The shattered ice from the battle with Kieran still glittered across the academy courtyard, but Kairos barely noticed. His body ached, his breath was heavy, but his mind was racing. The fight had pushed him further than ever before, and Echoflow was still humming through his veins—whispers of movements, patterns, and possibilities.
But something was off. The air felt different, like the world was holding its breath.
The system chimed softly:
[Alert: Dimensional Anomaly Detected]
Kairos's gaze snapped upward.
The space above the academy rippled—as if reality itself was being peeled apart. A jagged tear formed, and from within, a figure emerged. Their presence was impossible—ethereal, wrapped in a cloak that seemed to shift between stardust and shadow.
The figure's voice was layered—male, female, and something other—all at once:
> "Kairos Valtieri. You have broken the first chain. The Cycle stirs, and the Watchers take notice."
Kairos felt a cold shiver crawl down his spine. "Who are you?"
The figure's gaze, though featureless, pierced through him.
> "We are the Archivist. Witness to every iteration. You stand at the precipice of choice... but also consequence."
Kairos's fists clenched. "If you're here to test me—"
> "No. You have already been tested."
The Archivist raised their hand, and the world around them fractured.
Suddenly, Kairos was… elsewhere.
---
The Echo Nexus – A World Between
The sky was an endless swirl of cosmic light, and beneath him, the ground was a mosaic of broken timelines—glimpses into lives he had never lived.
In one shard, he saw himself, defeated, the system shattered.
In another, he stood alone, power radiating from his form, but the world around him was a wasteland.
And in the largest shard—he saw himself facing an entity of pure crystalline form, its body a labyrinth of shifting reflections. The Architect.
> "These are echoes of what could be. Your path is not fixed, but each step carves the next."
The Archivist gestured, and a single shard floated toward him. It showed... Selene, her face pale, her body caught in a battle against something monstrous—something otherworldly.
Kairos's heart stopped. "What... is this?"
The Archivist's voice turned cold:
> "The System was never about power alone. It was about preparing you for them. You are the anomaly because you are the weapon."
Kairos felt the tension in his chest coil tighter. "Who are they?"
The shard shattered, and the name echoed across the realm:
"The Nullborne."
The system immediately responded:
[New Directive Unlocked: Shatter the Veil -- Unravel the truth behind the Nullborne]
[Primary Objective: Survive the Coming Convergence]
The Archivist's form began to dissolve into stardust.
> "We have given you the truth. The rest... is yours to forge."
---
Return to Reality – Academy Courtyard
Kairos's knees hit the ground as he returned, his chest heaving. The ice from his fight with Kieran was gone. The courtyard was... intact. It was as if no battle had ever taken place.
But he felt it—deeper than his bones. The visions. The warnings.
And a new system notification:
[Skill Acquired: Echoform - Split into temporal reflections to counter multiple threats.]
[Ability Enhanced: Riftstep ----Veilstride - Walk between the threads of time for an instant.]
A voice broke his daze.
"Kairos?"
He turned—Selene. Her gaze was filled with concern. "What... just happened to you?"
Kairos looked at her, the image from the shard flashing in his mind—her, fighting alone, against something impossible.
And in that moment—he knew.
Whatever the Nullborne were...
He'd never let them reach her.
His voice was steady: "Nothing I can't handle. But things are about to get... complicated."
Selene's eyes narrowed. "Good. I like complicated."
Kairos smirked. "Then let's get ready. Because... we're just getting started."