The deeper they ventured into the Dark Web, the more reality twisted around them. Platforms warped mid-step, corridors looped endlessly, and fragments of past battles flickered like broken memories. Every sound was distorted, every shadow suspicious.
"I hate this place," RobbRox muttered, trying to rebuild a platform that flickered into nonexistence."Welcome to the Dark Web," Brush said grimly, aura blazing. "Here, the rules aren't ours."
Suddenly, the first glitch horde emerged—a swarm of digital abominations, each more surreal than the last. Some had shifting faces of NPCs long erased, others had body parts that looped into infinity, their attacks erasing chunks of the platform mid-strike.
Brush teleported forward, fists glowing with Erasure, striking down one glitch that tried to overwrite his stats. Creation Guardians surged, erecting protective walls and intercepting fragments. Interception redirected high-speed attacks into the void, while Interconnectivity linked the team, allowing them to anticipate each mutation.
"They're adapting faster than we can hit!" Equinox shouted, slicing through a glitch that duplicated every time it was struck."Then we evolve faster!" Brush replied, reaching deeper into forbidden power—an ability that pulsed with immense energy, but carried a dangerous cost.
The forbidden technique warped reality around him. Glitch monsters froze mid-adaptation, fragments of corrupted code dissolving under the force of pure systemic distortion. But the strain was evident—Brush felt a deep pull, a corruption of his own digital aura that threatened to unravel part of himself.
"Brush… you can't keep this up!" Frostbinder warned, ice forming instinctively around her gloves to stabilize the collapsing floor."I know," he said, sweat and aura flickering, "but this is the only way to survive here."
The team worked in perfect synchronization. Melody Guard's harmonies stabilized the sensory overload, FooTube projected illusions to distract adaptive glitches, and Equinox carved safe corridors through the ever-shifting terrain. Even RobbRox rebuilt collapsing zones faster than thought, aided by the linked Interconnectivity.
Wave after wave of glitches assaulted them, some erasing parts of their abilities temporarily, others warping space around them, forcing them to fight in three dimensions at once. Every strike pushed Brush's forbidden power closer to its limit.
"We can't just react," Brush shouted, aura blazing white-hot. "We have to control it, anticipate it, dominate it!"
With a synchronized strike, the team dismantled the first major horde. But the Dark Web itself seemed to pulse with awareness, adapting to every strategy they deployed.
"It's alive," Equinox said, her violet lances dimming slightly from exhaustion."And it knows us now," Brush added, eyes narrowing. "We've survived the first trial. But the real test… is coming."
From the shadows of corrupted code, something far larger began to form, a shape that seemed aware of every move they made. Brush could feel it in his bones—a presence that would challenge not just their strength, but their very sense of reality.
"Stay sharp," Brush commanded. "The Dark Web isn't just testing us… it's preparing for the moment it strikes directly."
The team braced themselves, knowing that each glitch they destroyed only made the next wave deadlier, and that deeper within this corrupted digital abyss, the true horrors of the Dark Web awaited