The final tremor of CH 40 was still echoing through the underground chamber when the ceiling split open.
Not with an explosion.
Not with a collapse.
But with a slow, unnatural tear—a sound like fabric ripping behind the world.
Hyung turned instantly, placing himself in front of Null.
Null was on one knee, chest heaving, one hand gripping the floor as if anchoring himself to reality.His breathing came in broken shivers.His left eye flickered between gold-black and a swirling void.
Hyung spoke quietly, steady, the way he used to speak to his brother when they were children.
Hyung:"Stay with me. Focus on my voice. Don't let your mind drift."
Null didn't answer.He couldn't.
Something was pulling at him—not physically, but mentally, like invisible hooks dragging at the edges of his thoughts.
Above, through the cracked ceiling, the night sky twisted into a spiral.Clouds folded inward.Lightning flickered but made no sound.
The presence watching them was enormous.Silent.Old.
Hyung felt it press on his back like a mountain.
Hyung:"…This is not Aizeno."
Null's head snapped upward as if seized by an external force.
A voice entered the chamber.
It did not travel through the air.It entered directly into their minds.
Adrax:"Fragment… I have found you."
Null flinched violently, clutching the side of his head.Blood trickled from his nose.
Hyung's expression hardened.
Hyung:"Get out of his mind."
The entity ignored him.
Adrax:"You hold what belongs to me.The core I forged.Buried inside you.Sleeping."
Null's fingers clawed the floor.
Null:"Stop… stop talking in my head…"
Adrax:"Awakening has begun.Do not resist."
Hyung grabbed Null by the shoulders.
Hyung:"Look at me. Remember who you are."
Null's eyes snapped toward him—and for an instant, Hyung saw two visions overlapping:
Null's face nowanda child with the same eyes, standing in a black void before a colossal, star-shaped throne.
A memory that was not Null's life.
Hyung staggered back.
Hyung:"…Aizeno was hiding this from me…"
The sky-rift widened.
A shape leaned out of it.Not a body.Not yet.More like a gigantic outline made of fractured light, shadow, and shifting symbols that crawled across the sky.
Adrax:"You will open the gate for me."
Null forced himself to stand.
His stance was unstable, but his voice was steady.
Null:"I'm… not yours."
Adrax's presence deepened.The entire underground ruin vibrated.
Adrax:"You were made for me.A vessel.A container that forgot its purpose."
Hyung stepped in front of Null again, fists clenched.
Hyung:"If you want him, you go through me."
Adrax spoke without emotion.
Adrax:"You were designed only to guard him.You can break."
The ground around Hyung cracked as gravity twisted unnaturally, pressing him down.
Hyung refused to fall.
Hyung:"I don't care what I was designed for.He's my brother."
Above, the shape moved again—descending slowly, as if tasting the air.
Null felt something rise inside him in response.
Not Adrax's influence.Not Aizeno's mark.Something that belonged only to him.
A sharp distortion line split the air behind his shoulder like a blade forming from nothing.
Adrax paused.
Adrax:"That is not mine."
Null straightened.
Null:"Good."
The distortion widened.Power curled around his arms.
Null stepped forward beside Hyung.
Null:"Because you're not taking anything from me."
Adrax lowered further from the sky, his full attention now on Null.
Adrax:"Then the claiming begins."
The ruins trembled.
The first tendril of Adrax's energy shot downward, striking the ground where Null stood.
Null vanished in a blur, reappearing atop the broken pillar, gripping his head but forcing his body to stay upright.
Hyung charged, ready to intercept the next attack.
Adrax descended further.
And the true battle for Null's identity began.