Chapter 12: Beneath the Rift, the Void Stirs
The sky cracked, and reality followed.
A jagged fracture split the heavens above Nightreach like shattered glass. Pale blue moonlight poured through it—not the moon of this world, but something colder, hungrier. Shen stood at the edge of the city ruins, wind from the rift pulling at his coat, his silver-black eyes reflecting the impossible tear in the sky.
[WARNING: Dimensional Layer Instability Detected.]
[Protocol Override: Initiating Nullfield Containment… Failure.]
[Void Protocol Level 3 Activated.]
Behind him, the Hollow Moon Order continued their ritual, blind zealots cloaked in white and silver, chanting in tones not meant for human throats. A floating circle of silver runes glowed above their altar, pulsing in sync with the sky's rupture.
The Pale-Haired Girl stood close beside Shen, her strange glowing eyes fixed on the rift.
"They're watching now," she whispered, her voice distant, like it echoed from both future and past. "Not just the Hollow Moon. The ones you've touched. The ones that remember the Void."
Shen didn't answer right away. The air had changed—thickened, like liquid pressure crushing against his skin. His hand flexed at his side, and his system interface flickered once, then stabilized.
[Voidbound System Update]
New Skill Branch Unlocked: [Fracturewalk] – Transverse weakened reality layers.
New Title Unlocked: [Echo of the Nullbrand]
Passive Effect Applied: [Resonance Drift] – You exist partially outside of time for 4.6 seconds every minute.
"…They're escalating," Shen muttered.
The Hollow Moon Order had been probing at the veil between realms. But what they cracked open wasn't just a gateway. It was a summon—a call to beings that weren't meant to answer.
He took a step forward. The girl grabbed his arm suddenly. "You can't go near it yet. The brand in the sky—it's Veyrith's mark. A god-killer. A judge of voidbloods."
"You know that name," Shen said.
She nodded. "It was whispered through my dreams long before I ever saw you. They call Veyrith the First Nullbrand. The one who devoured his godhood and became something worse."
Silence followed.
Then—light flared.
The rift pulsed, and from its center, something began to descend. Not a creature, not entirely. It was a mass of glowing chains, woven through with bleeding light, dragging behind it shards of ruined constellations. The sky wept stars as it came down.
A message pinged.
[DANGER: Level ??? Entity Detected.]
[Classification: RIFT-BOUND NULLFRAGMENT — "Judicator of the Hollow Oath"]
[Recommended Action: Flee.]
Shen's lips twitched, just slightly.
"Too late for that."
He stepped forward. The Void stirred within him.
▣ A God's Trial Begins
The atmosphere warped. Time frayed.
The thing in the sky did not descend like a normal being—it overlapped with the world, phasing through layers of existence at once. Civilians hidden beneath Nightreach's lower wards screamed and clutched their heads, as forgotten truths flooded into their minds.
Only Shen and the girl stood unbroken.
"You're not just a mortal," she said to him. "You never were."
"And you're not just a girl," Shen replied, not looking at her.
Another system window unfolded—larger, sharper, glowing with Voidscript.
[VOIDBRAND TRIAL: Initiation Sequence Confirmed]
You have been recognized by the Rift.
Veyrith watches.
You may accept or reject the Nullbrand's Trial.
WARNING: Refusal will mark you as an Oathless—the hunted prey of all Riftbound entities.
Shen clicked Accept.
▣ [Trial of the Nullbrand: Phase I — Collapse the Veil]
The world around Shen twisted.
He now stood inside a reflection of Nightreach—same city, but drowned in ash and silence. No sky above. No moon. Only Void.
The Pale-Haired Girl was gone.
A whisper echoed across the glasslike street.
"You walk without gods. You rise without blessing. Let's see if you endure without truth."
From the shadows emerged figures.
Copies of Shen.
Each one wielding a power he once had—before the system. Before the Void.
They surged.
He responded.
Swords clashed. Chains of voidlight coiled and burst. Shen weaved between them, his current self sharper, faster, more ruthless. A counter-surge from [Resonance Drift] slowed time as he skewered a former self through the throat.
But it wasn't enough.
They kept coming. Not just his past selves—but possible selves.
Ones corrupted by rage.
Ones who accepted divine pacts.
Ones who never escaped the pit where gods had left him to rot.
They screamed his name.
"SHEN NIGHTFALL!"
He gritted his teeth. His system flickered with warnings.
[Memory Fracture Approaching Critical.]
[Stability Loss: 74%]
[Injecting Anchor Point…]
A voice called to him from beyond the void.
"…Shen…"
It was the girl.
And not just her.
[New Entity Detected: ??? — Codename: Echo-Designate 'Lian Yue']
Establishing Link…
▣ Echo Awakening
With a pulse of blue-violet light, she stepped into the rifted plane. Eyes blazing. Herbs glowing in her palms, warding off the dissonance of the void.
She wasn't real—not fully—but she was anchored to him now.
"Don't forget who you are," she said. "Even if the world does."
Shen stared at her for a second longer.
And then—he laughed. A dry, rare sound.
"…Right."
He turned back to the swarm of selves. His aura changed.
No longer defensive.
Predatory.
He activated [Fracturewalk].
In a heartbeat, he was everywhere. Behind his corrupted self. Beside the divine-blooded one. Beneath the raging monster that bore his name.
And in a burst of collapsing energy, he annihilated them all.
One remained. A cloaked version, standing in silence, holding a sword unlike the others.
It looked up.
And whispered, "You are not ready. But you will be."
▣ Trial End
[TRIAL PHASE I COMPLETE.]
[Nullbrand Trial Accepted. Voidlink Strength Increased.]
[You have gained: Sigil of Veyrith – "Bearer of the Rift-Eye"]
[New Passive: Reality Fracture Immunity]
[Voidbound System Evolution: Phase 2 Unlocked.]
Shen returned.
The real world snapped back into place around him. The sky still cracked. The chains above writhed. But the Hollow Moon ritual had stopped.
Every cultist lay unconscious. Or worse.
The girl beside him smiled faintly.
"You passed."
He didn't answer. His eyes glowed faintly—like void stars.
"Now," he said. "We find who sent the Order. And we burn them from the root."
Chapter End Teaser:
Far away, in a floating citadel stitched between stars, a god opened their eyes.
"Nightfall… has begun walking the Rift."