growing. Even this far down, I can feel it, Dreisskr. It's like...like watching a forest grow in fast-forward, and it's always getting faster. There's more new growth today than yesterday, and there was more yesterday than there was the day before that."

There's nothing you can say to that, at least not yet, and anyway he seems incapable of stopping the words now that they've started to spill out. "Did you know, in our last communion with the Server Lab, one of the Superiors said our last census put our population almost on par with Earth's? They can barely keep track of us anymore, let alone Their outer limits. There's that much." He looks down at his hands, a relic from a life of binocular vision. You squeeze his forearms and try to imagine what else, how much else he's seeing, but he isn't finished, "It's on us now to make up the difference. The bigger Grandroot gets, the more resources the Server Lab need to maintain Them, the harder it is for the humans to communicate with us, the more attendants and acolytes we need to make up the difference, the bigger Grandroot gets...it's a cycle. A vicious cycle, and I don't know what's going to happen if..."

"Hey, hey." You can't take any more in, and have to give his arms a shake for the words to putter out. "Look at me, Aven, just - just at me. I know there's a lot but you - you can look away, right? You don't have to be all of it, you'll only lose yourself out there if you try - you have to know that if you're gonna do this. You're you, and you're here." You're talking as much with your body as your words, and your punctuation are fingertips ghosting over rubbery knuckles, and the stare he'd once told you had been what first set his mind ablaze with hold on. You don't need to see his eyes to feel his world shrink down into the space you inhabit. "I'm here. Your daughter's here. Please, my heart, be here with us too."


The white receded, rearing its stems back and up and flowering anew: crawling from its depths were ears with fingers, ears with toes, ears that gaped and ears that gnawed themselves to tatters. A village, a city's worth of skin and cartilage, sewn into a veiny tapestry. The unlight, having spread its taint to Hex's taste, had flourished now into an organ-like growth off the Egomorph-lump. Lung-like, the monstrosity started pulsing like a mockery of breath. Virtual atmosphere was pulled in and harvested, and with each exhale the Conduit started to echo with song.

Images, sensations slithered into one's ears and chest the longer one listened: a memory shared of toes curling into white sand; a warm embrace; a loving whisper 'be here with us.'



So too did it recede from out the Conduit. Bloody light flickered and died down to sparks as its fuel withdrew itself - the siren song dimmed but kept playing. Egomorph was flung back into her body, insensate, boiled for too long in Hex's cauldron. In a last desperate grasp for sanity, her awareness of self winked out. Didn't need to see what had become of her body; didn't need to feel her progenitor chewing the inside of her belly. She didn't need to be here for this, so she wasn't.

You closed your eyes instead, and let your head fall back against the sand. The lap of waves, the interplay of hot sun and cool sea breeze, the presence of others - others? For some reason you were expecting to see Vasilia, though you could not see her. Perhaps you were Vasilia, in this moment? Or was Vasilia you? It didn't seem to matter here. You looked up to the islands in the sky, hoping she could appreciate this beautiful place with you all the same.



A hand in yours. Familiar children's laughter, though you don't know from where. You look around for your daughter-

(Whose daughter? What was daughter?)



You - who were you again?

Where was this?



[Vasilia? VASILIA!]



"h̶́n͜͡n̕n̡ ̵-́ ̢g͘ḩ͘h͘ḩ͢͏k̶k̸ " Ego slammed herself into the madness and forced herself to feel. Boneless limbs flailed and snapped. Vasilia was close, far too close, her mouths were full of a sickening savoury-sweet taste it wanted more more more of she was an armless, legless tumour with too many so many faces and everything was moving but she couldn't stop it couldn't even move there was just too much her that wasn't her just more reaching white-

c̷á̧̛ ͟͡-̶͡ ҉̵n͘͟'̶͢͟t͝ ̕-̢ ͜st̴ ̡͠-̸ o͏ -͢ ̡̛͢p̷͞ ̵̀-̸ ̡̛͘i̧͠t͞ And it was all white inside her, she understood now, she was just - something to carry its brain around. Every syllable was a battle, when she only wanted to curl up and scream until it took her away because she was its brain, she was it was she was it was -. "̢̕i'̸̀͡m ͝-̸ ş͘͝ơr̀̀͡ ̵͢-̡ ͞͡r͟҉y͠"̴͡

Arms weren't working. Arms weren't arms, just coils full of hunger that wasn't hers, reaching in ways she didn't understand. Still, she fought to keep still. Even if it felt like trying to hold back the tide, water rushing past uncaring (over and over and over again), something wasn't letting her cave in. She would destroy herself trying, surely...but was that such a bad thing to hope for?

She just wanted it to stop.

It didn't.

Everything went white - Hex had lunged, through as much as around its puppet. The Conduit was inert; with triumph close enough to taste, there was no further need for thought. The ooze that had fed its cerebral access point was rerouted, repurposed to simply crush its prey instead. There were no tangling snarls or gardens of grasping hands this time, just a single misshapen cudgel of a mass, and all the force the surging pool could bring to bear.

All at once the obscenity was slurped back in. The hungry ocean feasted on its own offspring, bulging, bloating. Nothing was safe from consumption: the roof shingles, its own corpse-husks, even the atmosphere itself was caught on a waving carpet of tendrils and digested into more slurry. Another white pillar stretched tall, swollen full of wretched thoughtless intent.

She felt it fall. Heavier than the last one, it sent tremors through Ego's body that threatened to drown her voice outright. She might have been on the arm when it smashed down to the roof - it wasn't as though she could held it back if she was. There wouldn't be enough of Vasilia left for one of the white's trophies, if it got to her. "̹̻͈ͦ̇ͫ͛ͭ̋̔P̲̪͇̩̩̖̆̑͋͂ͅl̞̟̪ͨ̓͆̈́̊ͨ͐e̪̫̭̾̓a̮̟͉͓̮̥̠̒̑͂ ͓̬̀ͬ-̘͙̫̏̄ ͖̊̀s͉̈ͫ̔̍̒̋̃ė̥̜̮͎͖́͆ͮͯͅ,̀̈̔ͤ ̦V̗͓͛á͇͎̝̩̃̔ͅ ̯̼͉̠-ͦͨ͋ ̹̳̹̹̱̳͙͂ͧ̔̆̉̈́s͕̻͔̦̆͂͒i͙̘̦͙̖̹͎ͥ ͯ-̩̜͍̫̬̆ ̣͎̬̣͎͉̯ͥ̄l̒͂ͬ͂̅̾i͚̳̭̟̔ ̜̫̲͎̆ͦ͂-̠͐̾̽̋ ͚̖̯͈ͨ̾ͦ͐ͫ͂͗a̯̿̑̽̀̅ ̬̯̯̠̲͇̐̃͊ͬ͊̀̿.̟ͥͅ.͈͉̳̳̭̘.̞ͭ̏̎̆"̲̘̭̜̥ There was too much, just too much. It writhed once, twice more, and then -

- vanished.

Snapped back into the pool like a stretched rubber band, forceful enough to splatter the window into a low creep of ooze. She could feel, now, the white columns that stretched from the main body into this space. The skittering shreds belied what lay on the other side of that deceptive puddle: there was never going to be an end, not when there was a hungry white ocean <beneath/behind/below> leeching at the Net World one horrible hunt at a time, burrowing-

It was burrowing, Ego knew a second before it happened. In the last instant of quiet before the tide came back in, she called out to her friend.

"͞S̵̡͞U̸҉̶R͘͏̡ ̡-̡ ҉͢V̧̛IV̷̡̡E͘"̛͢

Like rust, like rot, it sank into the roof itself, and drank deep from its structure. Tunneling, tearing and gorging without heed, truss and beams were torn from their fastenings and devoured in seconds. The screech of tortured framework could be heard from blocks away - from inside the building, the noise was nothing short of apocalyptic.

And it rose, once more, higher and higher still, tipping under its own weight at its peak. A wave breaking without a sea, Hex made no move to send more appendages after Vasilia. They were past that. Now it just charged, throwing its entirety in her direction even as it tore the ground out from under her feet. Egomorph was screaming, but there was no way to hear her over the calamity. Whatever part of the building it had exposed would be flooded, all that lay within ripe for the taking, and at the epicentre of the madness was a little puppet that smelled of heartwood and fractals and something forgotten but familiar. And it was that last note, that tingling feeling of once-known the white desired more than any other, and it would render its prize down to pulp for another taste.






-Ḑ̴͌̋̊ͦ͂̈́̆͊̍̾ͯ̍̀͜A̴̴ͮ̓͗̆ͭ͐̇̋͟N̷̛̛ͣ̉ͯ̊̆̅ͦ̎̉̽̅͆̈ͭͩ̎͘̕Ģ̵̌͌ͬ̄̂ͣͥ͗͂͛̎̐̔͗͋̀̚͝͝E̶̸̛̐́̅̌͛̆ͭ̀̚͠Ȑ͋̒ͤͨ̏̓ͯ̋͝ ̸ͫ̈͛҉͢/̧̧̡ͩ͆ͨͥ͂͑ͫ́͐/̷̢̍͗ͯ̎̋̋̋ͬ̌̈̊̉ͬͫ̚͞ ̴̓̿̆̑͗̈͐̑̽̄̉C̶̵̡̈́ͧͥ̈̏͛̿̏͝O̡̿̀ͨ̏̊̊ͣ͊͌ͩ̓́̊͋̔̋̉͒҉̨͘N̑ͯ̽ͭ̀̕͠͡T̡̢͌̑̉̅͌̽ͯ͑ͦ̽ͦ̈́̉̀͟A̵̧̛ͥ̎̊ͥͥͫ̽̃̇̓̄̔͌C̴̸̒ͫ̋͋ͤ̋̑͝T̷̢̆̿ͥ̍ͤ̆̕͞ ̸̧ͬ̒͆̔̍͗̒͌̽ͭ́̃̃͌ͥ̈́ͨ͂I̢̛̿̾͊̒̐̃ͬ̒̍ͣͮMͩͫ͗͌̂͛̈ͩ̓̄̔ͦ̒̿̇́҉̴M̢͛ͧ̒́ͭ͒̕I̢̿͐ͫ̓͋̿̄̋͋̑ͨ̔̕͝N͒̀͗̍͑̀͝Ėͤͥͮ͟Nͦ̊̌̍̑ͨͭ҉̶̧̢̛T̵̵̷̵̑̿̊̅̓͐͂̀̒̓̌͌̔͋ͬ̂͋̚ ̶̴̨͒̇̌́ͨͯ͒ͥ̋̅̓́̈͘͞/́̇͑̔́͟/̡ͮ̓ͥ̇̅̅͂͐̚͢͡ ̨̔͋̿̑̊ͭ̓ͧ̂̊̿ͫͨͭ̀D̶̡̨ͦ̂̾͑̐ͮ̒̿̕Âͮ̅̽̂͌ͮ̾ͨ̅̕͞N̨ͧ͆̃͑ͬ͐̉̋̎ͫ҉͟G̛͗̋̓ͯͬ̈́ͣ̑̀̂̚͏̨E̽̒̏ͨͭͬͤ̌ͨ͊ͭ̆͆̈́̍ͧ̎̍̊҉́͞R̢̨̅ͫ̇͗ͦ̂͊̌͆ͨ̄̈̈͋ͫ̋̌ ̵̡ͤͤ̈͌́̋ͨ͂́/̶̸ͯ̌ͫͮͦ̑̕/̴͆̎̄̉͌̿͐͛̚̕ ̴̨͒̿̽̓̓͂̀̃̓ͯ̋͌̊̿̄͢͏C̡̛̔͑͊̋̊̅̾ͩ̿͏̵͜Õ̴ͪͩ͊͌͗̒̀̚̚̕N̨̨̢͆ͪͮͧ͘͜T̶̵̡͛ͦ̃ͯ̀͜A̵ͭ͊ͭ̈ͨ͌͘͘C̴̐̓ͭ̆̄́̚T̵̷̛̅̿ͯ́͑͋̓̄̀̆ ̄̅̍̐̑̌̿͐ͭ̑̚͘͘I̴̢ͯ͗ͭ̓̓ͬ͊̊̇̏ͩ́̆ͧ͂M̨͛ͯ̏͑̇̀̐̑͋͐ͪͥ̌ͯ̇͢͞͡M̵̡ͥͣ̿͆ͯͥ̆̆͜İ̽̂̈́ͣ̄͗̍ͤ̾̉̎̋ͬ̓ͦ͌̾̀͢͜͏̡N̴ͦͭ͂̿͑͒̅ͫ̓͆͢Ẽ̡̎ͦͯͪ̉ͮ̈͟͠N̷͑̓̓̒͑͊̏ͥ̊ͨͥͭ̚͘T̸ͣ̇͐͋̅́̽͊̇ͣ̾ͯͦ͛̒ͯ̈̋͜ ̡̀̓͒ͩͯͮͥ͒̽͐̓͛̈́ͥ/ͣ̈́ͦ̊͑̄ͧ͆̓͋ͮ̆̎̂́͝/̸͒ͣͨͨͤ̊̅̌ͥ͒̔̀ͪͭͣ̓͘͜͝͡ ̔̈̿͂ͩ͊̏́̈ͤ̃̌̈́̃ͦ̾҉̷͟D̏ͣ͆̃ͧ̒͂̉͏̧͝A̵̶͛̂̉̎̄̋̃̏͐̾͟Ņ̢͗̇̏̅͌ͧ̑͋̓̐̒͗͛͐͒͊̐̀̚͜͡Ǧ̶ͬ̎̀̌̔̀̕̕͢E̵̡̨̐͒̐ͯ̆ͯͧ́̚͜R̎ͥͤ͌̈̾҉̷͝-
-FastArmour [over Hex]
-Glitch Eater (indiscriminate target)
E1. Grapple Vasilia
E2. suffer Defend Hex
1. Half Charge Shot: Vasilia [60 Null {A}]
2. Buster Charge
- Apply Strengthen 20
3. Half Charge Shot: Vasilia [80 Null {A}]
4. Dodge
5. Assembly [Buster Charge x2, Large Broken Terrain under Vasilia, Self-Slow; 3TCD]
6. Charge Shot: Vasilia [120 Null {A}]
Somewhere amidst the out-of-place beach music and the strange sensations, while Vasilia struggled to escape and Ego suffered in between, the impossible mass that was Hex seemed to draw back – blooming and shifting with an unexpected hesitation, while a unexpected scene drifted in the oddly permeable space around their hectic chase; a quirk of the badly mutilated code of the space they were crashing through cast the images before everyone... and then, a moment later, the reverie broke, and hell broke loose again.

Vasilia found herself thrust back into her immediate here and now, her senses realigning within her body as a flash of something was torn from her and back into the churning white mass; the muted numbness remained, and the increasing dis-figuration of her wooden parts, but for the moment she was back with herself in her own head, at least. As she formed the sigil for protection once more, the slightly apart mass that bore Ego's conduit threw itself towards her again, desperately trying to cling on just as a battering-ram bludgeon of mass slammed forward, through the remaining shards of scientific debris, with enough force to flatten the puppet navi. The first hit was deflected, but it was clear that her sigil wasn't holding as well as it should.

All around them, shattering wood, stone and glass cracked over the still-playing music as what remained of Ego struggled to keep herself between Vasilia and the inevitability of the white. Trying to hold back the ocean only served to get in Vasilia's way, however, as the navi sought to give the corrupted creature back some of its own medicine. The grasping shadow hands reached and grabbed, latching only Ego's form and clinging tightly, pulling her along as Vasilia herself made for the fire escape. For a moment it looked more like two fleeing from one, rather than the other way around, but even as the code-breaking hands sank into Ego's conduit, the shadows flowed back along their tethered connection to the greater white mass as well.

Ego herself could feel the shadowy hands holding her tight and weighing her down, when moving was hard enough already, but there was more to it than that as well – they also seemed to be holding her up at the same time, keeping what remained of her form just above the glass-strewn ground without effort; for a moment it felt like, if she willed it, they might even carry her up and away from all of this. The stream of corruption that chased its way back to Hex itself washed across the monstrosity in a very different manner. As thought was discarded and intelligence was thrown aside, forgotten, all that was hex became sense and need, and then more, and less; senses narrowed, focused, brightened evened as they died... what need for sight, when its prey was right there, and it could be felt and heard and scented... what need touch, or scent or sound, when it could taste... and that taste was everything. The taste, the taste it needed, was all that remained; taste and the universe-devouring need to taste more.

Just ahead; that was where the lingering taste of heartwood and fractals fled. Hex surged forward, raw mass churning into the descending corridor behind Vasilia and Ego, on dragged by the other. Bolts of red lighting arced from the conduit as Vasilia rushed on; they arced off the metal housing of the door frame and the stairs, lighting up a narrow stairway that led down a dozen feet then doubled back on itself. Below, another door. Vasilia was able to descend, skipping part of the railing as she made for the lower door, but the corridor behind was filled as Hex came on like a flow, then a torrent, then a crashing flood.

For Hex, there was the taste of shattered glass, of broken stone, of water and of coolant, or iron metal and steel, and of old, dead wood. Not the taste it sought. Substance and matter, but not what would sate its hunger; it drove after the retreating taste, uncaring of anything else that might be between them.

The building rumbled, and spiderweb cracks began to spread out from the everywhere Hex's mass impacted. A glance back as Vasilia thrust the door open with her remaining hand; the zigzag stairs above gone, filled with white, and the cracks weren't just cracks in the masonry; code bled from them, as the data that made up their world ruptured and crumbled. Ahead, the panicked shouts of normal navis hurriedly jacking out before they got caught up in whatever was coming; an office space, benches and testing equipment, cubicles and terminals; a poster on the wall with a kitten hanging on a branch. Doors leading to other offices but where was down?

The other option drew Vasilia to turn back just as she burst into the upper floor, one hand drawing the sigils to send a fresh attack barrelling back at the only way her pursuer could be coming from. Sure enough it came on, tearing through the doorway and much of the upper wall as its body mass consumed everything it flowed over. Vasilia's attack was broad and forceful, and hammered back at her foe; the recoil seemed to slam the still-connected Ego back with it as well, as one set of tangled code warred against another and swiftly tore the space around them apart.

The floor of the building groaned as the network of widening cracks raced across it and the sea of Hex absorbed the heavy weight that had embedded itself in the mass. Dark lances of glitched code speared into the white substance, and again Vasilia got a glimpse of the aberrant code jumping back and forth between the monstrosity and Ego's conduit.

Hex seemed to only be growing more implacable and unstoppable as the broken code sank in and settled amidst the mass of flesh and form, though a keen eyes suggested that, whatever she was doing, Vasilia was making some headway towards driving the abomination back. There was only distantly the sensation of impacts and the taste of consuming all manner of things that were not the thing it needed to taste. That need was all that mattered; nothing else needed to remain at all.

Whatever was still present of Ego's ego felt the odd stillness fall across her again, though it was different this time. There was, impossibly, a tiny islet of calm from which to take in the horror beyond, and it remained somewhere in that part of the tortured girl that hadn't yet been corrupted, letting her know what to do, and when.

The moment ended as the building was filled with a warning creak. Hex drew itself up and lunged, driving the largest, most solid mass of its bludgeoning body back at Vasilia; the impact set her senses spinning as the fleshy substance was suddenly all over her, flattening her to the ground and trying to consume. Then, a deafening crash and a tearing sound, and suddenly everything was falling, tumbling, shattering and crashing against other broken pieces, all being torn asunder or devoured by the white mass. Vasilia landed with a painful impact, something rigid against her back, but not supporting her head or her lower body. Even the lingering numbness wasn't enough to shield her from the sudden bolt of pain that the hard landing solidified her awareness with. White was everywhere, on everything, slamming and thrashing about, but it didn't have her, not entirely, not yet.

Barely a moment to take in her awareness showed Vasilia what had happened; the broken skeleton of the office building loomed above her on four side, but the insides were gone collapsed, destroyed and devoured, leaving only a gutted shell that was itself laced with cracks and broken in places. At its core was Hex, white mass trailing from the walls down to a deep basement pit below the ground level. there should have been more material; there should have been more, but there was only hex, and the scattered remains of small debris. The white filled the basement, and Vasilia herself lay precariously above it, caught only by an outcrop of stone and steel that hadn't quite broken off. The doors and windows of the lowest level had all blown out, and shattered glass was everywhere, but it hurt to even move right now.

Not far from Vasilia, the body mass that could only be Ego's form drifted above the pit, still connected to the ocean of horror below, and still an inhuman mass of twisted flesh, too many ears, red-crackling conduit and the remnants of a dress... but drifting apart, a few feet and seemingly miles away from the churning, swelling, expanding mass below... and it was expanding, climbing, reaching, and coming for her.

-=The White=-
Hex: 65Hp [Broken, building basement][Strengthen: 20][Glitch: Sensory Fall (Taste) (2 Turns)][Glitch: Crumbling Touch (Tier 1) (2 Turns)][Glitch: Force Reroute (3 Turns)][Glitch: Neutral Plane (2 Turns)]

Egomorph.SP: 1Hp[Above Broken, Above Hex][Glitch: NC Flicker (1 Turn)][Glitch: Fissured Growth (Tier 4)(Restored: 30Hp)(Indefinite)][Glitch: Crimson Cascade (Indefinite)][Glitch: All Ears (Indefinite)][Glitch: To The Beach (Indefinite)][Glitch: Leaden Shadow (Indefinite)][Glitch: Ether-Step (2 Turns)][Glitch: Prescient Distraction (2 Turns)][Glitch: Warding Touch (3 Turns)]

-=The Witch=-
Vasilia.Exe: 1Hp [Metal. Ruins just above the Hex-basement][A Hand Down: Only one wield slot available for remainder of fight][Glitch: Chip Limiter (Two Turns)][Glitch: Routine Override (Tier 4)(Indefinite)][Glitch: Lingering Numbness (Indefinite)][Glitch: Armour To Dust (Tier 3)(Two Turns)]

-=The Walk-Way=-
20% Metal
  • Cannot be Broken or Cracked except with Geddon/PanelShot, cannot be Burrowed into.
  • Elec attacks: +100% Source Damage.
  • 100 Damage Aqua attacks: Change terrain hit to Cracked.
  • 100 Damage Fire attacks: Change terrain hit to Furnace.
  • PanelShot: Imbue Elec + Break.
[Jagged ruins of the building]
80% Broken
  • Not bottomless.
  • Reverts to Normal after a time, if no one is inside.
  • Doubles dodge penalties for bad RP.
  • 1-4 Movements actions to climb back out depending on method.
[Destroyed basement level of the building]

Terrain is the ground and basement floor in the remains of a large square building. The walls mostly stand, but the building is gutted. North from the ruins led towards the public plaza, south leads back into the maze of other tall buildings.

New Glitches

Sensory Fall (Negative Glitch): The victim suffers an almost suffocating level of sensory loss. All of their senses will shut off completely, leaving nothing behind. Only one sense (randomly selected) will remain unaffected by this glitch. This glitch has no hard mechanical effect, but should be played out by the victim as appropriate. Your moderator my decide to enact appropriate debuffs as well, or simulate them in combat calculations (such as imposing blind while sight is lost). Lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Crumbling Touch (Negative Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim's terrain changes decay rapidly. any terrain change the victim makes degrades into cracked terrain after one round, unless the change was already to cracked or broken terrain. This glitch is highly mutable and is prone to increasing in severity. At second tier, the victim's terrain changes decay at the end of the round they are created. At third tier, the terrain collapses into broken terrain one turn after it decays. At tier four, all terrain changes the victim makes decay immediately, and collapse into broken at the end of the round. At fifth tier, as well as the tier four effects, the victim creates small areas of cracked terrain around themselves wherever they move, which also collapse at the end of the round. Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Force Reroute (Balance Glitch): The victim's body begins to reroute damage and power in reactive and cyclic ways. Any time the victim takes direct damage to their hit points, they gain strengthen equal to the damage that they took. Any time the victim gains Strengthen from a source other than this glitch, they take damage to their Hp equal to the Strengthen gained. This damage bypasses defences and cannot be mitigated, but is stopped by undershirt/second chance. Glitch lasts three turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Neutral Plane (Positive Glitch): The victim gains a naturalised form of planar adaptation. Any null elemental defence the victim gains acts much like a planar defence, as long as the victim is in contact with null elemental terrain. Specifically, null planar defences are not weak to break or impact. They have no elemental weakness, but do not halve damage from any source either. If the victim is not in contact null elemental terrain, null elemental defences remain and act as normal. Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Leaden Shadow (Negative Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim's shadow, or similar aspect becomes heavy and clinging, clawing a them and weighing them down. The mobility and evasion bonus of all avoidances are downgraded by one category. That is: movements only grant as much mobility as a feint, and confer no evasion bonus, feints grant only as much mobility as a dodge, and confer only the evasion bonus of a movement, and dodges grant no mobility at all, while only conferring the evasion bonus of a feint. Glitch lasts until combat ends, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or similar effect.

Ether-Step (Positive Glitch): The victim gains a lightness of step that functionally emulates the presence of Air Shoes, Float Shoes and Shadow Shoes. This also allows them to access the OmniShoes Custom Advance. Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Prescient Distraction (Balance Glitch): The victim gains a calmness that allows a mild prescience effect, a the cost of personal focus. The victim loses their first action each round to a distracted daze, however, all actions they take have their accuracy increased by 2 ranks. this effect stacks with taking aim, and can surpass A rank. Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Warding Touch (Positive Glitch): The victim gains a free allocation of processing capability that can be channelled into supporting effects. Once per turn as a free action, the victim may apply any one effect from the following list to a target of their choice: (15 Healing), (Status Cure), (1-Hit Shield), (20hp Barrier), (20hp Casing), (Damage Reduction 5, (1 Round)), (Strengthen 20), (NC Resistance (1 Round)), (Buster Resistance (1 Round)), (Folder Resistance (1 Round)), (Signature Resistance (1 Round)), (SP Resistance (1 Round)). Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.


Existing Current Glitches

Fissured Growth (Balance Glitch): The victim gains regeneration, recovering 5Hp per action through this glitch. The glitch records how much Hp it has restored. If this glitch is removed, it immediately deals direct damage to the victim equal to half the amount of Hp it has restored at the time of removal. This damage cannot be reduced or mitigated in any way, but will be blocked by Undershirt/Second Chance. This glitch is prone to increasing in severity, and can tier up to a maximum of five times. Each tier beyond the first restores an extra 5Hp per action. At fifth tier, damage caused by removal of the glitch ignores Undershirt/Second Chance. If this glitch resolves out of combat, it does not deal any damage. Glitch lasts until combat ends or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Crimson Cascade (Positive Glitch): The victim exudes erratic, crimson light which lashes out at enemies nearby. As a free action each turn, the energy attempts to strike any hostiles nearby, a number of times equal to double the victim's rapid stat. Each energy strike deals 10 null element damage, and the victim gains Strengthen equal to the amount of actual Hp the attacks deplete (Barriers etc., do not count). Glitch lasts until combat ends or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

NC Flicker (Negative Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim's Navi customiser suffers a glitch that causes their installed parts to randomly shut off for brief periods. Each turn, every NC install that the victim has will have a fifty percent chance to stop functioning for that turn. Any part that fails to function on one turn will be immune to this effect on the subsequent turn. This glitch has no effect on SPs, though they do act as carriers. This glitch is highly mutable and can interact with other glitches. Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Chip Limiter (Negative Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim suffers a glitch in their battlechip system, which becomes partially become corrupted. They cannot use more that two battlechips per turn. Glitch lasts three turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Routine Override (Positive Glitch): The victim suffers an effect that bypasses the normal safety protocols in their battle routines, allowing the free use of actions and abilities normally requiring battle routines to be disengaged. This glitch is prone to increasing in severity and can increase to a maximum of five tiers. At tier one, the victim can freely refresh one used chip each round (though they can't use the same chip multiple times in one round lit this). At tier two, they can also use one subchip each round, as an action. At tier three, the victim's chips refresh automatically at the end of each turn. At tier four the victim change their subtype choices and installed navicust parts at the beginning of each turn. At tier five, the victim can use any number of subchips as free actions on their turn, and can choose to jack their navi out without consequence or needing to escape the battle first. Glitch lasts until combat ends, or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Lingering Numbness (Negative Glitch): The victim suffers a creeping numbness of body, which makes it difficult for them to function in a coordinated manner. Melee and Slashing attacks are decreased in accuracy by 10%, and there is a 10% chance that any wielded gear will be automatically disarmed any time it is used or struck by an enemy. The victim's base evasion is also hampered by 10%. This glitch is prone to increasing in severity, and can increase to a maximum of five tiers. The penalties and negative chances increase by 5% for each tier beyond the first. Glitch lasts until combat ends, or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Armour To Dust (Negative Glitch): The victim's armour begins to degrade and lose function. At the end of each turn, the victim automatically loses any Layer 3 defences they might have active. A visual cosmetic effect accompanies this glitch, in whatever way is appropriate for the victim. This glitch is prone to increasing in severity, and can worsen up to a maximum of five tiers, and the effects are additive and cumulative. At second tier, the automatic layer 3 loss occurs both at the end of the turn, and also no more than two actions after any layer 3 defence is activated. Third tier causes all layer 3 defences to be destroyed automatically after taking one hit, though they still block overflow damage unless struck with the correct piercing type. Fourth tier causes all layer 3 defences to be vulnerable to take double damage and overspill from all attacks, as though weak to them. Fifth tier prevents any layer 3 defences from being applied to the victim at all. The cosmetic effect of this glitch progresses with each tier as well. Glitch lasts three turns, until combat ends or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

At The Beach (Neutral Glitch): Are you feeling, feeling, feeling like I'm, feeling-like-I'm-floating, floating, up above that big blue ocean; sand beneath our feet, big blue sky above our heads. No need to keep the stressing from our everyday life on our minds; we have got to leave all that behind!

All Ears (Neutral Glitch): The victim's body sprouts and changes to be come covered in ears of all different shapes and sizes. The ears completely obscure their form to the point of ridiculousness, but strangely, they don't have any actual impact on the victim's ability to function or perceive the world around them.


Past Glitch Log

Elemental Reflux (Negative Glitch): The victim suffers a backlash of elemental energy inside their body, which shifts wildly from element to element and grows stronger over time. On the first turn, the victim takes 10 elemental damage of their own element, or Fire if the victim is Null elemental. The damage increases by 10 each turn, and changes element at random. This damage is delivered on application, and then at the start of each turn, before any other actions occur (including passives). It cannot be reduced or mitigated in any way, but will be stopped by the Undershirt program. It is susceptible to being increased by the victim's elemental weakness if they have one. If the glitch ever deals 100 damage or more in one application, or if it triggers the victim's Undershirt, it is immediately burned out and removed. Otherwise, glitch lasts until combat ends, or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Reactive Form (Balance Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim's body becomes extremely reactive to changes in its integrity. They take an additional 10 points of null damage that cannot be reduced any time they take damage from any other source, however they also gain double the value of any healing they receive. This glitch is highly mutable and can interact with other glitches. Glitch lasts three turn, until combat ends or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Target Catalyst (Positive Glitch)(Catalytic Glitch): The victim suffers a temporary offence-enhancing effect, randomly determined, and taking effect immediately upon application. This effect lasts only until the end of the turn. At the end of the turn, the Glitch checks for any Mutable Glitches in the victim's system. If none are present, the glitch is dispelled. If a Mutable Glitch is present this glitch interacts with that one, and creates a new, long-term glitch of a related nature to one or the other, or both. If the Mutable Glitch and the Catalytic Glitch are of different natures (Positive, Negative, Balance), the new form will be either Balance, or the nature of the Catalytic Glitch. If multiple Mutable Glitches exist, one is randomly selected. Glitch lasts only for the turn that it is applied.

Spectrum Wash (Positive Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim is surrounded by a halo of energetic light. Once each turn, the energy strikes out to hit a random enemy with a bolt of random elemental energy. This glitch is highly mutable and can interact with other glitches. Glitch lasts three turns, until combat ends or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Damage Catalyst (Positive Glitch)(Catalytic Glitch): The victim suffers a temporary damage-enhancing effect, randomly determined, and taking effect immediately upon application. This effect lasts only until the end of the turn. At the end of the turn, the Glitch checks for any Mutable Glitches in the victim's system. If none are present, the glitch is dispelled. If a Mutable Glitch is present this glitch interacts with that one, and creates a new, long-term glitch of a related nature to one or the other, or both. If the Mutable Glitch and the Catalytic Glitch are of different natures (Positive, Negative, Balance), the new form will be either Balance, or the nature of the Catalytic Glitch. If multiple Mutable Glitches exist, one is randomly selected. Glitch lasts only for the turn that it is applied.

Overly Objective (Neutral Glitch): The victim suffers a perspective shift that causes their senses to relay information about their surroundings as though they were several metres removed from themselves, watching on. The glitch affects primarily the visual and aural senses; tactile experience is unaffected, creating a disorienting, but not debilitating experience.

Adaptive Mutation (Balance Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim suffers a mutability of their body which grants it the ability to resist damage. The Final damage the victim takes from any attack is reduced by 10. The effect is uncomfortable, alien and unsettling, however, and it makes it hard to focus beyond the unnerving sensation: the victim's accuracy and evasion are both reduced by 10%. This glitch is highly mutable and can interact with other glitches. Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Cripple Catalyst (Negative Glitch)(Catalytic Glitch): The victim suffers a temporary debuffing effect, randomly determined, and taking effect immediately upon application. This effect lasts only until the end of the turn. At the end of the turn, the Glitch checks for any Mutable Glitches in the victim's system. If none are present, the glitch is dispelled. If a Mutable Glitch is present this glitch interacts with that one, and creates a new, long-term glitch of a related nature to one or the other, or both. If the Mutable Glitch and the Catalytic Glitch are of different natures (Positive, Negative, Balance), the new form will be either Balance, or the nature of the Catalytic Glitch. If multiple Mutable Glitches exist, one is randomly selected. Glitch lasts only for the turn that it is applied.

SAS Shortcut (Positive Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim suffers a glitch in their signature Attack System which causes a more efficient and longer enduring function. Positive effects generated by signatures last for as long as this glitch does, unless their duration would already be longer. SPs and Navigators are treated as independent by this glitch; an SP whose navigator has allocated them personal signatures is unaffected if their navi has this glitch, and similarly an SP with this glitch finds only their personal signatures effected, without infecting their navi's. Glitch lasts three turns, until combat ends, or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Growth Catalyst (Positive Glitch)(Catalytic Glitch): The victim suffers a temporary protective or restorative effect, randomly determined, and taking effect immediately upon application. This effect lasts only until the end of the turn. At the end of the turn, the Glitch checks for any Mutable Glitches in the victim's system. If none are present, the glitch is dispelled. If a Mutable Glitch is present this glitch interacts with that one, and creates a new, long-term glitch of a related nature to one or the other, or both. If the Mutable Glitch and the Catalytic Glitch are of different natures (Positive, Negative, Balance), the new form will be either Balance, or the nature of the Catalytic Glitch. If multiple Mutable Glitches exist, one is randomly selected. Glitch lasts only for the turn that it is applied.

SAS Soul (Positive Glitch): The victim's Signature Attack System briefly defies all code logic. Signatures have no cooldown and can all be used once per turn. Positive effects generated by signatures endure indefinitely (or until destroyed as usual in the case of defences), instead of their listed duration, as long as this glitch remains. This includes enhancements, such as Haste, body defences, such as shadow and multi-turn/action benefits such as regeneration effects. Any time the victim uses a signature with a beneficial effect on themselves, they spontaneously regenerate 10Hp. Glitch lasts until combat ends, or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.
She was herself again. Was inside herself again. Her body was still numb, but at least it didn't feel like it was far away. The other presence in her mind was gone as well, had temporarily disappeared with a surge of how dare it how dare it howdarehowdarenotagain, please- when the White enveloped her and the memory crashed in.

Oh how she wished she ahd listened to Ego when the girl had warned her about the White.

Confusion: instead of looking at herself from far away she was seeing split. Fragments of words, of thoughts and feelings filtered through her consciousness and she was suddenly sure of the beach, of the water and the waves and the sand. There were words being spoken and she thought she said them, but they were less important than what she felt.

A strong sensation of belonging, of being. Of love, given and reciprocated. Warmth flooded her body from the hand in hers and she knew everything was good and safe and she was on the beach with her husband she was looking for her daughter she was-

She wanted to curl up, wanted to stay forever and never but there was something else. Something that burrowed into her, soemthing that didn't want to hurt but wanted her to move, to not join the -group? person? family? she couldn't remember- on the sand on the beach. It was a soundless discordant tone among the strains of music she knew she was hearing.

Something within Vasilia shifted in response to that request. The old and powerful presence that had been smothered before woke again. It used used the last of its connection to the puppet-witch to make a change, to imprint a desire to survive before it disappeared again and entirely.

A flood of tingling energy brought Vasilia further out of the haze she had been in. A voice she didn't recognize and a voice she did. A conversation just outside the edge of her concentration. What were they saying? She leaned toward the sound but there was another voice, the one she had wanted- to hold? to save? She listened as a voice cracked and broke and spoke. It was familiar beneath the breaking. It was a warning and familiar and it wanted her and there was another voice, trepidition and warmth associated with and a sense of wanting but she-

"Vasilia! Vasilia! Protect yourself! Vasilia!"

Being herself again hurt. Her missing hand ached with the memory of holding a hand, her feet told her they remembered sand but those missing sensations were fading. Pain was taking their place, pain and the fear and the knowledge that she was almost lost-

"A defensive signature move might buy you time."

[color=#CD7F32]"Okay, we'll try it! Vasilia! Use your Sigil!"[/colo]

There were two voices speaking now but there had been three and she was confused and she missed something but she shook her head. Sophia wanted her, needed her to do something. Vasilia couldn't let a Net-Op down again, Vasilia wouldn't let her Net-Op down. Again.

"Rrright! Sigil of, of, of Defense!" She didn't have to say the words normally but it helped now, when she was confused and torn and so tired. It focused the light at the end of her finger as she sketched the shape on her body. The light spread, solidified over her pieces without hampering her movement. It was a shell and a veil against the horror all around her but it was all she had.

"Chips confirmed refreshed, use this one, then this one!" A male voice, oone she didn't recognize. It wasn't Sophia's dad but Vasilia didn't have time to peer into the real world when the PET was shuddering under the load of the bugs and a chip was being loaded in.

"WoodPowder 2, Slot-in! Hit the bulk of that thing then get away Vasilia!" Sophia's voice trembled beneath the confidence she tried to project and Vasilia felt something in her chest swell in response at the familiar tones. The doll was herself again and she would do what she could for her Net-Op, would do what she could for Ego.

"Yesss, going now! Trample, Wood!" It was hard to talk, hard to get the words out without tripping on them, there was only herself to rely on to move her body now. She drew a leaf in a circle in front of her face and leaned her face towards it and blew with all her intent and her will that she could scrape up. A powder, sharp leaves, a gust of wind to carry it all burst from the shape toward the White all around her. A stream of pain for the mass (masses, she thought as she remembered the beach and the conversation while the details stayed stark and clear) as her attack changed the ground beneath her.

Vasilia moved in the wake of it. She twisted and struggled and tried to spring free, to flee away from the White all around her, aiming for a clear patch of floor where she could stand unhindered.

She didn't need to breath but her torso heaved with the effor of the movement, of keeping ahead of the physicallity of Hex and out of the tempting scene it had shown her.

"No time to rest, go for the elemental advantage!"

"That's going to be-! HeatBreath1, slot-in! Try to get away Vassie!"

Another chip, another flood of power but her hand hurt, the only one she had left. She couldn't keep this up. The witch-puppet lifted it anyways, drew the cyan flames in front of her and the circle around them. She aimed the way she had fired before, a dim hope of forcing the White back blooming in her chest.

"Rage, Fire!" Flames boiled out of the sigil, spilled and reached for the White and the path of greenery that the heat tried to consume to fuel itself. Tiles cracked and boiled along the path and Vasilia was reminded of the volcano, the the heat and Venusman and the pain that had awaited them there. She had made it through that, she would make it through this.

"Okay, see this light here? Your emeegency jack-out is available again! Whatever was blocking it before has cleared."

"Finally! You're almost out Vasilia, run! You won't fall to even an A-Grade horror monster!"

"Understood! Going!" She steadied herself then turned on her heel and fled. Any path was welcome as long as it lead away from the White. Any help was welcome as long it aided against the White. She'd scale the walls if she had to, she would fling herself from a window if she must.

===Battle Log===

*Routine Override lv4 Subtype choice switch Passive: Contagious -> Floating Point Error
Active: Hack -> Glitch Eater

Floating Point Error Stack: +8% difficulty to hit Vasilia (2% per glitch)
Action 1: Use MiniEnergy
Action 2: Sigil of Defense @ Self
Action 3: WoodPowder2Damage: 90 + Medium Grass Terrain Change + Confusion + Cone Attack
Accuracy: C
Description: Blast up to 4 enemies with a cone of miasma breath. Changes terrain to Grass and causes confusion on contact.
Duration: Once
Element: Wood
Trader Rank: C
+5 Wood Damage @ Hex
Action 4: Feint - Out of Hex's grip
Action 5: HeatBreath1Damage: 80 + Medium Lava Terrain Change + Cone Attack
Accuracy: C
Description: Blast up to 4 enemies with a cone of fiery breath. Changes terrain to Lava.
Duration: Once
Element: Fire
Trader Rank: D
possibly x2 damage due to Grass Terrain from WoodPowder @ Hex
Action 6: Movement - Away
The basement was a white throat. The thing the Net called Hexadecimal had become a long, yawning tunnel, walls contracting down, down, down through the foundations. All the world was reduced to the hunger in its gullet, and the things that reached to snare its prey. There was nothing of thought in the horror, for it had no brain.

It had no brain, and yet from out its depths came not a wholesale grotesquerie of bodies, but mouths. Only mouths, sewn to mouths sewn to mouths. Their tongues crawled up from the feeding pit, a storm of teeth crashing around at the faraway bottom. Nothing instructed this creation, there was no intelligence to process the concept of taste and sift through the sea of husks for the appropriate pieces, but it was rising all the same, retching, reaching, reaching-

-crack- and the world flashed red.

The limb would have been unremarkable, if not for the dim red haze and the rings embedded in its tip. Tearing open like so much old scabbing, Egomorph the Administrator was one more thin, waving tendril crawling from the basement's gullet. The column of her body lit up from within momentarily, bloody red light diffusing down the tentacle. The pool swirled, consumed the light, and continued climbing up the walls.

She came up off the walls and stretched herself tall. No sight, nothing to process but a swirling tide of voices all around: a wordless riot of pain and loss and not again, please - and from somewhere beyond, Ego heard it echoing back.

She could taste them: heartwood, old and broken and strong, still full of rage and might. Still fighting. Fading, and battling for every last inch left to lose.

A thought struggled itself to life. Falling Rising into the hole Hex had gnawed, across the space-that-wasn't between a hand and the mind that moved it, Egomorph held the thought before herself, bore it like a talisman for want of a voice.
<please, hold on>
The grieving voices in your head spill into the unspace. "I know - I know it hurts, I'm sorry," you're able to plead, here. They seem to rear back at your words; next, a frantic susurrus of questions. Somehow, they make sense enough for you to answer, "Yes - yes, I can hear you. I can hear all of you."

This makes them, if not calm, at least a little quieter. They begin to understand this space you've found, hidden away from the white and its gnawing - there comes a great shared sigh of exhaustion more felt than heard. "You can hear me, right?" A chorus of tentative assent. "Vasilia? Are you there? Please, hold on - just a little longer."

The walls were hungry. Feelers rose from the depths in scrawling, scrabbling eddies and swirls, over the bits of framework left from the white's gorging. Reaching with slicing tips for the connection it savoured -

<but you get there first>



A pulse of white welled up in Vasilia's chest. Without Hex's malevolence, the rootplasm was still and benign, interacting with Vasilia's constitution with enough fluidity to feel downright gentle. It did nothing but exist as a microbial soup of identical, universally processable particles. Energy, created from processing the exotic matter of Hex's pool - and it was welling up in her, settling behind her wounds and splinters and encouraging just a little more growth, enough at least to survive what came next. One pulse at first, then a second stronger one.

The tentacles lunged, too twisted and branched and many to make sense of, save one. Ego's Conduit marked her, no matter how she was twisted - and she was stretching tall above the rest. The strange stilled white was flowing up her tendril too. The tip grew the suggestions of arms and an undefined head, halos burning a bright, steady red. Far below, the sea of teeth parted around a woman's husk as it climbed Ego's length. Clad in a sleeveless metal tunic, hair long and dark and wild, her broad silver-skinned body was nearly unmarred from the waist up: only her legs were missing. The undefined tip of the tendril crawled into the hollow of her waist. The Conduit pulsed.

She blinked, took a breath - and put her back to Vasilia, reaching down to bundle a dozen feelers in her brawny arms. Even as they bound her arms and wound round her neck, from the hollow woman's mouth came Ego's high voice, clear and strong, "You can't have her."

The white had no brain, no way to quantify this. It could do nothing but pull and swell and grow. An unseen feeler made to flood the liminal space where Ego's mind rested. It reached out to devour Vasilia's connection to the human's machine - reached, and was repelled with a command of <you cannot> from a millions-strong voice. The call to consume went wild and directionless: there was nothing but the taste of framework; of firmament; of self; of administration; of taste itself.

"Run, Vasilia. Don't look back, just run," Ego said, still turned to face the coming horror. Another cudgel was forming in the white's throat; even as the sea of teeth dragged her closer, she fought to stay between it and Vasilia. "You have to survive - I probably won't be able to - help like this, again."

A sickening lurch; the connection was collapsing. Good. "Run. Find the twins, make it - make it st-" her voice was swallowed . Gnawing in her head, voices screaming and panicking anew. Into Vasilia's chest Ego stretched and tucked in her thoughts once more, before the white engulfed her.

<thank you. your kindness - i will not forget - goodbye>
Visions.

An unfathomable white ocean. Bubbles popping, islands swallowed. Planets drifting, orbits broken, scraped open and hollowed. The Net World, seen from <below/beneath/behind>. Columns of white bridging worlds, opening windows.

A pale man, alone in an anechoic chamber of his own making, unaware of what watched him behind his screens. Blueprints for a machine that almost resembled a PET, but with filamentous circuitry growing from spidery, claw-like protrusions.

Silence.


-THE HUNT, REPULSED-
FastArmour [40 HP Casing, Hex]
Crimson Cascade [10 Null {A}, Hex]
E1. ASSUMING CONTROL
Warding Touch [15 Healing, Vasilia]
1. Buster Shot: Vasilia [10 Null {A}]
E2. Command: Replicate [30 Healing: Ego, Vasilia]
2. Grapple: drag Vasilia down
E3. Defend Vasilia
3. Buster Charge
E4. Beg Vasilia to run
Glitch Eater [Unable to consume Vasilia's Routine Override, otherwise indiscriminate]
4. Half Charge Shot: Vasilia [60 Null {A}]
Shaken finally from the fractured reverie, Vasilia snapped back to the battered pain and the maw of horror that was her immediate reality. Beneath her, the white mass clawed upwards from the bore that it had chewed into the network, reaching and hungry. Even as its many reaching mouths and teeth churned up the basement side and extended for just one more taste of her, however, the remnants of Ego's form within the mass pressed upwards, distinct and red amidst the churning white. With it came whispers, echoes – the sense of a mind driven by incalculable voices, desperate to share the words that mattered in that moment. A crack of red struck out, colliding with one of the nearest extensions of gnashing teeth and mouths and casting it back into the pit below before it could reach Vasilia.

The seconds stretched out from one faltering, stolen moment to the next; too many voices, and senses of thoughts; voices she recognised, voices she didn't; thoughts and feelings that she felt like she did, or should. Strength and breath returned as a pulse of energy was fed to her from her operator, then, even as she pushed herself and hurriedly activated her sigils, another pulse, form somewhere else, soothing and healing her further.

Below, the mass that was Hex clawed up the pit, a lash of substance designed to subdue its food splattered with a sickening crunch of disintegrating flesh and loose teeth against the wall by her head, missing Vasilia's now flickering, displaced form. As much as her body and her PET strained under the weight of corruption tearing her apart, each strain of aberrant data distorted her image more and more; this time it had been enough to save her.

Another pulse of energy came, buoying her up and chasing away the pain, and nearest her now, Vasilia could see the reformed shape of Ego, in control of herself again and strong, for these precious few seconds. It was the white itself that had been healing her; the realisation came at the same time as she heard Ego's words of denial, thrown back at the mass as she faced it on Vasilia's behalf.

Above them, the remnant shell of the building groaned and screeched. The Hex mass churned upward still, devouring everything in its path as it stretched and hungered; the foundations were gone, their support code destroyed, and the husk of the building began to fall inward in large, broken chunks all around them. Sections landed in Hex' mass and were absorbed, chewed into bytes by the sea of mouths and teeth. The white tendrils lunged again, seeking Vasilia's taste, but Ego filled the space, back to her ally as its reaching limbs crashed around her instead.

The puppet navi struck down at the monstrous mass, but the first assault scattered across its form without seeming to impact; grass grew at the edges of the building, but swiftly withered and degraded again into cracked panels than began to shatter one by one. The basement had become a sinkhole; a bore in the network with nothing beyond it but Hex, but Vasilia had enough time to try again as she found her footing on solid ground beyond the doorway of the ruins. The blast lanced down, charring and searing the fluid mass where it struck. It burned away mouths and teeth and tongues, searing parts of the white briefly black, but despite her best effort, the charred skin cracked and scarred, then burst open, spilling upward with more churning white flesh that began to form new shapes over the old.

Voices in her ears again; her operator, and the other voice, telling her to run. Her sigils had crumbled away long since and her other glitches and corruptions were only growing worse by the moment. Between her and the monstrous entity, Ego's defiance wavered; her strong voice more desperate now, sending Vasilia away; buying her time, as the White's ravenous reach found her inner bastion and assailed it.

Vasilia fled; a last brushing of minds and selves lingered with her as she turned and ran, Ego's words still travelling with her. Behind her, with a sickening lurch of sound, a fresh column of white mass blasted towards her; she raced out through the broken double doors of the ruined building, just as the crash of substance struck her in the back and bowled her over and over. Pain and corruption, but it didn't remain to grip or drag at her this time, and the puppet was able to get to her feet again and keep going.

Out in the plaza, what had once been a busy space filled with navigators was now deserted; the signs of sudden panic and flight were everywhere – dropped news slates, spilled coffee cups and other signs of the recent terror were everywhere. It was only now that Vasilia became aware of a low, oscillating siren sound; an electronic voice on repeat, telling all navigators to evacuate immediately.

At the edges of the plaza, all around, Vasilia could see a red and yellow barrier of light with warning emblems on it, creating an isolation field of some sort, but there were no other navis to be seen now. A protective barrier, or maybe a containment field? There was no time to think about it; the mass of hex was bubbling from the remains of the building, spilling upwards above ground level now as the remainder of the ruin collapsed into it and was devoured. Within the mass of bugs riddling her, the negation of her safety measures suffused her body completely now; there was surely a good reason why jacking out normally needed combat routines to be disengaged, and the emergency was last resort, but whatever those reasons were, they couldn't be worse that staying around near Hex.

As it continued to consume everything around it, consuming data and the concepts of data, devouring sensation and the internal idea of sensation, Hex, too, would become aware or the containment barrier that had englobed the nearby area. Such a thing wouldn't hold it for long... but it meant that more things were aware of its presence here...

-=The White=-
Hex: 65Hp [Broken, building basement][Strengthen: 20][Glitch: Crumbling Touch (Tier 3) (1 Turn)][Glitch: Force Reroute (2 Turns)][Glitch: Neutral Plane (1 Turn)]

Egomorph.SP: 56Hp [With Hex][Glitch: Fissured Growth (Tier 5)(Restored: 55Hp)(Indefinite)][Glitch: Crimson Cascade (Indefinite)][Glitch: All Ears (Indefinite)][Glitch: To The Beach (Indefinite)][Glitch: Leaden Shadow (Indefinite)][Glitch: Ether-Step (1 Turn)][Glitch: Prescient Distraction (1 Turns)][Glitch: Warding Touch (2 Turns)]

-=The Witch=-
Vasilia.Exe: 36Hp [Normal. Just beyond the shell of the building, in the clear.][A Hand Down: Only one wield slot available for remainder of fight][Glitch: Chip Limiter (1 Turn)][Glitch: Routine Override (Tier 5)(Indefinite)][Glitch: Lingering Numbness (Indefinite)][Glitch: Armour To Dust (Tier 4)(1 Turn)]

-=The Walk-Way=-
20% Metal
  • Cannot be Broken or Cracked except with Geddon/PanelShot, cannot be Burrowed into.
  • Elec attacks: +100% Source Damage.
  • 100 Damage Aqua attacks: Change terrain hit to Cracked.
  • 100 Damage Fire attacks: Change terrain hit to Furnace.
  • PanelShot: Imbue Elec + Break.
[Jagged ruins of the building]
80% Broken
  • Not bottomless.
  • Reverts to Normal after a time, if no one is inside.
  • Doubles dodge penalties for bad RP.
  • 1-4 Movements actions to climb back out depending on method.
[Destroyed basement level of the building]

Terrain is the ground and basement floor in the remains of a large square building. The walls mostly stand, but the building is gutted. North from the ruins led towards the public plaza, south leads back into the maze of other tall buildings.

New Glitches

None this round!


Existing Current Glitches

Crumbling Touch (Negative Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim's terrain changes decay rapidly. any terrain change the victim makes degrades into cracked terrain after one round, unless the change was already to cracked or broken terrain. This glitch is highly mutable and is prone to increasing in severity. At second tier, the victim's terrain changes decay at the end of the round they are created. At third tier, the terrain collapses into broken terrain one turn after it decays. At tier four, all terrain changes the victim makes decay immediately, and collapse into broken at the end of the round. At fifth tier, as well as the tier four effects, the victim creates small areas of cracked terrain around themselves wherever they move, which also collapse at the end of the round. Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Force Reroute (Balance Glitch): The victim's body begins to reroute damage and power in reactive and cyclic ways. Any time the victim takes direct damage to their hit points, they gain strengthen equal to the damage that they took. Any time the victim gains Strengthen from a source other than this glitch, they take damage to their Hp equal to the Strengthen gained. This damage bypasses defences and cannot be mitigated, but is stopped by undershirt/second chance. Glitch lasts three turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Neutral Plane (Positive Glitch): The victim gains a naturalised form of planar adaptation. Any null elemental defence the victim gains acts much like a planar defence, as long as the victim is in contact with null elemental terrain. Specifically, null planar defences are not weak to break or impact. They have no elemental weakness, but do not halve damage from any source either. If the victim is not in contact null elemental terrain, null elemental defences remain and act as normal. Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Leaden Shadow (Negative Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim's shadow, or similar aspect becomes heavy and clinging, clawing a them and weighing them down. The mobility and evasion bonus of all avoidances are downgraded by one category. That is: movements only grant as much mobility as a feint, and confer no evasion bonus, feints grant only as much mobility as a dodge, and confer only the evasion bonus of a movement, and dodges grant no mobility at all, while only conferring the evasion bonus of a feint. Glitch lasts until combat ends, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or similar effect.

Ether-Step (Positive Glitch): The victim gains a lightness of step that functionally emulates the presence of Air Shoes, Float Shoes and Shadow Shoes. This also allows them to access the OmniShoes Custom Advance. Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Prescient Distraction (Balance Glitch): The victim gains a calmness that allows a mild prescience effect, a the cost of personal focus. The victim loses their first action each round to a distracted daze, however, all actions they take have their accuracy increased by 2 ranks. this effect stacks with taking aim, and can surpass A rank. Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Warding Touch (Positive Glitch): The victim gains a free allocation of processing capability that can be channelled into supporting effects. Once per turn as a free action, the victim may apply any one effect from the following list to a target of their choice: (15 Healing), (Status Cure), (1-Hit Shield), (20hp Barrier), (20hp Casing), (Damage Reduction 5, (1 Round)), (Strengthen 20), (NC Resistance (1 Round)), (Buster Resistance (1 Round)), (Folder Resistance (1 Round)), (Signature Resistance (1 Round)), (SP Resistance (1 Round)). Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Fissured Growth (Balance Glitch): The victim gains regeneration, recovering 5Hp per action through this glitch. The glitch records how much Hp it has restored. If this glitch is removed, it immediately deals direct damage to the victim equal to half the amount of Hp it has restored at the time of removal. This damage cannot be reduced or mitigated in any way, but will be blocked by Undershirt/Second Chance. This glitch is prone to increasing in severity, and can tier up to a maximum of five times. Each tier beyond the first restores an extra 5Hp per action. At fifth tier, damage caused by removal of the glitch ignores Undershirt/Second Chance. If this glitch resolves out of combat, it does not deal any damage. Glitch lasts until combat ends or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Crimson Cascade (Positive Glitch): The victim exudes erratic, crimson light which lashes out at enemies nearby. As a free action each turn, the energy attempts to strike any hostiles nearby, a number of times equal to double the victim's rapid stat. Each energy strike deals 10 null element damage, and the victim gains Strengthen equal to the amount of actual Hp the attacks deplete (Barriers etc., do not count). Glitch lasts until combat ends or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Chip Limiter (Negative Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim suffers a glitch in their battlechip system, which becomes partially become corrupted. They cannot use more that two battlechips per turn. Glitch lasts three turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Routine Override (Positive Glitch): The victim suffers an effect that bypasses the normal safety protocols in their battle routines, allowing the free use of actions and abilities normally requiring battle routines to be disengaged. This glitch is prone to increasing in severity and can increase to a maximum of five tiers. At tier one, the victim can freely refresh one used chip each round (though they can't use the same chip multiple times in one round lit this). At tier two, they can also use one subchip each round, as an action. At tier three, the victim's chips refresh automatically at the end of each turn. At tier four the victim change their subtype choices and installed navicust parts at the beginning of each turn. At tier five, the victim can use any number of subchips as free actions on their turn, and can choose to jack their navi out without consequence or needing to escape the battle first. Glitch lasts until combat ends, or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Lingering Numbness (Negative Glitch): The victim suffers a creeping numbness of body, which makes it difficult for them to function in a coordinated manner. Melee and Slashing attacks are decreased in accuracy by 10%, and there is a 10% chance that any wielded gear will be automatically disarmed any time it is used or struck by an enemy. The victim's base evasion is also hampered by 10%. This glitch is prone to increasing in severity, and can increase to a maximum of five tiers. The penalties and negative chances increase by 5% for each tier beyond the first. Glitch lasts until combat ends, or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Armour To Dust (Negative Glitch): The victim's armour begins to degrade and lose function. At the end of each turn, the victim automatically loses any Layer 3 defences they might have active. A visual cosmetic effect accompanies this glitch, in whatever way is appropriate for the victim. This glitch is prone to increasing in severity, and can worsen up to a maximum of five tiers, and the effects are additive and cumulative. At second tier, the automatic layer 3 loss occurs both at the end of the turn, and also no more than two actions after any layer 3 defence is activated. Third tier causes all layer 3 defences to be destroyed automatically after taking one hit, though they still block overflow damage unless struck with the correct piercing type. Fourth tier causes all layer 3 defences to be vulnerable to take double damage and overspill from all attacks, as though weak to them. Fifth tier prevents any layer 3 defences from being applied to the victim at all. The cosmetic effect of this glitch progresses with each tier as well. Glitch lasts three turns, until combat ends or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

At The Beach (Neutral Glitch): Are you feeling, feeling, feeling like I'm, feeling-like-I'm-floating, floating, up above that big blue ocean; sand beneath our feet, big blue sky above our heads. No need to keep the stressing from our everyday life on our minds; we have got to leave all that behind!

All Ears (Neutral Glitch): The victim's body sprouts and changes to be come covered in ears of all different shapes and sizes. The ears completely obscure their form to the point of ridiculousness, but strangely, they don't have any actual impact on the victim's ability to function or perceive the world around them.


Past Glitch Log

NC Flicker (Negative Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim's Navi customiser suffers a glitch that causes their installed parts to randomly shut off for brief periods. Each turn, every NC install that the victim has will have a fifty percent chance to stop functioning for that turn. Any part that fails to function on one turn will be immune to this effect on the subsequent turn. This glitch has no effect on SPs, though they do act as carriers. This glitch is highly mutable and can interact with other glitches. Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Sensory Fall (Negative Glitch): The victim suffers an almost suffocating level of sensory loss. All of their senses will shut off completely, leaving nothing behind. Only one sense (randomly selected) will remain unaffected by this glitch. This glitch has no hard mechanical effect, but should be played out by the victim as appropriate. Your moderator my decide to enact appropriate debuffs as well, or simulate them in combat calculations (such as imposing blind while sight is lost). Lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Elemental Reflux (Negative Glitch): The victim suffers a backlash of elemental energy inside their body, which shifts wildly from element to element and grows stronger over time. On the first turn, the victim takes 10 elemental damage of their own element, or Fire if the victim is Null elemental. The damage increases by 10 each turn, and changes element at random. This damage is delivered on application, and then at the start of each turn, before any other actions occur (including passives). It cannot be reduced or mitigated in any way, but will be stopped by the Undershirt program. It is susceptible to being increased by the victim's elemental weakness if they have one. If the glitch ever deals 100 damage or more in one application, or if it triggers the victim's Undershirt, it is immediately burned out and removed. Otherwise, glitch lasts until combat ends, or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Reactive Form (Balance Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim's body becomes extremely reactive to changes in its integrity. They take an additional 10 points of null damage that cannot be reduced any time they take damage from any other source, however they also gain double the value of any healing they receive. This glitch is highly mutable and can interact with other glitches. Glitch lasts three turn, until combat ends or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Target Catalyst (Positive Glitch)(Catalytic Glitch): The victim suffers a temporary offence-enhancing effect, randomly determined, and taking effect immediately upon application. This effect lasts only until the end of the turn. At the end of the turn, the Glitch checks for any Mutable Glitches in the victim's system. If none are present, the glitch is dispelled. If a Mutable Glitch is present this glitch interacts with that one, and creates a new, long-term glitch of a related nature to one or the other, or both. If the Mutable Glitch and the Catalytic Glitch are of different natures (Positive, Negative, Balance), the new form will be either Balance, or the nature of the Catalytic Glitch. If multiple Mutable Glitches exist, one is randomly selected. Glitch lasts only for the turn that it is applied.

Spectrum Wash (Positive Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim is surrounded by a halo of energetic light. Once each turn, the energy strikes out to hit a random enemy with a bolt of random elemental energy. This glitch is highly mutable and can interact with other glitches. Glitch lasts three turns, until combat ends or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Damage Catalyst (Positive Glitch)(Catalytic Glitch): The victim suffers a temporary damage-enhancing effect, randomly determined, and taking effect immediately upon application. This effect lasts only until the end of the turn. At the end of the turn, the Glitch checks for any Mutable Glitches in the victim's system. If none are present, the glitch is dispelled. If a Mutable Glitch is present this glitch interacts with that one, and creates a new, long-term glitch of a related nature to one or the other, or both. If the Mutable Glitch and the Catalytic Glitch are of different natures (Positive, Negative, Balance), the new form will be either Balance, or the nature of the Catalytic Glitch. If multiple Mutable Glitches exist, one is randomly selected. Glitch lasts only for the turn that it is applied.

Overly Objective (Neutral Glitch): The victim suffers a perspective shift that causes their senses to relay information about their surroundings as though they were several metres removed from themselves, watching on. The glitch affects primarily the visual and aural senses; tactile experience is unaffected, creating a disorienting, but not debilitating experience.

Adaptive Mutation (Balance Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim suffers a mutability of their body which grants it the ability to resist damage. The Final damage the victim takes from any attack is reduced by 10. The effect is uncomfortable, alien and unsettling, however, and it makes it hard to focus beyond the unnerving sensation: the victim's accuracy and evasion are both reduced by 10%. This glitch is highly mutable and can interact with other glitches. Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Cripple Catalyst (Negative Glitch)(Catalytic Glitch): The victim suffers a temporary debuffing effect, randomly determined, and taking effect immediately upon application. This effect lasts only until the end of the turn. At the end of the turn, the Glitch checks for any Mutable Glitches in the victim's system. If none are present, the glitch is dispelled. If a Mutable Glitch is present this glitch interacts with that one, and creates a new, long-term glitch of a related nature to one or the other, or both. If the Mutable Glitch and the Catalytic Glitch are of different natures (Positive, Negative, Balance), the new form will be either Balance, or the nature of the Catalytic Glitch. If multiple Mutable Glitches exist, one is randomly selected. Glitch lasts only for the turn that it is applied.

SAS Shortcut (Positive Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim suffers a glitch in their signature Attack System which causes a more efficient and longer enduring function. Positive effects generated by signatures last for as long as this glitch does, unless their duration would already be longer. SPs and Navigators are treated as independent by this glitch; an SP whose navigator has allocated them personal signatures is unaffected if their navi has this glitch, and similarly an SP with this glitch finds only their personal signatures effected, without infecting their navi's. Glitch lasts three turns, until combat ends, or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Growth Catalyst (Positive Glitch)(Catalytic Glitch): The victim suffers a temporary protective or restorative effect, randomly determined, and taking effect immediately upon application. This effect lasts only until the end of the turn. At the end of the turn, the Glitch checks for any Mutable Glitches in the victim's system. If none are present, the glitch is dispelled. If a Mutable Glitch is present this glitch interacts with that one, and creates a new, long-term glitch of a related nature to one or the other, or both. If the Mutable Glitch and the Catalytic Glitch are of different natures (Positive, Negative, Balance), the new form will be either Balance, or the nature of the Catalytic Glitch. If multiple Mutable Glitches exist, one is randomly selected. Glitch lasts only for the turn that it is applied.

SAS Soul (Positive Glitch): The victim's Signature Attack System briefly defies all code logic. Signatures have no cooldown and can all be used once per turn. Positive effects generated by signatures endure indefinitely (or until destroyed as usual in the case of defences), instead of their listed duration, as long as this glitch remains. This includes enhancements, such as Haste, body defences, such as shadow and multi-turn/action benefits such as regeneration effects. Any time the victim uses a signature with a beneficial effect on themselves, they spontaneously regenerate 10Hp. Glitch lasts until combat ends, or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.
She couldn't- she couldn't win.

It was written in a dozen different ways and kept being written. She had failed to save Ego, despite all her heroic talks. She had failed to save anyone, even herself. It was a bitter pill, one she would be tasting for a long time yet. On that would keep her awake for a long while.

At least, at least everything was numb. Her body, her scraps of code that had been roded and corrupted and changed didn't hurt. It was a small mercy.

But she was out of the building now, and Ego's voice was in her ears as was Sophia's as was someone else's as was the fragments of that dream, that comforting dream on the beach. Part of her clung to it even now, even though it was wrong because it was also belonging and she-

"I'm sorry!" Vasilia yelled as Sophia pushed the button. As she left the building she had been in. An apology to Ego, herself, to any bystanders who had been caught up in this mess. "I'm sorry!"

And then she was finally, finally gone from the fight. From the pain and the horror and the terror and the awful splitting sensation and, most gratefully, from consciousness itself for a little while.

[Emergency Jack Out]
A carpet of white ate into the ground. Steel and glass were dragged into Hex's borehole, broken under boughs that chewed as they pulled, every pulse of digestion pushing up more, more, more. A forest of writhing tendrils overgrew the quarantined space, radiating from the leftovers of the white's feeding frenzy. Leavings of metallic slurry spread across the surface like liquid armour, blossoming with faces.

Arrhythmic contractions grew the pit wider, deeper. More mass, more Hex, more for the white horizon beyond its depths. Ego could feel it suck down the fresh matter; it might as well have been her own throat. The bolus of fresh growth was large enough to scrape a sliver off for Vasilia without being noticed, small enough to look like a drop as it reached the ocean.

It would never stop, if nothing was done.

Somehow, even full of the feeling of chewing, her mind was still hers. Perhaps she'd finally numbed to it. Perhaps amidst its gorging, Ego thought, the white had forgotten she existed at all. It wouldn't surprise her; no matter how many voices cried out in her head, Ego could still reach down and feel Hex's shores underfoot, and understand how very, very small she was. Still, if she could just slow it down a few seconds more...

A murmur, a mantra, "I am you, I am you, I am you-" Glaring through the silvery eyes of a metal woman (̷̢̛D̵̨́r͢͢͝҉e͠͏͠ì̷̛s̶̕͢͟ş̸k̡͝ŕ͘͘͜,͏́͘ ̸̸̢́͘m̕͟͠y͠͏͟ ̸̡̧͟ņ̵̀͜͟a̷̷̢m̧̢͘͢͡ę̧ ̛͞i͡s̨͏̶͟͞ ̸́͜҉͠D̡͠r̵̛e͜͢͢͞҉i҉͟҉́͡s͝͡͏ķ͜k̶̷r̢͝)̶̸̧, Ego stood at the white's edge, brawny arms stretched wide and thinking desperately of oneness. Bloody red light crackled and made a beacon of her silhouette, some sparking against the encroaching sprawl, the rest circulating back into the Conduit's engine. Once a doorway Vasilia had fled through, the space on which she stood was only distinguished by the white's path forward, and the ruins left behind. However futile the gesture, the meaning was universal: you shall not pass.

Alas, all meaning in the universe was lost on Hex, for it had no brain. All the white registered was resistance, and thus a direction to advance its grotesque waves. Horror after horror rose before the Administrator: teeth, hands, tentacles, knit with oozing black veins into a formless melange. The curl of its crash downward might have resembled waves in an ocean, lent a predatory gravity.

The white wall pounced.

Oh, to be the one piece of Hex cognizant of pain! To be the one thing standing between the Net and a slavering maw that knew nothing of hurt or fear - all the Support Program could do was scream. The cacophony had died down to a groaning scrape. Finally audible and unheeded by any need for breath, all Ego's rage and despair split the air in an unceasing wail.

She felt its grip fill her, for Egomorph was nothing but white wearing a dead woman's skin. Ego's body was the white's body: moving her was moving itself, consuming her was consuming itself.

Hex eats everything. Consumption of self was intrinsic to the white. The wall of gnashing buried Egomorph -

- only to collapse, flailing, as the woman scythed through its tendrils with sweeps of her silver arms. Fuelling her, reaching from the Manifest Conduit through her was a world devoured, its remnants maddened beyond words. In undead perdition they had screamed, in undying defiance they now roared.

Hex's jaws closed over its own Support Program, pulling her in. Egomorph refused.

Hex ripped and tore at the column holding up her body. Egomorph refused.

Mouths all over her. Mouths inside her body, a mouth that was her body. Gibbering, feasting on itself, consuming more, more, always more.

Egomorph let it, even encouraged it, arms stretched wide to embrace the storm of teeth. A little more, just a little more, and it would chew right through her to its own connection. The window would break, the severed sprawl of white would rot into static, the little fractal-born witch with the pretty name would be safe. It would be enough. It had to be enough.

FastArmour [40 HP Casing, Hex]
E1. Distracted by visions
Warding Touch [15 Healing, Vasilia]
1. Pull the walls in
One For All [Link Hex & Ego's HP]
Crimson Cascade: Hex [10 Null x 2 hits {A}]
E2. Block Hex's path
E3. Command: Activate [Random effect, allies = Ego, Vasilia; 1TCD]
2. Entry: Vasilia [80 Null {A}, Break, Glitch]
3. Return Egomorph
E4. Resist
4. Movement: pursue Vasilia
Glitch Eater [50% chance to target Vasilia or Egomorph. If Vasilia, targets Routine Override; if Egomorph, targets Fissured Growth]
With no other options left, Vasilia could only swallow her regret and flee from the mass of white that filled the crater behind her that had once been a building, and now flowed outwards, every hungry. Between them, floating suspended in defiance, Ego remained, immersed body and soul now, yet still apart enough to act and buy her strangely familiar friend the precious few seconds that were needed.

As strength continued to flow to the tortured support program from some unknown inner source, and she managed to send some of that on to the hurt navi behind her, Hex continued to surge upwards, consuming and destroying as it devoured outwards from the wreck of the building; now even the macabre shell of the building's facade collapsed into white and was annihilated. Above and around, red and yellow lights filled the plaza as the massive dome containing the space pulsed. Thin trace lines of scanning energy began to course across the plaza, meticulously covering every inch and working inward towards where Hex swelled and pulsed. There was no way to tell whether the scanning lights meant good or ill for Vasilia, or Hex; they could be simple data gathering, or they could be there to cauterise an infection. Either way, they traced towards the interlocked trio unaware of the personal turmoil that was playing out in these dying seconds.

Just a whisper heard in her own ears as she focused on Hex, arms out, but it was purpose enough for her to continue blocking the monstrosity's path. Bolts of red lightning crackled back across the connection, hammering at Hex's outer forms and struggling to blast through until the wall of mass crashed down around her.

Further off, yet still too close, Vasilia could hear the girl's screams, torn out into vocal audibility by force of pure need to express, and yet something came with the sound, and she felt another slim trace of energy feed across to her again, this time speeding her reflexes and hastening her scrambling flight; she had to go. Behind her, the wall of white was held back another precious moment as, from within it, Ego's form split its grasp and cut herself free again, her screams backed up by the chorus of every voice that still had enough self to resist. It fell over her again as its mass stretched hungrily for Vasilia, but within the storm of teeth and consumption Ego persisted and resisted, and then it was too late; Hex had spent too long overcoming the determined echo and as it struck out towards Vasilia with a final blow meant to claim her, the puppet navi disappeared from its grasp, leaving Hex with just the hint of a taste

Alone as the tracing lights narrowed in on the centre of the plaza, all of Hex's insensate need to devour turned inwards, attacking the alien part of itself, eating the part of itself that defied it. Ego felt what remained of her form wrenched and torn apart, cell from cell as it consumed not just the part of its own body that gave her form, but the very code that had supported her being across this handful of desperate moments.

And yet, as Hex consumed itself in the middle of the plaza, something remained; something that yet refused to slip into nothingness within the white void.

-=The White=-
Hex: 65Hp [Broken, Plaza][Strengthen: 20][One For All: Ego][Glitch: Force Reroute (1 Turn)]

Egomorph.SP: 1Hp[???][Glitch: Crimson Cascade (Indefinite)][Glitch: All Ears (Indefinite)][Glitch: To The Beach (Indefinite)][Glitch: Leaden Shadow (Indefinite)][Glitch: Warding Touch (1 Turn)]

-=The Witch=-
Vasilia.Exe: 51Hp [Successful Jack Out]

-=The Walk-Way=-
40% Normal
  • No effects.
[Rest of the plaza]
60% Broken
  • Not bottomless.
  • Reverts to Normal after a time, if no one is inside.
  • Doubles dodge penalties for bad RP.
  • 1-4 Movements actions to climb back out depending on method.
[Large area around Hex]

-=Battle Concluded!=-
Spoils (no-one loses anything – these are purely rewards):

Hex: 2000z, CannonModeEffect: Adds +20 Null and Knockback to your Buster Shot Attack.
Accuracy: Buster Accuracy = A
Description: Your Custom Weapon vanishes, and is replaced with a Cannon. Your buster returns to normal when the chip effect ends.
Duration: Number of Uses equal to double your Rapid stat. Cannot be Broken.
Element: Null
Special: Overrides Buster. Disables Charged Shot.
Trader Rank: D
, 32 Vasilia FXP (Food Experience?)
Vasilia: 2000z, PanelShotDamage: 100 + Small Broken Terrain Change + Terrain Effect Bonus
Accuracy: B
Description: Rips up 1 panel and sends it flying at the designated target.
Duration: Once
Element: Depends on Terrain
Special: Terrain Effect Bonus: Adds an additional effect to an attack where applicable, depending on the type of terrain used.
Trader Rank: D
, 32 Egomorph FXP

New Glitches

None this round!


Existing Current Glitches


Force Reroute (Balance Glitch): The victim's body begins to reroute damage and power in reactive and cyclic ways. Any time the victim takes direct damage to their hit points, they gain strengthen equal to the damage that they took. Any time the victim gains Strengthen from a source other than this glitch, they take damage to their Hp equal to the Strengthen gained. This damage bypasses defences and cannot be mitigated, but is stopped by undershirt/second chance. Glitch lasts three turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Warding Touch (Positive Glitch): The victim gains a free allocation of processing capability that can be channelled into supporting effects. Once per turn as a free action, the victim may apply any one effect from the following list to a target of their choice: (15 Healing), (Status Cure), (1-Hit Shield), (20hp Barrier), (20hp Casing), (Damage Reduction 5, (1 Round)), (Strengthen 20), (NC Resistance (1 Round)), (Buster Resistance (1 Round)), (Folder Resistance (1 Round)), (Signature Resistance (1 Round)), (SP Resistance (1 Round)). Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Crimson Cascade (Positive Glitch): The victim exudes erratic, crimson light which lashes out at enemies nearby. As a free action each turn, the energy attempts to strike any hostiles nearby, a number of times equal to double the victim's rapid stat. Each energy strike deals 10 null element damage, and the victim gains Strengthen equal to the amount of actual Hp the attacks deplete (Barriers etc., do not count). Glitch lasts until combat ends or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Leaden Shadow (Negative Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim's shadow, or similar aspect becomes heavy and clinging, clawing a them and weighing them down. The mobility and evasion bonus of all avoidances are downgraded by one category. That is: movements only grant as much mobility as a feint, and confer no evasion bonus, feints grant only as much mobility as a dodge, and confer only the evasion bonus of a movement, and dodges grant no mobility at all, while only conferring the evasion bonus of a feint. Glitch lasts until combat ends, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or similar effect.

At The Beach (Neutral Glitch): Are you feeling, feeling, feeling like I'm, feeling-like-I'm-floating, floating, up above that big blue ocean; sand beneath our feet, big blue sky above our heads. No need to keep the stressing from our everyday life on our minds; we have got to leave all that behind!

All Ears (Neutral Glitch): The victim's body sprouts and changes to be come covered in ears of all different shapes and sizes. The ears completely obscure their form to the point of ridiculousness, but strangely, they don't have any actual impact on the victim's ability to function or perceive the world around them.


Past Glitch Log

Chip Limiter (Negative Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim suffers a glitch in their battlechip system, which becomes partially become corrupted. They cannot use more that two battlechips per turn. Glitch lasts three turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Routine Override (Positive Glitch): The victim suffers an effect that bypasses the normal safety protocols in their battle routines, allowing the free use of actions and abilities normally requiring battle routines to be disengaged. This glitch is prone to increasing in severity and can increase to a maximum of five tiers. At tier one, the victim can freely refresh one used chip each round (though they can't use the same chip multiple times in one round lit this). At tier two, they can also use one subchip each round, as an action. At tier three, the victim's chips refresh automatically at the end of each turn. At tier four the victim change their subtype choices and installed navicust parts at the beginning of each turn. At tier five, the victim can use any number of subchips as free actions on their turn, and can choose to jack their navi out without consequence or needing to escape the battle first. Glitch lasts until combat ends, or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Lingering Numbness (Negative Glitch): The victim suffers a creeping numbness of body, which makes it difficult for them to function in a coordinated manner. Melee and Slashing attacks are decreased in accuracy by 10%, and there is a 10% chance that any wielded gear will be automatically disarmed any time it is used or struck by an enemy. The victim's base evasion is also hampered by 10%. This glitch is prone to increasing in severity, and can increase to a maximum of five tiers. The penalties and negative chances increase by 5% for each tier beyond the first. Glitch lasts until combat ends, or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Armour To Dust (Negative Glitch): The victim's armour begins to degrade and lose function. At the end of each turn, the victim automatically loses any Layer 3 defences they might have active. A visual cosmetic effect accompanies this glitch, in whatever way is appropriate for the victim. This glitch is prone to increasing in severity, and can worsen up to a maximum of five tiers, and the effects are additive and cumulative. At second tier, the automatic layer 3 loss occurs both at the end of the turn, and also no more than two actions after any layer 3 defence is activated. Third tier causes all layer 3 defences to be destroyed automatically after taking one hit, though they still block overflow damage unless struck with the correct piercing type. Fourth tier causes all layer 3 defences to be vulnerable to take double damage and overspill from all attacks, as though weak to them. Fifth tier prevents any layer 3 defences from being applied to the victim at all. The cosmetic effect of this glitch progresses with each tier as well. Glitch lasts three turns, until combat ends or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Fissured Growth (Balance Glitch): The victim gains regeneration, recovering 5Hp per action through this glitch. The glitch records how much Hp it has restored. If this glitch is removed, it immediately deals direct damage to the victim equal to half the amount of Hp it has restored at the time of removal. This damage cannot be reduced or mitigated in any way, but will be blocked by Undershirt/Second Chance. This glitch is prone to increasing in severity, and can tier up to a maximum of five times. Each tier beyond the first restores an extra 5Hp per action. At fifth tier, damage caused by removal of the glitch ignores Undershirt/Second Chance. If this glitch resolves out of combat, it does not deal any damage. Glitch lasts until combat ends or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Neutral Plane (Positive Glitch): The victim gains a naturalised form of planar adaptation. Any null elemental defence the victim gains acts much like a planar defence, as long as the victim is in contact with null elemental terrain. Specifically, null planar defences are not weak to break or impact. They have no elemental weakness, but do not halve damage from any source either. If the victim is not in contact null elemental terrain, null elemental defences remain and act as normal. Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Ether-Step (Positive Glitch): The victim gains a lightness of step that functionally emulates the presence of Air Shoes, Float Shoes and Shadow Shoes. This also allows them to access the OmniShoes Custom Advance. Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Prescient Distraction (Balance Glitch): The victim gains a calmness that allows a mild prescience effect, at the cost of personal focus. The victim loses their first action each round to a distracted daze, however, all actions they take have their accuracy increased by 2 ranks. This effect stacks with taking aim, and can surpass A rank. Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Crumbling Touch (Negative Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim's terrain changes decay rapidly. Any terrain change the victim makes degrades into cracked terrain after one round, unless the change was already to cracked or broken terrain. This glitch is highly mutable and is prone to increasing in severity. At second tier, the victim's terrain changes decay at the end of the round they are created. At third tier, the terrain collapses into broken terrain one turn after it decays. At tier four, all terrain changes the victim makes decay immediately, and collapse into broken at the end of the round. At fifth tier, as well as the tier four effects, the victim creates small areas of cracked terrain around themselves wherever they move, which also collapse at the end of the round. Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

NC Flicker (Negative Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim's Navi customiser suffers a glitch that causes their installed parts to randomly shut off for brief periods. Each turn, every NC install that the victim has will have a fifty percent chance to stop functioning for that turn. Any part that fails to function on one turn will be immune to this effect on the subsequent turn. This glitch has no effect on SPs, though they do act as carriers. This glitch is highly mutable and can interact with other glitches. Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Sensory Fall (Negative Glitch): The victim suffers an almost suffocating level of sensory loss. All of their senses will shut off completely, leaving nothing behind. Only one sense (randomly selected) will remain unaffected by this glitch. This glitch has no hard mechanical effect, but should be played out by the victim as appropriate. Your moderator my decide to enact appropriate debuffs as well, or simulate them in combat calculations (such as imposing blind while sight is lost). Lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Elemental Reflux (Negative Glitch): The victim suffers a backlash of elemental energy inside their body, which shifts wildly from element to element and grows stronger over time. On the first turn, the victim takes 10 elemental damage of their own element, or Fire if the victim is Null elemental. The damage increases by 10 each turn, and changes element at random. This damage is delivered on application, and then at the start of each turn, before any other actions occur (including passives). It cannot be reduced or mitigated in any way, but will be stopped by the Undershirt program. It is susceptible to being increased by the victim's elemental weakness if they have one. If the glitch ever deals 100 damage or more in one application, or if it triggers the victim's Undershirt, it is immediately burned out and removed. Otherwise, glitch lasts until combat ends, or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Reactive Form (Balance Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim's body becomes extremely reactive to changes in its integrity. They take an additional 10 points of null damage that cannot be reduced any time they take damage from any other source, however they also gain double the value of any healing they receive. This glitch is highly mutable and can interact with other glitches. Glitch lasts three turn, until combat ends or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Target Catalyst (Positive Glitch)(Catalytic Glitch): The victim suffers a temporary offence-enhancing effect, randomly determined, and taking effect immediately upon application. This effect lasts only until the end of the turn. At the end of the turn, the Glitch checks for any Mutable Glitches in the victim's system. If none are present, the glitch is dispelled. If a Mutable Glitch is present this glitch interacts with that one, and creates a new, long-term glitch of a related nature to one or the other, or both. If the Mutable Glitch and the Catalytic Glitch are of different natures (Positive, Negative, Balance), the new form will be either Balance, or the nature of the Catalytic Glitch. If multiple Mutable Glitches exist, one is randomly selected. Glitch lasts only for the turn that it is applied.

Spectrum Wash (Positive Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim is surrounded by a halo of energetic light. Once each turn, the energy strikes out to hit a random enemy with a bolt of random elemental energy. This glitch is highly mutable and can interact with other glitches. Glitch lasts three turns, until combat ends or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Damage Catalyst (Positive Glitch)(Catalytic Glitch): The victim suffers a temporary damage-enhancing effect, randomly determined, and taking effect immediately upon application. This effect lasts only until the end of the turn. At the end of the turn, the Glitch checks for any Mutable Glitches in the victim's system. If none are present, the glitch is dispelled. If a Mutable Glitch is present this glitch interacts with that one, and creates a new, long-term glitch of a related nature to one or the other, or both. If the Mutable Glitch and the Catalytic Glitch are of different natures (Positive, Negative, Balance), the new form will be either Balance, or the nature of the Catalytic Glitch. If multiple Mutable Glitches exist, one is randomly selected. Glitch lasts only for the turn that it is applied.

Overly Objective (Neutral Glitch): The victim suffers a perspective shift that causes their senses to relay information about their surroundings as though they were several metres removed from themselves, watching on. The glitch affects primarily the visual and aural senses; tactile experience is unaffected, creating a disorienting, but not debilitating experience.

Adaptive Mutation (Balance Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim suffers a mutability of their body which grants it the ability to resist damage. The Final damage the victim takes from any attack is reduced by 10. The effect is uncomfortable, alien and unsettling, however, and it makes it hard to focus beyond the unnerving sensation: the victim's accuracy and evasion are both reduced by 10%. This glitch is highly mutable and can interact with other glitches. Glitch lasts two turns, or until removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Cripple Catalyst (Negative Glitch)(Catalytic Glitch): The victim suffers a temporary debuffing effect, randomly determined, and taking effect immediately upon application. This effect lasts only until the end of the turn. At the end of the turn, the Glitch checks for any Mutable Glitches in the victim's system. If none are present, the glitch is dispelled. If a Mutable Glitch is present this glitch interacts with that one, and creates a new, long-term glitch of a related nature to one or the other, or both. If the Mutable Glitch and the Catalytic Glitch are of different natures (Positive, Negative, Balance), the new form will be either Balance, or the nature of the Catalytic Glitch. If multiple Mutable Glitches exist, one is randomly selected. Glitch lasts only for the turn that it is applied.

SAS Shortcut (Positive Glitch)(Mutable Glitch): The victim suffers a glitch in their signature Attack System which causes a more efficient and longer enduring function. Positive effects generated by signatures last for as long as this glitch does, unless their duration would already be longer. SPs and Navigators are treated as independent by this glitch; an SP whose navigator has allocated them personal signatures is unaffected if their navi has this glitch, and similarly an SP with this glitch finds only their personal signatures effected, without infecting their navi's. Glitch lasts three turns, until combat ends, or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.

Growth Catalyst (Positive Glitch)(Catalytic Glitch): The victim suffers a temporary protective or restorative effect, randomly determined, and taking effect immediately upon application. This effect lasts only until the end of the turn. At the end of the turn, the Glitch checks for any Mutable Glitches in the victim's system. If none are present, the glitch is dispelled. If a Mutable Glitch is present this glitch interacts with that one, and creates a new, long-term glitch of a related nature to one or the other, or both. If the Mutable Glitch and the Catalytic Glitch are of different natures (Positive, Negative, Balance), the new form will be either Balance, or the nature of the Catalytic Glitch. If multiple Mutable Glitches exist, one is randomly selected. Glitch lasts only for the turn that it is applied.

SAS Soul (Positive Glitch): The victim's Signature Attack System briefly defies all code logic. Signatures have no cooldown and can all be used once per turn. Positive effects generated by signatures endure indefinitely (or until destroyed as usual in the case of defences), instead of their listed duration, as long as this glitch remains. This includes enhancements, such as Haste, body defences, such as shadow and multi-turn/action benefits such as regeneration effects. Any time the victim uses a signature with a beneficial effect on themselves, they spontaneously regenerate 10Hp. Glitch lasts until combat ends, or removed with Status Cure, Glitch Eater or other similar effect.
There was no knowing what drove the white, or how it perceived the world beyond itself. Whatever sensory input it gleaned, it knew there was nothing left in the quarantine to chase. Branches rose up to catch against the tracer beams. What were they learning from the contact? It was impossible to say.

Perhaps it was something like tasting scents in the virtual atmosphere. Perhaps a little wooden doll, taken like a cutting from an old root, would have a signature unique to her that felt like fractals, heartwood, and known-before. Maybe the intelligence guiding the quarantine would learn something to that effect, or maybe they would be distracted by the faint vacuum pull the white exuded. Foundation, atmosphere, even light seeped into the liquid mass, caught in Hex's forest in a process not unlike trees absorbing carbon dioxide.

From beneath the waves, a high-pitched keening peaked and cut out. No barrier could keep Hex from its Administrator, for they were one being, one body. Metal skin shredded to nothing, Ego's halos vanished under the surface with one last spattering of red sparks. All was silent, save for a low groaning that could only be the Net itself.

Egomorph was a lump of Hex in stolen skin. Without a mouth, she could not scream. Without arms, she could not fight. Without a body, she was lost in Hex's undertow. Helpless, bodiless, denied the most basic of agency, it would be so easy to succumb to despair. Would, if not for the endless reminder that the undead world in her head would never rest. There would be no peace, no last rites for them or for her, until the white was destroyed.

All that passed for the white's thoughts were in her head. Realization began to take hold: it had not forgotten its brain, merely decided thought was unnecessary for the moment. The moment Egomorph became an uncooperative variable, the white understood the directives governing its behaviour needed rectifying. It had left the freedom of thought as Ego's last refuge. It would not make the same mistake twice.

White flooded the Conduit. Red light bleeding from the borehole depths, Egomorph the Administrator reactivated, and Ego the consciousness winked out. No longer mindless, the sprawling white paused its advance in favour of looping tentacles over themselves, building a structure of veins and intertwined bodies that brought to mind a network of roots (or, perhaps, neurons).

For a time, the processor simply pulsed. Though every byte of Hex's mass was identical in structure, a scan of the light, depending on what they were looking for, might have come out looking remarkably like the data patterns of a Navi's central cortex. Before long, from deep below came a static drone, [system threat neutralized > Administrator updated > [heartwood/fractal/familiar] not found > data profile saved

Somewhere in the Net's internal framework, a burrowed root began to retract. Oozing white swirled into a whirlpool as Hex drew in all of its newly-acquired mass: what internal goal had been met to merit halting its advance, nobody was left to say. Only Hex's crafted processor was left, still burning with noxious light even as it slid towards the borehole. From out its depths came one more batch of ominous words, [processing > ERROR: insufficient resources > processing > data recovery incomplete > scanning], and then it was gone, vanished into itself.

The Net fell silent, the dust of Hex's wreckage settling. The window was finally closed.

<{RETURN TO OPERATOR}>