Location: Omega Lock Simulation – Timeline Break Layer
Time: Undefined
Rael gasped awake.
The air felt wrong—too thick, too silent. He stood inside a sprawling coliseum of floating platforms suspended in a crimson sky, time frozen like shattered glass all around him. Gravity worked in pulses. The sky cracked above, and through the fissures leaked echoes of voices—not just from the past, but from futures yet to be born.
> Omega Window: SYSTEM ERROR
Your reality anchor has been disrupted.
Loading Emergency Protocol: VASTHEART INITIATIVE…
Please stand by…
Rael blinked. Every muscle in his body tensed. His clothes had shifted—this wasn't his Academy uniform. Now he wore dark gray armor trimmed in blue luminescence, a cloak swirling with shifting patterns like living ink.
He was alone.
Or so he thought.
A deep rumble echoed through the arena.
Then, a golden chain shot from behind, wrapping around his arm.
Rael flipped midair, breaking the tether with a slash from a blade he hadn't summoned—yet it was there.
> Vastheart Core Integrated – Weapon Type: Chrono Reaper Activated
Ability: Time Cut – Slice between cause and effect.
Cooldown: 14 seconds.
Rael landed hard on a glowing platform. He held the blade—a translucent saber laced with glowing runes.
Across from him appeared a familiar silhouette.
Dagger.
His own alternate form—the persona he had crafted for the world's eyes—now stood as an enemy. But something was off. Its eyes were entirely void of soul.
A projection?
> "Why do you still resist?" the Dagger-echo spoke, voice distorted and distant.
"The timelines have chosen entropy. You are the defect."
> "I'm not a part of your equation," Rael growled.
> "You are the variable," Dagger replied, "and variables are erased."
The fight began.
Platforms shattered as the two clashed—steel ringing against steel, echoes of past and future overlapping with each strike.
> Omega Window – Warning: Timeline Layer collapsing in 17 minutes.
Rael slashed with Time Cut—his blade cleaving through one version of reality, forcing the Dagger-echo to phase into a glitch. A moment's advantage.
> ECHO 02 ONLINE – Reinforcement inbound.
A ripple in space beside him, and ECHO 02 appeared mid-jump, landing a heavy blow that sent the Dagger-echo flying into a temporal wall.
But the simulation twisted again.
Suddenly, the platforms rearranged—forming a spiraling staircase to a pulsing core in the sky. The heart of the simulation.
Rael understood instantly.
> "That's where Entropy's override is hidden."
He took a deep breath and launched upward.
The Omega Window shifted again.
> Specter Gene Equivalent: SYNTHEX CORE Awakened
Stat Enhancement Detected: Precision +520%, Reflex +400%, Cognitive Flow Unlocked.
His body blurred into afterimages. He felt every atom respond to his will—his existence surging beyond human limits.
He reached the core.
But before he could interact with it, a voice stopped him.
> "You shouldn't be here… yet."
Hovering above the core was a girl.
Young, radiant, with violet hair and a soft glow surrounding her. Her eyes shimmered with stardust.
> "Who are you?" Rael asked, his blade still drawn.
> "I'm what's left of the girl you used to know," she said. "The one you saved when you first rewrote fate."
> "Aria?"
She smiled, bittersweet.
> "No… but I carry her memories. I'm the Echo they made from the possibility that you failed to save her."
Rael's heart froze.
> "You're not real…"
> "Neither is this place. But if you want to survive Entropy's final simulation, you'll have to defeat the ghost of your failure."
The arena pulsed. The platforms turned red. And she—the Aria-Echo—drew her own Chrono Reaper from her chest.
> Final Challenge: Echo of Regret Initiated
Rael tightened his grip.
If this version of Aria carried even fragments of her, he couldn't fight seriously.
But he had no choice.
> "I'll free you," he whispered.
> "Then come," she said, eyes glowing. "Prove you're still the one who rewrites destiny."
They rushed forward—Chrono Reapers crossing in a clash that exploded like thunder through frozen time.
The blade of the Echo-Aria shimmered with every fragmented emotion Rael had long buried: her laughter, the screams, the light in her eyes the moment it dimmed. And now—twisted by Entropy—it was turned against him.
Their blades met in a storm of afterimages.
Each slash from Aria-Echo was silent but heavy, like regret itself. And Rael—though empowered by Synthex Core—was slowing. Not physically. Emotionally.
> Omega Window:
Status Anomaly Detected – Cognitive Hesitation.
Engagement Efficiency: Dropping 28%… 36%… 47%…
He growled, pushing through her sweeping arcs of light, and finally disarmed her for a breath of a second.
But she didn't flinch.
Aria-Echo stepped closer, barehanded, and placed a palm on his chestplate.
> "You still hesitate. That's why you keep failing to control your system."
> "You're not her," Rael snapped, forcing distance between them, blade raised.
> "Aren't I?" she whispered, eyes shimmering with sorrow and stars.
And in a split instant, she was gone.
Rael's senses screamed.
She reappeared behind him, blade at his neck, whispering, "What will you do if saving me means erasing her?"
---
The Omega Core above pulsed, glowing with increasing frequency—indicating the timeline's instability. Rael didn't have time to stall.
> Omega Window – Suggestion: Memory Lock Integration
Would you like to isolate emotional pathways to increase combat efficiency?
[Y/N]
He stared at the prompt.
One press. He'd lose what made Aria… Aria.
> But she was already gone, wasn't she?
"No," he whispered. "I don't erase. I rewrite."
He surged with energy—Synthex Core reaching a new level.
> Unlocked: State Shift – Omega Pulse Form
Passive Skill: Rewrite Thread – Strike enemies with alternate timeline fates.
Effect: Each attack fractures opponent's memory-data with paradox.
With this, Rael struck.
His sword left trails of light and shadow—each slash carrying a version of what could have been. Aria-Echo faltered, staggered, seeing herself survive, seeing Rael save her, seeing the worlds they never had.
> "Stop—" she cried, falling to her knees as thousands of mirrored lives flooded her.
> "I'm not fighting you," Rael said softly. "I'm freeing you."
His blade turned, not toward her, but to the Omega Core.
With one clean cut, he severed the simulation anchor.
The sky broke open, platforms crumbled, and Rael grabbed Aria-Echo, pulling her close.
> Omega Collapse Imminent – Transport Sequence Initiated
A voice—unlike the Omega Window's system—spoke directly into his mind.
> You're not supposed to make it out alive.
You weren't meant to win this level.
You cheated fate… again.
Rael smirked. "Story of my life."
They vanished in a burst of light.
---
Location: Realspace Return Zone – Classified Dock Theta-X
Time: Resumed
Rael collapsed to one knee as the teleport finished. Steam hissed from his armor. The sky above was no longer fractured—it was starless, stable.
In his arms, the Aria-Echo flickered… but didn't vanish.
> "You didn't delete me…"
> "You're part of me now," Rael said. "Memories or not, you're real."
She smiled, fading into a soft digital core—a glowing sphere of memory and code that Rael tucked safely into his system drive.
> Omega Window:
Echo Aria Integrated as Memory-Companion Subprocess
Function: Internal Diagnostics + Timeline Sympathy Buffer
Status: Stable
He stood, now alone again.
Footsteps echoed behind him.
An unfamiliar man approached—tall, armored in black with glowing red insignia.
> "You're early," the man said. "You weren't supposed to exit Simulation Layer Zero for another seven cycles."
Rael narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?"
The man smirked. "Call me the Warden. I'm the one keeping the multiverse from collapsing."
He tossed a cube to Rael. Inside it glowed a miniaturized universe—his own timeline?
> "You're now officially on the Watchlist. That stunt in the Echo Arena? You just broke every law of predetermined fate. Nicely done."
Rael caught the cube, inspecting it.
> "I don't follow rules," he said. "I write my own."
The Warden smiled. "Then let's see how far your pen can go before you snap the page."
As the Warden vanished, the Omega Window updated.
> New Objective Unlocked: Ascend the Fractured Chain
Stage 1 of 7: Survive the Warden's Gauntlet
Reward: Identity Key – ???
Rael smirked.
Let the game begin.