The clash was instantaneous.
Nullmark moved like a phantom—silent, efficient, terrifying. One second he was standing still, the next he was on Aiden, arm transforming into a gleaming blade of condensed Voidsteel, the edge humming with unfiltered Nexus energy.
Aiden reacted instinctively, activating Chrono-Slip. Time slowed around him as he sidestepped the strike. Sparks flew as Nullmark's blade carved through the air, slicing through stone like cloth.
[Skill Activated: Chrono-Slip Lv.5]
[Effect: Personal time acceleration x2.4 – Duration 6 seconds]
"Brant, flank him! Kaela, suppressive warding!" Aiden barked, flicking out a shimmering arc of his own—a razor-thin Chrono-Edge, refined through practice in the Nexus chamber.
Brant leapt into action, swinging his hammer with wild ferocity. The blow connected with Nullmark's side, causing a minor pulse of distortion—but the armored figure barely flinched. Instead, Nullmark twisted mid-spin, grabbing Brant by the arm and hurling him into the side of the canyon wall. Dust exploded where Brant landed, coughing but conscious.
Kaela's eyes lit with a violet glow as her staff planted into the cracked earth.
[Skill Activated: Mana Convergence – Radiant Bindings]
[Area Wards: 3]
Crystalline chains erupted from the ground, latching onto Nullmark's limbs, glowing with containment glyphs. For a moment, the figure froze, his armor flickering with resistance data.
Aiden closed in.
His gauntlet charged, the Temporal Injector reaching overload. He aimed for the center of Nullmark's chest—where the energy signature pulsed the strongest.
But Nullmark smiled beneath his helmet.
"Good. You're learning."
A sphere of inverted light erupted from his core—Nexus Reversal Field.
The chains shattered. The canyon warped. Time buckled.
Aiden was thrown back as reality inverted for an instant—up became down, pressure reversed, and pain surged through his limbs. He struck a broken boulder and rolled, his System fighting to recalibrate.
[Warning: Chrono-Anchor Disrupted]
[Stabilization: 62%... 74%... 100%]
Aiden rose, coughing blood, eyes locked on Nullmark. "That technique…"
"It was born in the same crucible that made you," Nullmark said, advancing. "I was the prototype. You… are the refinement."
Kaela cast a massive barrier between them, laced with phase-locking sigils.
"Why attack us?" she demanded. "We're not your enemies."
"I seek no war," Nullmark replied, calmly. "Only balance. The Nexus binds this world like a chain. Every Warden stabilizes it… and makes it stronger. But stability is stagnation. What I offer is freedom."
Brant groaned as he climbed back to his feet. "You blew up our damn ride for freedom?"
"Your machine was a message," Nullmark said. "The choice is yours. Join me. Or prepare to be hunted. Because others… will come."
Aiden narrowed his eyes. "You're not the only failed Warden, are you?"
"There were seven," Nullmark said. "I'm just the one who lived."
With that, he triggered a warp beacon embedded in his shoulder. Space twisted, forming a Nexus Rift behind him.
[Rift Signature: Personal Gate – Obfuscated Origin]
"You'll see it, eventually," Nullmark said, his voice fading into static. "The Nexus doesn't just empower. It consumes."
Then he vanished into the rift.
Silence fell across the ravine, broken only by the hum of Aiden's stabilizing field as it brought reality back into alignment.
Kaela was pale. "He was… something else."
Brant spat blood. "No kidding. Damn near caved my ribs in."
Aiden said nothing for a long moment.
Then his System chirped again.
[New Directive: Path of the Wardens]
Track 1: Locate Echo Terminals in Ivory Spire – Status: Pending
Track 2: Identify Other Surviving Wardens – Estimated: 6 Targets Remaining]
The interface pulsed faintly with new data—fragments of Nullmark's combat pattern, encrypted relic code, and most importantly, an embedded tracker left in the energy burst of the rift.
Aiden smiled grimly.
"He left a trail."
Kaela blinked. "Intentionally?"
"Maybe. Or maybe he wants us to follow."
Brant cracked his knuckles. "Fine by me. Next time I'll return the favor."
Aiden pulled up the local map.
"First stop stays the same. Ivory Spire. If it holds records of the Red Eclipse project, we'll find answers. And maybe a way to counter what he's become."
They gathered what gear they could salvage from the wreck, activated emergency recon drones, and set off under the cover of night—toward the buried ruins of the Spire.
Above them, the stars shimmered unnaturally, as if the sky itself were holding its breath.
And far away, beyond the Crescent Range, another figure stirred—one of the Six. Watching. Waiting.