Lucien clutched himself, hugging his body, trying to hold himself together as if he could physically prevent whatever was consuming him.
He staggered, barely keeping himself from collapsing to his knees. That’s when Gaya knew sothing serious was happening to him.
Moreover, the mont she caught him, sothing shifted—sothing that caused her eyes to widen.
Instantly, she frowned, and the golden hue of her eyes seed to vanish for a brief mont. Her pupils completely disappeared.
Lucien still felt wrong—his body felt unbalanced, and he could feel himself fracturing. It was impossible to put into words, not to ntion the crushing ntal agony that rendered him incapable of thought.
The only thing he could do right now was...
’Log out’
[CAUTION: YOU CANNOT LOG OUT OF THE GA]
Lucien frowned and stared at the HUD display floating before his eyes.
’I need to log out!’
[CAUTION: YOU CANNOT LOG OUT OF THE GA]
’Huh?’
He couldn’t log out of the ga? But why?
Lucien frowned.
’What anomaly is this? Is this how the ga is supposed to function?!’
He tried to log out again. However, the third attempt was even worse.
[CAUTION: YOU CANNOT LOG OUT OF THE GA]
[CAUTION: YOU HAVE BEEN LOCKED INTO THE GA FOR HEALTH PRESERVATION]
[CAUTION: ERROR]
[CAUTION: ERROR]
As the display continued flashing errors, Lucien could feel his body glitching over and over again.
Not just his body—even his vision, the world around him, everything was fracturing as though it could vanish yet still struggled to remain.
Everything except Gaya, whose eyes were strange.
But Lucien didn’t have the luxury of ti to process whatever was happening with Gaya, because he was in a far worse position.
Suddenly, the world before him blacked out. All Lucien could see was pitch darkness dotted with white specks like stars. This plane was familiar.
He frowned for a mont.
’Isn’t this the starting space... where I created my profile?’
Lucien tried to move, but the space suddenly sucked him in. His eyes blurred—everything blurred as it seed like all of space was pulling him.
Then ti stopped.
At that mont, his body was invaded by an avalanche of pain. From his head to his torso, even his scalp was covered in bruises and blood.
tal shards from the gear had shattered against his face, torn into his skull. Blood poured from his eyes, nose, mouth and ears.
For a mont he could hear laughter—blurry figures materialized before him. One stood out, especially tall with long hair.
He stepped closer and lood over Lucien’s body. Then he spat on his face and grinned wickedly before walking away.
The others followed.
[You have received critical...]
[CAUTION: ERROR]
[CAUTION: ERROR]
[CAUTION: ERROR]
’What? Am... I... dying?’
It was impossible to tell exactly what had just happened. The headgear was still embedded in his skull, shattered fragnts piercing deep.
He was sohow still connected to the ga, because he could see the display and the letters screaming error, error, error, error.
But what exactly had just happened to him? What did he do? What exactly was going on?
Lucien could answer none of those questions.
He couldn’t speak either, and could only stare blankly, unable to even blink.
Sowhere in his blurry vision, he saw soone rush inside, nearly stumbling. That was before his vision suddenly vanished and the system’s voice beca stable.
[CAUTION: YOU CANNOT LOG OUT OF THE GA]
Lucien found himself back in the space with tiny specks of light like stars.
He frowned.
All the pain, his body, the blood—everything was gone. He felt whole again.
’Was that a dream?’
No. Sothing was wrong—he could feel it in his gut.
[CAUTION]
[YOUR REAL BODY HAS BEEN SEVERELY DAMAGED]
[A COUNTER-PRESERVATION PROTOCOL HAS BEEN ACTIVATED]
[THIS IS AN UNCERTIFIED AND MONTARILY INVENTED PROTOCOL]
[DO NOT TRY TO LOG OUT]
[FORCEFUL LOG OUT WILL RESULT IN DEATH]
[DYING IN EVOLUTION ONLINE WILL ALSO RESULT IN DEATH]
Seeing this, Lucien’s heart lurched—he felt it plumt into his stomach, or was he mistaken?
Before he could process that thought, everything around him blurred, glitched, and vanished once again. He opened his eyes back in the field.
Gaya knelt before him, leaning on one knee and panting heavily, sweat drops streaming down her face.
He quickly moved closer and bent down.
"Gaya... are you okay?"
Gaya raised her head with a strained, disbelieving expression.
"I’m the one who’s supposed to be asking you that, you fool."
Lucien chuckled dryly.
’The respect period has expired.’
He withdrew for a mont and exhaled. Only then did he rember the horrific scene he had experienced just monts ago.
He frowned and examined his entire body.
There were no wounds—even his head was intact. Everything was whole. But Lucien could still feel that sothing was terribly wrong. He just didn’t know what.
He lowered his gaze and tried to log out again, however...
[CAUTION: FORCEFUL LOG OUT WILL RESULT IN DEATH!!!]
Lucien frowned.
’It... it wasn’t a dream.’
Apparently not.
Sothing had indeed happened in reality.
He lowered his head, thinking about what he’d seen for a few monts.
’I was beaten and battered. I saw Old Thena too... which probably ans I was indeed attacked while logged into the ga. And it’s very possible that the ga has created so kind of protocol to preserve my life. Which ans I’m not dead yet.
’However, if I try to log out forcefully, I could die... if I die in the ga, I’ll also die...’
Lucien shook his head slightly and chuckled. But the chuckle was forced and hollow.
Gaya looked at him strangely, inspecting every inch of his body with her gaze.
"Are... you... okay?"
Lucien turned to look at Gaya, rembering that her eyes had also turned strange—right when the ga glitched.
’Could she...’
However, Lucien vehently shook his head.
’That makes no sense... Gaya is an NPC.’
A written program, as a matter of fact.
He looked at her and smiled grimly.
"I’m not sure if saying I’m fine is the right word. However, one thing I know is that things are about to get very bloody in this ga... and in reality."
Lucien’s eyes blazed with a sinister light.
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