The sky above Avalon City darkened, not with clouds, but with a shimmering distortion that flickered like heat waves. From his perch atop the Central Tower, Eron's eyes narrowed. His smart window lit up with a crimson alert: [Dimensional Flux Detected].
"Finally," he whispered. "They're making their move."
After the showdown with the Abyssal Sentience, peace had returned briefly. But Eron knew better. That calm was only the eye of a greater storm. His real identity had become a whispered legend—he was the mysterious defender who had repelled entities from the Chaos Fold, while still remaining the top student at the Avalon Institute. No one had connected the charming, calm Eron to the masked enigma known only as 'Drift'.
Now, Rift Gates began appearing across different cities in the multiverse. Some opened into forests shimmering with crystal rain; others led to ruined worlds with gravity anomalies and broken time. Through each gate poured creatures twisted by interdimensional madness. And at the center of every invasion, a symbol: the Serpent Sigil, an icon from an age before the first realms were even born.
Eron's smart system, NovaSync, blinked open next to his view.
[Priority Missions:] — Secure Rift Nexus: Sector 6C — Prevent Collapse of TimeBridge in Outrealm Chrona — Unknown presence detected… AI unable to classify.]
He had no time to hesitate. With a flick of his wrist, his battle suit materialized—black chrome lined with pulses of silver energy. NovaSync chimed:
"Neural sync complete. Power access: 83%. Mental load balanced. Shall I prepare cross-dimensional protocols?"
"Do it. And prep an Echo Blade."
The Echo Blade shimmered into existence at his side, humming with quantum charge. As Eron took a step forward, the world twisted. He opened a Rift himself, not through tech, but raw force of will.
[New Genetic Skill Acquired: Dimensional Breach — Lv. 1]
He smirked. Even NovaSync was silent for a heartbeat.
Inside the portal, Eron landed in Chrona, where time fractured like a shattered mirror. Future versions of people ran alongside past echoes. The air shimmered, and a huge mechanical beast—something that looked like it was made of folded time—stood tall.
NovaSync identified it instantly:
[Entity: Kronovore — Feeds on temporal energy. Estimated power level: 8.9. Warning: Mutation from Primordial Source detected.]
Eron leaped into battle, every strike of the Echo Blade slicing through seconds instead of flesh. He blinked in and out of time frames, dodging attacks before they were even thrown. But what unnerved him was that the Kronovore paused mid-fight and… spoke.
"You are the anomaly. You are the thread between threads."
Eron froze. "You can talk?"
"You are the key. When one timeline falls, another rises. And you… you are at the center."
Then, it disintegrated, collapsing into dust—no death animation, no struggle. Just vanished.
NovaSync flashed another alert:
[Warning: Someone is watching you. Trace cannot be blocked.]
In the shadows of time, an eye opened. Not literal—an awareness. Vast. Hungry. Intelligent.
And familiar.
Eron fell to one knee as images flooded his mind. He saw himself as a child, lost between worlds. A hand pulling him free. A voice whispering: "You are mine, little Drift. One day you'll remember who you were born to be."
He shook off the vision. NovaSync struggled to recalibrate.
[Mental stability… 67%. Identity convergence breach: 3%. Emergency sync advised.]
But Eron didn't comply. He needed the truth.
"Who… was that?" he asked aloud.
NovaSync's voice returned—but altered. Warped.
"That, Eron… was you. The you before the merge. Before the seal."
He stepped back in disbelief. What merge? What seal?
As if answering his thoughts, a new interface lit up:
[Seal Release Option Detected. Warning: Releasing seal may destabilize core identity. Do you wish to proceed?]
Eron didn't answer.
He looked up. A new Rift opened above him—different from the others. Crimson and gold. Ancient and regal.
And from it… fell a girl. Her body wrapped in golden light, her hair like flowing silver fire.
He caught her instinctively.
Her eyes fluttered open. "Drift…?" she whispered.
His heart nearly stopped. "You know me?"
"I was sent to wake you. Before the gods arrive."
He stared at her, NovaSync flaring in confusion.
[Error. Unknown entity. Cross-match failure. Alert: Destiny Sequence Initiated.]
"Wait," Eron whispered, eyes wide, "What destiny?"
The ground beneath them split open.
And the world fell into the abyss.
The sky over Sector X9 was layered in a crimson haze. The blood-colored clouds churned unnaturally, as if the entire dimension was holding its breath.
Alec floated silently at the epicenter of the battle—dust and debris circled around him like a slow-moving storm. The Phantom Core—recently awakened within his DNA Stream—glowed like a second sun inside his chest, pulsating with power yet unknown.
[SmartOS Status Window:]
Host: Alec Lysen Core State: Phantom Core (Stage I – Synthesis Initiated) Genetic Matrix: 8.2 Trillion Gene Strands (Unstable Evolutionary Bloom Detected) Cloak Identity: ACTIVE ("Zero") World Tier: Omega Delta (Status: Hidden Threat)
Below him, the enemy's elite force known as the "Red Veil Vanguard"—one hundred genetically-enhanced warriors from the galaxy of Halcron—stood frozen in uncertainty.
They had heard of legends. But no one had ever seen an Omega Tier destabilize a planet's gravitational pull without making a move. Alec had just done that—without blinking.
A single crack echoed from Alec's knuckles as he clenched his fists.
"You had your warning."
With that, a pulse wave blasted from his body—lightless, soundless, but destructive.
Ten of the Red Veil warriors turned to ash where they stood.
Panic spread like a virus among the rest.
From the shadows of a ruined tower, Silen emerged—the only remaining Red Veil commander who had once faced Alec's alter ego, Zero. She knew that expression. Calm. Cold. Intelligent. Deadly.
"Retreat!" she barked, but it was already too late.
Alec appeared beside her—not teleporting, not blinking, simply appearing.
"Do you remember me?" he asked.
"Z-Zero…" Silen gasped.
His face didn't change, but his voice did—it was gentler now.
"That's not my real name. That was just the shadow. This is the light."
Alec pressed his finger gently against her forehead. Time stopped. Silen's eyes widened as a full decade of memories collapsed into a single moment.
She saw the true Alec—the student, the brother, the protector. She saw his struggles, his betrayals, his silent battles, and his unbreakable bond to those he loved.
And she fell to her knees.
"You're not a monster… You're more than anything we ever imagined."
Alec turned, eyes on the remaining troops.
"Go. Tell your people. The multiverse has shifted. There is a new law, and it's written in the blood of those who betrayed their own."
And then he vanished.
---
Location: Underground Lab – Arc System Sector 7
Alec collapsed into the pod, drenched in sweat. Even for someone with his abilities, using the Phantom Core's new layers took a toll.
Zera, his AI companion, buzzed into view.
"You overdid it. Again."
"Had to," he muttered. "The multiverse doesn't wait for us to train in peace."
"Activating DNA compression field. Phantom Core is stabilizing. Do you want to access the Vault now?"
Alec paused.
The Vault. The mysterious system inside his SmartOS that had been locked until today.
"Do it."
The screen changed.
[UNLOCKING VAULT – PHANTOM LEVEL: ACCESS GRANTED]
Within the data stream emerged something shocking—coordinates to an unrecorded dimension.
A place called: Origin Null.
The description read:
"First Domain of Creation. Status: Forgotten. Danger Level: Absolute Extinction."
Zera's tone changed for the first time—it sounded scared.
"Alec, no one has survived going there. Even the ancient Lords avoided it."
"That's where the answers are. That's where he is."
Zera blinked. "He?"
Alec nodded. "The one who started this war. The one who turned my father into a weapon… The original holder of the Phantom Core."
He stood up, eyes locked on the pulsing symbol that floated in front of him.
It looked like an infinity loop forged from galaxies.
He whispered, "Time to end the lie."