The void that followed was not darkness.
It was too full to be called dark—laced with starlight that hadn't yet been born, and memories that hadn't yet occurred. Time was an echo, and Zhen stood at its convergence.
Before him, the Architect Fragment hovered—half-form, half-idea, crowned by concentric rings inscribed with celestial runes.
> "You have touched more than one origin. You carry the anomaly of choice. That makes you a threat."
Zhen narrowed his eyes. "To whom?"
The Architect raised its hand. Galaxies spiraled in its palm, then disintegrated.
> "To the ones who believe the multiverse should remain... ranked."
---
✦ The Truth Behind the System
A screen flickered in the air. But this was no regular [System Notification].
This was a core interface—rooted deep within the world-code.
> SOVEREIGN RANKING SYSTEM
Created by: The Architect Order
Purpose: Control progression across bound realms
Primary Law: "All power must be earned through comparative struggle."
Override Protocols: LOCKED
Exception Detected: User [Zhen] possesses dual-world initiation and non-linear willcore.
Zhen watched as lines of golden script unfolded, revealing things no Ranker was ever meant to see.
"Wait," he said, "this system was created... not by gods, but by Architects?"
> "Yes," the fragment replied. "A collective of first-intelligence entities. We did not seek tyranny. We sought order. But order decayed into obsession."
It gestured again.
> "The Sovereign Orders—what you know as the 'true rankers'—have taken control. They erase anomalies. Rewrite worlds. Collapse rebellion before it breathes."
Zhen clenched his fists. His memories of trials—those that felt "scripted," guided—suddenly made sense.
He'd been allowed to succeed.
Until now.
"What happens if I keep ascending?"
The fragment's voice dimmed.
> "Then they will come for you."
---
✦ Return to Reality
Zhen awoke with a gasp, kneeling in a field of withered lotus.
His body steamed with lingering dimensional stress. Around him, the Gate of Choir had vanished, and the Gate of Eternal Return had fractured into silence.
A notification pinged.
> [New Trait Activated: Multiversal Anchor]
You are now partially immune to causality erasure and timeline corruption.
System Stability: 42%
Before he could rise, a ripple tore the air—and a spear of obsidian light shot toward his chest.
He pivoted instinctively, narrowly avoiding it. The ground erupted beside him.
From the rent in space, a figure stepped out.
Clad in silver robes inscribed with red runes, eyes veiled behind a blindfold of woven threads, the figure held a staff tipped with a rotating cube of floating keys.
> "Zhen of the Echoed Self. You have violated the Trial Designations. By command of Sovereign Order Prime Origin, I am here to execute system integrity."
Zhen stood.
He didn't flinch.
"Come and try."
---
✦ Combat: Zhen vs Sovereign Executor
The moment their wills clashed, the world bent.
Zhen surged forward, his blade—now merged with Will and System-fragments—glowing with [Concord of Infinite Will].
The Sovereign Executor raised his staff, muttering a language that didn't echo but absorbed sound.
Their weapons met—
And collapsed a hill into quantum fragments.
Zhen's body shifted mid-motion—slipping across parallel possibilities, landing attacks from three angles simultaneously. The Executor blocked with uncanny foresight.
> [Skill Activated: Possibility Divergence — 3.2 Seconds]
But Zhen had changed. Where once he would strike harder, now he wove his identity into every blow.
He blinked, and became the Zhen that had passed the Choir Trial.
He blinked again, and invoked the memory of Yue Lian crying his name, power rising with vengeance.
His blade sang with multidimensional fury.
Finally, he feinted, vanished—appearing above—and cleaved downward with a fusion of five styles drawn from broken worlds.
The Executor blocked—
Too late.
A fracture split down the staff.
> "Impossible," the man choked.
Zhen's voice was calm. "I'm not supposed to be possible."
He drove the blade through the Sovereign's chest.
---
✦ Shattered Protocols
The Executor disintegrated into runic sparks.
Then, the sky opened.
A slit of golden light.
From it, a hundred eyes watched.
Not metaphor. Not illusion. Consciousnesses of beings from outside reality observed the moment—and spoke as one.
> "Ranker Zero has broken containment."
"Override Protocol Initiated."
"Ascension shall not be permitted."
"Send the Herald."
"Send... 'Her.'"
Zhen's body locked, as every instinct screamed flight.
But he stood.
"I'm not finished," he said. "Not until I know who I am."
---
✦ Elsewhere: Yue Lian's Awakening
Far away, in a floating citadel of crimson jade, Yue Lian awoke from her stasis.
Her eyes—long sealed—opened, and within them, the same golden Architect ring spun slowly.
A voice whispered in her thoughts:
> "He touched the Gate. The path reopens. Your pact must be fulfilled."
She stood, her veil dissolving into petals.
"I remember now."
She turned to face the Sacred Mirror—and in it, saw Zhen, standing against a sky of collapsing laws.
> "He remembered me... so I will return to him."
---
✦ Final Lines
Zhen stood in the crater of the battle, the fractured runes beneath his feet beginning to pulse. The system was rebuilding itself—around him now.
A voice echoed from within his blade.
> "You've stepped beyond destiny. Now you must walk the path of defiance."
And far above, a presence stirred.
She was coming.
The true Herald.
The one who once tried to erase his origin.
And failed.