Date (Wonder World): Year 1, Day 365 (Final Hour).
Date (Real World): Wednesday, March 1, 2025. 4:00 AM.
The combined Code Garden of Tyler, Sooji, and Ashley was a beautiful, chaotic mess: a frozen lake where flames burned underwater, surrounded by constantly shifting temporal echoes. They stood, clad in their Nexus Suits, facing the final conceptual test—a terrifying, composite Rank 4 monster built from pure, volatile Time and Elemental Code.
The beast was a conceptual whirlwind, attacking in three separate temporal streams simultaneously. It could execute a move, rewind time to undo the strike, and then execute a different strike, all within a single physical second.
Sooji, using her mastery over the Elements, kept the creature contained, blasting it with focused fire and earth Code to limit its available reality space. Ashley, the Ice Dragon, created absolute conceptual cold, slowing the rate at which the Time Code could rewind.
The real target, however, was Tyler.
Tyler, the Time Stone user, was untouchable. He wasn't faster; he was simply outside the creature's temporal reality. He stood still, examining the beast's future and past movements layered over its present form—a dizzying, multi-dimensional portrait of time.
"It's predictable, even with the rewind," Tyler said, his voice calm, channeling his power. "It only has three conceptual paths. I'll make it zero."
Tyler raised his hand. Instead of moving, he manipulated the Conceptual Law of Causality. He made the consequence of the creature's next move happen before the move itself. Tyler targeted the creature's origin point in its temporal stream.
A single, brilliant silver temporal beam shot out from Tyler's Conceptual Sidearm. It didn't pierce the creature; it pierced the concept of the creature five seconds ago.
The monster roared as its three temporal streams violently snapped into singular alignment, destabilized by the violation of causality. It instantly collapsed into a smoking pile of inert Conceptual Code.
The World Cracks
The three students stood victorious. A year of conceptual time had made them masters. They were faster, stronger, and utterly synchronized within their Nexus Suits.
Suddenly, the victory was shattered. The entire Wonder World—the frozen flames, the temporal echoes, the white void—began to crack. Fissures of pure black and gold conceptual energy ripped through the dimension, destabilizing the laws of physics.
"It's time!" Sooji yelled, bracing herself. "Fang said when the Code is pushed too far, the universe rejects the time warp. We're being ejected!"
A blinding flash of light enveloped the six students.
The Anchor of Gravity
Date (Real World): Wednesday, March 1, 2025. 4:00 AM.
The Nexus Team reappeared in the quiet, sterile living room of the safehouse, exactly twenty-four hours after they had left. The Code exhaustion was real, but the conceptual power was absolute.
Null immediately stepped toward the communication console. "We have three days. We lost one. We need to find the Gravity Stone user now. Vane, set the coordinates—where is the greatest conceptual disturbance of mass and gravity?"
Vane, the Space Stone user, extended his awareness across the city. "There. A local pocket of extreme, localized gravity flux. He's in the downtown sector, near the old abandoned shipyard."
Minutes later, the six Nexus warriors, moving with terrifying speed, stood in the desolate, industrial shipyard. They found their target immediately.
Sitting on an overturned barrel, completely oblivious, was a young man. He was Daniel: a black man with thick dreads, his golden eyes wide and constantly scanning the street, dressed exactly as predicted—a bright red hoodie, red hat, and faded grey sweatpants. He was radiating an unsettling, unconscious power that twisted the asphalt around him.
Null stepped forward, addressing the target directly. "Daniel. We need to talk. We know you are the Gravity Stone user."
Daniel looked up, his golden eyes narrowed, a profound distrust instantly visible. He took the measure of Null and the five others in their matching, high-tech suits.
"Yo, hold up, man. Y'all look like some sci-fi goons," Daniel said, his voice laced with the requested street rhythm. He gestured dismissively at their coordinated appearance. "Gravity Stone? What kinda nerd stuff y'all runnin'? I don't know nothin' 'bout no stones, straight up."
"There's a war coming," Kai interjected urgently. "The King of Stone is collecting Prime Stones, and he wants yours. He will kill you."
Daniel scoffed, pulling his red hat lower. "King of Stone? War? You sound like you watchin' too much anime, G. I'm just out here chillin'. Y'all need to fall back before I start feeling disrespected."
He tensed, and the air around him grew heavy, the very concept of mass increasing dramatically. The concrete under his feet began to crack and crumble.
"We ain't got time for this, Daniel," Null said, stepping forward, his voice cold and commanding. "Your Stone is active. You are in danger. Accept the truth."
"Nah, I'm good, fam. Y'all gotta show me proof of this nonsense," Daniel challenged, ready to use his power to push them away.
The Conceptual Blast
Null didn't argue. He forced a conceptual vision—a fragment of the memory of Soren's Conceptual Collapse—and aimed it directly at Daniel's mind. It was a raw, undeniable torrent of future disaster, fueled by the Void King Code.
Daniel's golden eyes went wide, his jaw dropping. In a literal blink of an eye, he saw it: The world was destroyed. Fire was everywhere, consuming concepts and buildings alike. Blood, thick and conceptual, stained the ground. The sky was shattered.
The vision lasted less than a single, physical second, but it felt like an eternity.
Daniel screamed, collapsing backward onto the cracked asphalt, scrambling desperately away from Null.
"Yo, what the FUCK was that?! Look! Look behind you!" Daniel yelled, pointing a trembling finger behind the Nexus Team.
Null, Kai, and the others spun around. They were ready for a Kinetic attack, a dimensional anchor, or a Code blast.
They were not ready for this.
Standing twenty feet away, silent and utterly still, was a tall figure completely shrouded in a flowing deep purple hood. The figure's face was completely obscured by shadow.
The figure moved with impossible grace, covering the distance to Null in a single, silent phase step. The man didn't waste time on threats.
A flash of steel. A razor-sharp, ancient Katana blade was placed instantly and perfectly against the skin of Null's neck, the cold metal demanding absolute stillness.
The man in the hood was an assassin of the highest order—the King's answer to their return.
"The Code is yours, Void King," the hooded man's voice was a chilling whisper that held the sound of distant breaking ice. "The King of Stone requests your presence. You will follow me. Alone."
The entire team was frozen, shocked into conceptual paralysis by the sudden, focused threat to their leader.
Null, the Shadow King, looked down at the Katana, then back at his frightened new recruit, Daniel, and finally at his astonished team.
"The war starts now," Null said, his voice calm, accepting his fate. "Tell the King of Stone I accept his invitation."
End of chapter 64
See you next time where the war actually happens