The ground trembled beneath the ruins of Aethyros Stadium.
Moments ago, the system allocation had ended in chaos. People had fled. Others lay unconscious, their bodies broken by an unseen force. The air itself felt heavy, saturated with a darkness that gnawed at the edges of existence.
Neil stood among the devastation, his breath slow, steady, yet sharp with tension. His Nexus interface hovered faintly before his eyes, its obsidian and silver glyphs glowing like runes carved by eternity itself.
But the voice that followed froze his blood.
"So, this is the aberration… the one who shouldn't exist."
The voice was deep, ancient, like the rumble of mountains shifting. Neil turned his head—and froze.
A tear in space hung above the stadium, jagged and bleeding shadows into reality. From its depths, a figure emerged, draped in tattered royal robes blackened by aeons, his face obscured by a helm carved from bone and void. In his hand, a blade that wasn't metal, wasn't energy—it was nothingness given form. Space cracked where it passed, as if rejecting its existence.
> [WARNING!]
Entity Detected: The Forgotten King
Threat Level: EXISTENTIAL
System Protocol: FLEE OR FACE OBLIVION
Note: Survival rate < 0.000001%
The System's alert burned across Neil's vision in crimson letters.
He didn't flinch.
The Forgotten King's aura poured forth like a collapsing star, crushing oxygen, bending light. Hundreds of survivors still inside the stadium screamed as their bodies bent under the weight, blood streaming from eyes and ears.
Sophia staggered beside Neil, her golden system interface flaring desperately as she activated [Archangelic Barrier]. Wings of radiant light exploded from her back, curving into a dome that glowed like a miniature sun. But even then, cracks spidered through it instantly.
Sophia gritted her teeth. Her system, Seraphim Ascendancy, was hailed as the pinnacle of creation—blessings of holy might, infinite regeneration, dominion over light. In any other battle, she would reign supreme.
Yet here, her knees quaked.
"Neil…" Her voice was strained. "This… thing isn't human. It's—"
"Not of this plane," Neil finished coldly, eyes fixed on the figure now descending like a king reclaiming a forsaken throne. "I know."
The Forgotten King touched the broken earth. Instantly, the grass blackened. The ruins wept shadows.
Then, his helm turned toward Neil.
And laughed.
A hollow, resonant laugh that made reality splinter for an instant.
"Ah… so the child carries Nexus. The fragment of what I once destroyed." His words slithered into Neil's mind like liquid fire. "How amusing… how insulting."
Neil's jaw tightened. His instincts screamed to move, to escape, but something deeper roared louder: defiance. Nexus pulsed inside him like a second heart, its hum resonating with something infinite.
The Forgotten King raised his weapon.
"Die, Aberration."
The void blade fell—
---
[NEXUS SYSTEM ALERT]
> Threat: Reality Collapse imminent
Activating: Core Protocol [Oblivion Surge]
Sync Ratio: 48%… 63%… 89%…
WARNING: This action will rewrite causality. Proceed?
Neil Runders, confirm override: [Y/N]
Neil didn't hesitate.
"YES!"
---
A soundless detonation rippled across existence. Space around Neil fractured, shattering like glass under the weight of his unleashed essence. A black-and-silver aura devoured the color of the world, bending time around him. His eyes ignited, glowing with two opposing infinities—one consuming, one preserving.
When the void blade struck, it met something that should not exist.
Neil caught it barehanded.
The impact thundered like the birth of stars. The ground vaporized beneath their feet. Sophia's barrier shattered into fragments of light that burned out instantly. Across Aethyros, mountains trembled, seas recoiled.
Neil's voice was a low growl, vibrating with something primal.
"You want Oblivion? Let me show you its master."
---
The Forgotten King tilted his head. For the first time, his stance faltered.
"Impossible… You accessed Eternia this early?"
> [SYSTEM NOTICE]
Ability Unlocked: [Oblivion Surge]
Rank: ???
Effect: Devours all conceptual existence within 500m radius for 13 seconds.
Cooldown: Cannot be measured.
Note: THIS SHOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE.
The very concept of matter crumbled in Neil's wake. The stadium was gone—erased into a colorless void where laws meant nothing. Sophia floated helplessly, her wings flickering as her system screamed under the paradox.
"Neil—! You're breaking reality!" she cried, voice trembling between awe and terror.
Neil ignored her.
---
The battle transcended what mortals could perceive. The Forgotten King unleashed Eternal Nullification, a surge of anti-creation so dense that time collapsed into singular moments, erasing probability itself. But Neil answered with Eternia Reversal, bending those fragments back, rethreading fate like a mad god rewriting scripture.
They clashed in silence so loud it deafened infinity.
Sword met Oblivion-formed gauntlet.
King met Aberration.
Reality wept.
---
[CRITICAL STATUS WARNING]
> Life Force: 12%
Oblivion Core: Overheat Threshold Reached
Existence Stability: CRITICAL
Recommendation: Withdraw immediately or FORFEIT YOUR BEING.
Neil staggered. Blood streamed from his eyes, glowing silver-black. His body—already something beyond mortal—was tearing apart, strands of him unraveling into static. His heartbeat sounded like bells tolling for the end of creation.
The Forgotten King loomed above, his helm split, revealing eyes like dying stars.
"You were… magnificent, child. But this is where the error ends."
The void blade pierced Neil's chest.
---
Time slowed. No sound. No breath.
Sophia screamed—a broken sound swallowed by the void.
Neil fell to his knees, his vision fracturing into shards of distant memories. Nexus flickered, its glyphs dimming like fading embers.
> [CORE SHUTDOWN SEQUENCE INITIATED]
This is the end, Neil Quinn Talen.
…Unless… Override detected.
Searching external anchor…
Connection found: [???]…
A voice—not Nexus, but something older, softer—spoke within the collapsing silence.
"Child of paradox… do you wish to live?"
Neil's breath hitched. "Who… are you…?"
And then—light bloomed.
No… not light. Radiance so divine it hurt to comprehend.
A figure descended into the void. Her hair was rivers of molten gold streaked with black starlight. Her eyes—two galaxies mourning their extinction. Her presence burned with sanctity and ruin alike. Wings torn, yet vast, blotting eternity itself.
She knelt beside Neil, her fingers brushing his cheek. Warmth flooded his veins.
"I am Joan Jace," she whispered, her voice like shattered hymns. "The Forsaken Goddess… the first light cast into shadow. I have wandered eons searching for my anchor."
Her gaze locked onto his soul—the Aberration.
"And now… I have found you."
---
[DIVINE COVENANT PROTOCOL INITIATED]
> Entity: Joan Jace – Fallen Primordial Goddess
Status: Fragmented Immortality
Proposal: Merge 0.1% of her essence with Nexus Host.
Risk: Reality Collapse x100.
Accept Bond? [Y/N]
Neil didn't speak. He thought the word—and eternity obeyed.
YES.
---
Light and darkness convulsed as one.
Neil screamed—not in pain, but in transcendence. His soul ignited, chains of causality snapping like brittle twigs. Systems across the world crashed, unable to comprehend the birth of something beyond divine.
When the light faded, Neil stood—not broken, not human, not even aberrant.
He was becoming a paradox given will.
Joan's arms curled around him, her lips near his ear, whispering a benediction that tasted like both love and apocalypse:
"Now, my anchor… let us unmake kings."
Neil raised his head.
The Forgotten King froze—not in fear, but in recognition.
"No… not her… not again."
---
The void trembled.
The end had only begun.
[TO BE CONTINUED…]
---