Brush woke up choking on static.
Not pain.
Interruption.
The world reassembled around him in jagged frames, like a paused episode forced to resume mid-glitch. His senses came back one by one—vision first, then balance, then thought.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Crunchyroller was on one knee.
Her right arm—
was gone.
Not severed.
Not erased.
Destroyed.
The cut was clean in a way Brush had never seen before. No data leaked. No animation tried to fill the gap. The missing limb did not buffer.
It simply… ended.
Crunchyroller stared at it in disbelief.
For the first time since he had met her—
she looked unscripted.
"That's impossible…" she whispered.
Brush pushed himself up.
"Who did that?"
Crunchyroller didn't answer immediately.
Instead, the System spoke.
UNAUTHORIZED INTERACTION DETECTED
SOURCE: OUTSIDE CANON
The air trembled.
A presence had come and gone so fast that even the Dark Gods hadn't reacted.
"Something beyond platforms," Crunchyroller said slowly.
"Beyond gods."
She looked at Brush.
And for the first time—
there was no authority in her eyes.
Only calculation… and restraint.
"If it can hurt me," she said,
"then it can end everything."
Her body flickered.
The divine overlays peeled away.
Her title dimmed.
CRUNCHYROLLER — ROLE REASSIGNED
STATUS: PARTY MEMBER (LIMITED)
REASON: SYSTEM INSTABILITY
Brush felt it lock in.
A contract.
Not consent.
Necessity.
Trojan Horse rushed to his side, eyes wide.
"Brush… she's synced to us."
Crunchyroller stood, her missing arm replaced by a faint outline—unfinished, like an episode that would never air.
"Don't misunderstand," she said coldly.
"I am not redeemed."
She met Brush's gaze.
"I am cornered."
Brush didn't smile.
He didn't gloat.
"Then we're the same," he said.
The world around them shifted again—quietly this time.
Something worse than Dark Gods had taken a swing.
And hit.
Crunchyroller flexed her remaining hand.
"Whatever did this," she said,
"doesn't care about stories."
The Seed of the Internet pulsed faintly in Brush's chest.
Connection.
Not control.
"Then we find it together," Brush said.
Crunchyroller exhaled slowly.
"Very well," she replied.
"But understand this, Chosen One…"
Her eyes glowed—dim, but sharp.
"When a god joins the party,
the final boss is never far behind."
⚠️ SYSTEM STATUS
CRUNCHYROLLER: NERFED / ACTIVE
NEW THREAT: UNIDENTIFIED, OUTSIDE CANON
STORY STATE: UNSTABLE