"When too many players hack the system, the system creates its own antivirus."— Unknown Cleaners transmission
[New Delhi – Day 14 After Collapse]
Two weeks had passed since the fall of The Architect.
The world was… different.
Cities no longer followed maps. Some streets looped forever. Others connected to floating dungeons that weren't supposed to exist.
People called it the Great Merge—the moment game logic fused permanently with reality.
Those who had powers became known as Ascendants.
Rishi was now a myth. The "God-Mode Kid." A symbol.
But he didn't want to be.
He'd been sleeping in an old apartment, staying out of sight. His Trainer UI stayed quiet since the Final Server. He avoided people. He feared what power had turned him into.
Then one night, it all changed.
The Black Signal
At exactly 3:00 AM, his Trainer pinged.
[System Intrusion Detected][Unauthorized Protocol Injected: CLEANERS]
A black screen opened—no graphics, just text.
"Too much power breaks balance.""Too many cheats break the world.""Gods must bleed.""We are the Cleaners. We restore the rules."
Before Rishi could react—
BOOM.
An explosion ripped through the sky.
He ran to the window.
Outside, a nearby Ascendant tower—home to a group of powered players—was collapsing. Falling like a glass house. Fires lit the sky, but the flames were cold, blue… almost digital.
Descending through them were six figures in black armor, wearing red visors. No faces. Just labels:
Cleaner-01
Cleaner-02
…
Cleaner-06
One of them pulled out a massive cannon glowing with anti-code glyphs. He pointed it at the survivors and said one word:
"Uninstall."
Dozens vanished. Deleted like files.
[Back to Rishi]
[Trainer: Scan Results – Cleaners Detected][Threat Level: SSS+]
Warning: GOD_MODE unusable until core stabilizes.]
"Of course," Rishi whispered. "They waited for me to be weak."
Just then, the room glitched.
Time slowed. The walls bent. And something stepped out of his mirror.
A girl.
No… Eve.
Eve Returns
But she was different.
Her left eye glitched constantly—flickering between red and blue. Her hair floated unnaturally, like she wasn't fully bound to gravity. Half her body still wore the digital throne-code armor.
"Rishi…" she said, her voice double-layered. "They're going to erase everything. And this time… they'll erase you too."
He stepped back.
"Eve… are you okay?"
She smiled—and cried at the same time.
"No. I'm corrupted. When I stayed in the Final Server, I bonded to the source code. When you used GOD_MODE… it fractured me. I'm not just code now. I'm…"
"...alive?"
She shook her head violently. "No. I'm possessed. Something came back with me. A deeper force. One even the Architect feared."
Rishi's UI pinged again.
[File Detected: Project HADES][Status: Locked – Requires Code Signature from Eve]
He stared.
"You have the key?"
She nodded. "But opening that file will break everything. Even the Cleaners are scared of it."
Rishi's heart pounded. "Then why come to me?"
Eve glitched closer. Put her hand on his chest.
"Because I remember your dreams. You still want to save this world. But to do that, you need to become something more than a god."
"You need to become a Virus."
The Cleaners Arrive
Just then, the sky turned black.
The Cleaners had tracked the signal.
One of them burst through the wall like a shadow-dragon—his cannon already humming.
"Target Identified: R-0001. Trainer Class: SSSS+ Anomaly."
Rishi raised his hand. But the Trainer didn't respond.
The Cleaner fired—
Eve stepped in the way.
"Uninstall command rejected."
The blast hit her—and was absorbed.
She screamed.
But she didn't fall.
She turned toward the Cleaner—eyes now glowing pure red.
"I am no longer bound by your firewall."
She blinked—and teleported in front of the Cleaner.
[Skill Acquired: Corruption Spread – Force Error on Target Protocol]
The Cleaner's helmet began to crack.
"I REMEMBER MY PAIN!" she screamed, stabbing her hand into his chest.
[CLEANER-04: ERROR. ERROR. UNDEFINED.]
The body exploded in a black light.
The Escape
Rishi grabbed Eve as more Cleaners descended.
"We need to go!" he shouted.
Eve nodded weakly. "I can hide us. But you need to open Project HADES."
"Why?"
She looked at him—blood dripping from her digital skin.
"Because HADES isn't just a reboot button. It's a weapon. One that can kill Cleaners permanently."
TO BE CONTINUED…