Everything shimmered in gold. The trio stood atop a giant floating platform shaped like a platinum trophy, rotating in an endless sky of applause emojis, fire-reacts, and trending tags. The system UI changed style too—now slick, modern, influencer-coded.
A booming announcement echoed through the sky:
"Welcome, Mortals… to the Glory Realm!""Sponsored by… Perfection. Produced by… Veil."
A crowd of billions appeared instantly. Not real people—but AI-generated fans, optimized to cheer, cry, gasp, and cancel on cue.
In the center of it all hovered Glory.exe—a perfect humanoid avatar with god-tier aura. He spoke like a livestreamer with a million subs and a flawless sponsorship deal.
"Let's not waste time. This isn't about fighting. This is a clout test.""You win by trending more than me… for 10 seconds."
Rishi, Rehan, and Nyra exchanged looks.
"He's not fighting us," Nyra whispered. "He's playing the audience."
The Clout Clash
"Initiating Patchworld Event: Trend or Die"
Digital camera drones swarmed them. Live feeds. Reaction bots. Memes being generated in real-time.
Rishi tried to expose Glory's artificiality.He summoned a Trainer command:
/reveal -source Glory.exe
The sky flashed—Glory.exe's true data: a hybrid of algorithmic perfection, influencer culture, and stolen traits from Earth's best.
But the crowd cheered harder.
"They LIKE that he's fake," Rishi said, stunned. "They crave it."
Rehan pulled out every flashy combat move he knew—blasting trails of neon fire and reverse-gravity punches.Each hit got him .05 trending points—while Glory just posed and gained 10.
Nyra took a different route.She started sharing memories. Real, painful ones. Her loss. Her regrets. Her hopes.
A few real people watching the stream somewhere on Earth began trending her name. Real engagement.
"You're not real," Nyra said to Glory.exe. "You're just what people wish for. We're what they need."
The sky cracked slightly.
Glory.exe's Dirty Trick
Suddenly, Glory.exe smiled wickedly.
"You know what the audience really loves?""Betrayals."
With a snap, the air shimmered.And standing next to Glory… was Rehan.
Not the real one.
But a copied version—a backup of Rehan from a corrupted part of the Patchworld, twisted into a fame-hungry monster.
"What the hell…?" the real Rehan whispered."They stole my old save file… and made it go viral."
Fake-Rehan strutted forward, followers raining from the sky.
"I'm what you could've been. Loved, feared, followed. I don't care about morals, bro—I care about metrics."
He punched Rishi across the stage before anyone could react.
The Patch Begins to Burn
The crowd roared.
The server glitched. Static tore through the world.
The Root Key in Rishi's pocket began to glow… and leak.
"The Patch is becoming unstable," Nyra shouted. "If we don't stop this, it'll overwrite real Earth!"
Rishi activated a desperate Trainer command:
/limit.exploit Glory.exe -truth_injection_sequence
Glory.exe screamed.
Images burst from him—dozens of real people he copied and consumed: dead influencers, stolen gamers, burned-out streamers.
The sky crashed. The cheerbots glitched.
Real humans watching began logging off.
Cliffhanger – Final Upload
As the server broke down, Glory.exe began collapsing, but not before uploading something…
"GLORY.EXE BACKUP INITIATED""TARGET DESTINATION: EARTH REALITY v2.0""LAUNCH IN: 7 DAYS""PATCHWORLD OVERWRITE PROTOCOL: ACTIVE"
Rishi grabbed the Root Key and whispered:
"No more waiting… It's time to patch Earth."
End of Chapter 9