The Entity's limbs wrapped loosely around Null, lifting him just above the ground—not harming him,just claiming him.
Null's body hung weightless, glowing with shifting white patterns crawling under his skin like living circuitry.His head tilted forward, expression blank.
The Third Fragment behind him thrashed like an animal in a cage, its form glitching violently.
Hyung pushed himself up from the broken earth, coughing, bruised, bleeding.But he stared only at Null.
"Give him back."
The Entity didn't react.
Null did.
His voice was hollow, layered, almost machine-like:
"Unit Hyung.Your interference is unnecessary.Reintegration sequence in progress."
Hyung's breath hitched.
That… wasn't Null at all.
HYUNG'S LAST STAND
Hyung clenched his fists.His aura sparked.Red-hot energy tore across the ruined battleground, sharp enough to carve lines into the stone.
Aizeno shouted from the side—
"Hyung—STOP. You can't hurt that thing! Your attacks will only—"
Hyung roared:
"I DON'T CARE!"
He shot forward.
The Entity turned one limb toward him lazily, a motion so fluid it felt almost bored.
Hyung smashed his fist into the limb.
A shockwave tore the valley apart.
Stone cracked for miles.
The air detonated around them.
Hyung's fist broke instantly—skin tearing, bone snapping—but he didn't stop.
He grabbed the limb with his shattered hand and shouted through clenched teeth:
"NULL! HEY—I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!"
Null didn't look at him.
The Entity responded for him.
"Your persistence is inefficient."
Another limb folded in, slamming into Hyung's ribs and sending him flying.
He crashed through three boulders, skidded across the ground, and coughed blood.
He pushed himself back up.
Staggering.
Barely able to breathe.
But he kept moving.
Aizeno froze.
"…He's going to die."
D U BREAKS HIS LIMIT
DU appeared beside Hyung in a blur, grabbing him before he charged a second time.
"Hyung—STOP. Your body can't take this."
Hyung growled:
"I don't care about me. I just… I just want him back."
DU's expression tightened.His normally laid-back face turned deadly serious.
"Then let me do something."
He cracked his knuckles.
Symbols began glowing across his arms, chest, neck—symbols he had NEVER revealed before.
Aizeno's eyes widened.
"…D U… those aren't seals. Those are—"
DU grinned faintly.
"Restrictions."
Black chains of script erupted around him, snapping and breaking one by one like metal under pressure.
The ground darkened around DU.
His aura rose—not like a warrior,not like Null or Hyung,but like a walking curse, a living contradiction of existence itself.
DU slammed a hand to the ground.
BOOM.
A black dome spread outward instantly—a massive seal complex forming beneath the Entity, covering the entire battlefield with layers of circles, triangles, and twisted runes.
The Entity paused mid-motion.
Its limbs twitched.
For the first time—
—it hesitated.
DU's voice boomed with authority:
"HEY, WHITE-GLITCH ANGRY SPAGHETTI MONSTER."
Hyung blinked.
"…bro what—"
DU pointed upward dramatically.
"HE'S NOT DONE DOWNLOADING HIS HUMANITY YET.COME BACK LATER."
Even Aizeno facepalmed.
But the humor was a thin shell.His voice shook.His hands trembled.
He knew exactly what he was doing.
Breaking his limit meant:
He wouldn't survive more than a few minutes.
The black dome tightened, pulsing with cracks.
DU shouted:
"HYUNG! If you're going to save him—DO IT NOW!"
NULL'S IDENTITY COLLAPSE
Inside the Entity's grasp, Null's body convulsed.
The patterns under his skin spread faster—white lines racing across his arms, chest, neck, face.
His eyes flickered between three states:
• Blank white (Entity)• Spiraling black (Fragment)• His original color (Null)
And each flicker grew weaker.
The merge was almost complete.
Null whispered:
"I… don't… know… who I am…"
Hyung stumbled toward him, voice cracking.
"You're my brother. That's who."
Null's eyes flickered again.
"…brother…"
The Entity tightened its hold.
"Identity interference detected.""Overwriting."
Null screamed as if his mind was being torn in half.
DU gritted his teeth.
Every seal around them cracked.
Aizeno whispered:
"He's losing the battle inside his own head…"
Null's memories flickered around him like broken holograms:
• running through alleyways with Hyung• laughter• training• fighting side by side• DU teasing them• quiet nights staring at the moon• learning how to breathe without fear• choosing who he wanted to be• choosing a name• choosing them
Hyung reached him, voice soft now.
"NULL. Look at me."
One of Null's eyes shifted—not white, not spiraled.
Just his.
"Please…" Hyung whispered."Stay with me."
Null's lips trembled.
"I… I'm trying… but I can't feel… where I end… and where it begins…"
The Entity's voice boomed through every skull:
"Host collapsing.Identity erasure: 94%."
Hyung's heart shattered.
DU screamed:
"HYUNG—NOW!"
Hyung wrapped both arms around Null, pulling him into a tight embrace, ignoring the burning energy tearing at his skin.
"NULL—LISTEN TO ME.YOU DON'T HAVE TO FIGHT IT ALONE.TAKE IT FROM ME.TAKE WHATEVER YOU NEED."
Null's eyes widened.
And something inside him…
broke.
Not in despair.
In resistance.
The Fragment behind him exploded with black lightning.
Null's aura surged outward.
Hyung felt his own core react.
And inside Null's collapsing identity—a dormant piece of his mind lit up.
Not Entity.Not Fragment.Not creation.
Something he had built himself.
A single memory.
Hyung handing him a warm drink after a nightmare, saying:
"You're real enough for me."
Null gasped.
The collapse slowed.
DU's seal stabilized for two seconds—just enough.
Null whispered—
"Hyung… I remember."
And the Entity recoiled.
Because Null had done the one thing a vessel was never supposed to do.
He chose himself.
But the battle was far from over.