The fall into Round Five wasn't violent this time.
It was silent.
Too silent.
The darkness flickered like a glitching screen, then dissolved into a cold, metallic world.
Aria opened her eyes—and froze.
They weren't in forests, castles, mansions, or battlefields anymore.
They stood inside a massive cyber-city, glowing with neon blue veins of energy.
Skyscrapers stretched upward like metal skeletons.
Floating drones zipped through the air, scanning everything.
The sky was a steel-grey dome pulsing with code.
Mira whispered,
"This… this is a futuristic world."
Ravi stared upward in awe.
"A sci-fi round… but everything looks too real. Too advanced."
Dev winced slightly, still recovering.
"Everyone stay close. We don't know the rules here."
A humming noise passed overhead—
a drone paused, scanned the group, then flew away.
Kian exhaled shakily.
"At least nothing tried to kill us immediately. That's a first."
Yuvan's eye twitched.
"Oh no, bro. You just jinxed it. You absolutely jinxed it—"
A deep, robotic voice boomed through the speakers hidden in the metal walls:
"ROUND FIVE: CODEBREAKER CITY."
"OBJECTIVE: IDENTIFY THE GLITCH."
"PUNISHMENT FOR FAILURE: DATA EXTRACTION."
Zoya grabbed Mira's hand instantly.
"What is data extraction? Is that… death?? That sounds like death!"
Rhea's voice was barely a whisper.
"It sounds like the game removing someone…"
Aria stepped forward, jaw tight, the glowing symbol on her wrist faintly pulsing.
"We need to move. We need answers."
But the group wasn't walking toward answers.
They were walking straight into the round designed to expose the next truth—
the unintended player.
---
THE FIRST WARNING
As they walked through the neon streets, holo-screens flickered to life around them.
Lines of text streamed across:
"SEVEN AUTHORIZED PLAYERS DETECTED."
"ONE UNREGISTERED ENTITY FOUND."
"IDENTIFY THE IMPOSTOR."
Everyone stopped.
Zoya's voice cracked,
"O-One unregistered entity? Someone who shouldn't be here?"
Yuvan backed up slowly.
"Okay okay—WAIT—Are they saying one of us ISN'T REAL?!"
Ravi shook his head.
"No… not that they aren't real. That the game didn't expect them. They weren't meant to enter."
Dev looked around at the group nervously.
"Who could it be?"
Kian raised a brow.
"Definitely not me. I can barely register as a functioning human in real life."
Rhea spoke quietly.
"It… could be anyone."
Mira swallowed hard.
"Aria was chosen by the game but she was still meant to be here. But one of us… wasn't."
Aria looked at them—fear tightening her chest.
The child's voice echoed in her head:
"The one who isn't supposed to be in the game."
But she didn't know who.
And the realm was about to give them the first horrifying clue.
---
THE MALFUNCTION
The ground vibrated—
The neon lights flickered—
The drones froze mid-air.
Then suddenly—
Rhea staggered forward, gripping her temples.
"Rhea?" Ravi grabbed her shoulders.
"What's happening?!"
Rhea gasped,
"I—I hear something—voices—numbers—someone whispering in my head—"
Her knees buckled.
Dev rushed forward, catching her.
"Rhea! Stay with us!"
Rhea's eyes weren't normal anymore.
Binary numbers flickered inside them—
0s and 1s flashing like frantic code.
She whispered,
"I can hear the game…
talking to me."
Everyone froze.
Mira whispered,
"That's not normal. That's not normal at ALL—"
Kian panicked,
"ARE YOU SAYING RHEA IS THE IMPOSTOR?!"
"No!" Ravi yelled. "She's not! She can't be—"
But Rhea shook her head violently.
"No… it's not that. I'm not the unintended one."
She looked straight at Aria—
her voice trembling.
"But I think the game is trying to show me who it is."
Aria stepped closer.
"Rhea… what did you hear?"
Rhea closed her eyes, sweat dripping down her face.
"It said…
'Glitch echo detected…
inside your circle.'"
Zoya squeaked,
"WHAT does that even MEAN?!"
Rhea tried to stand—
but the moment she did,
a wave of digital distortion passed straight through her body.
Her image glitch-flickered.
Mira screamed,
"SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH HER!"
Rhea collapsed—
unconscious.
---
THE FIRST IMPOSSIBLE RESULT
A hologram projected from a floating drone instantly, scanning Rhea's body.
The drone projected text:
"SUBJECT: RHEA
STATUS: AUTHORIZED PLAYER
PROBLEM: CORRUPTION EXPOSURE
SOLUTION: TRACE THE ORIGIN."
Aria's heart dropped.
"Trace the origin?"
Ravi whispered,
"The origin… of the corruption."
The drone scanned them all one by one.
Kian.
Yuvan.
Zoya.
Mira.
Dev.
Ravi.
Each one flashed:
AUTHORIZED.
Then it scanned Aria—
and paused…
But after a long flicker:
AUTHORIZED — HOST CLASS.
The group exchanged uneasy glances.
Then the drone scanned Rhea again—
But this time projected another line:
"CORRUPTION SIGNAL TRIGGERED BY PROXIMITY TO UNREGISTERED PLAYER."
Silence.
Painful silence.
Mira whispered,
"Someone's presence made her collapse."
Zoya pointed to herself nervously.
"I don't have corruption… do I!? DO I LOOK GLITCHY?!"
Yuvan squinted at her.
"No more than usual."
Dev exhaled shakily.
"So one of us caused this reaction?"
Ravi nodded.
"Yes. Whoever the unregistered one is…
being near Rhea triggered the glitch."
Aria whispered,
"Which means—
the impostor is one of us standing right here."
The tension thickened.
The neon lights flickered.
A voice echoed from above—
Not the child's.
Not the game's usual tone.
A deeper voice.
Older.
Angrier.
"FIND THE IMPOSTOR."
"OR THE SYSTEM WILL ERASE ALL OF YOU."
Mira cried out,
"WE DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO START!"
A new hologram flickered to life in front of them:
"NEXT CLUE: MEMORY SCAN REQUIRED."
"TARGET: THE PLAYER WHO DOES NOT REMEMBER THEIR ENTRY."
Aria felt a shiver run through the group.
A horrifying realization spread across their faces.
One of them…
doesn't remember entering the game.