Location: The Human World — Edge of the Silver District.
Date: Thursday, March 2, 2025. 11:45 PM.
The transition back to the Human World was jarring. One moment, Null was standing in a marble sanctuary built by Sophie amidst a sea of blood; the next, he was standing in a deserted alleyway behind his old apartment. The air here was thin, smelling of rain and city exhaust, but it felt... wrong.
The silence wasn't the peaceful quiet of a sleeping city. It was the silence of a vacuum.
"He isn't in the Wonder World," Null whispered, his translucent grey eyes scanning the rooftops.
"No," Fang growled, stepping out of the shadows behind him. The blue-eyed warrior adjusted his grip on his frozen blades. "He's smarter than the others. He knew you'd come home to rest. He's waiting for you to be weak."
Null felt the 49% power humming in his veins. It was a cold, calculated vibration. He didn't feel like the boy who had left this city weeks ago. He felt like a guest in his own body.
I. The Architect of the Wind
Standing in the center of the city's main plaza was a figure that defied the logic of the King of Stone's usual monstrosities. He didn't have six arms. He didn't have a chest-eye.
He was a man or at least, he had been.
He wore heavy obsidian armor that seemed to swallow the light of the streetlamps. His left arm was missing, the sleeve pinned neatly to his chest, but his right hand rested on the hilt of a sword that radiated a terrifying, solar heat. This was Aris, the Executioner. The man rumored to be the King of Stone's missing "right hand" the strongest blade in the hierarchy.
Aris didn't look up as Null and Fang approached. He was watching a single leaf tumble through the air, caught in a small, localized whirlwind he had created.
"The Silver King returns," Aris said. His voice wasn't a roar or a hiss; it was a soft, rhythmic whistle, like wind through a mountain pass. "You smell of the Void. And yet, you smell of the Father. A contradiction."
"You're far from home, Aris," Null said, his cross-shaped pupils locking onto the knight. "Why bring this to the humans?"
"Because," Aris replied, finally looking up. His eyes were a pale, clouded white. "The humans are the only thing you still care about. And to kill a God, one must first remove his reasons for being one."
II. The Gale of Mimicry
Aris didn't draw his sword. He simply flicked his remaining wrist.
[Executioner Style: Void-Rip Gale]
A blast of wind hit Null, but it wasn't air. It was a pressurized vacuum that tried to pull the oxygen directly out of his blood. Null reacted instantly, flaring his Yin-Yang Paradox to stabilize his internal pressure.
Fang moved like a blur, appearing at Aris's side with a twin-strike of ice. "Don't ignore the dog, Knight!"
Aris didn't even turn his head. His pale eyes caught the reflection of Fang's blades for a micro-second.
[Axiom Copy: Glacial Mirror]
Suddenly, the air around Aris froze solid. Not just cold it was an exact replica of Fang's unique cryogenic signature. Aris hadn't just blocked; he had stolen Fang's technique. He shattered the ice with a shrug of his shoulder, the force sending Fang skidding back across the asphalt.
"You have interesting friends, Null," Aris said. "But their Code is simple. I can read it like a child's book."
Null stepped forward, his arm glowing with that new, balanced light. "Then try reading mine."
III. The Dance of the Executioner
Null vanished—[God-Speed: Step of the Void].
He appeared above Aris, his hand glowing with a concentrated sphere of silver data. He slammed it down, intending to rewrite Aris's armor into dust.
Aris looked up. He didn't move his sword. He just stared at Null's palm.
[Total Mimicry: The Balancer's Echo]
A silver aura erupted from Aris's obsidian armor. For a terrifying second, Aris looked exactly like Null's silver form. Their palms met in mid-air, and the resulting shockwave blew out every window in a three-block radius.
Null felt a jolt of horror. He's not just copying the element... he's copying the divine frequency.
"I see it now," Aris whispered as they struggled against each other. "The 49%. You are a bridge that hasn't finished being built. You are vulnerable in the center."
Aris drew his sword then. The blade, Sol-Sunder, didn't cut flesh. It cut the Light.
The knight swung in a wide, graceful arc. The wind followed the blade, turning into a searing, white-hot typhoon. Null tried to dodge, but the wind was everywhere. It wasn't just hitting him; it was studying him. Every time a gust touched Null, Aris grew stronger, his movements becoming more refined, more like Null's own fighting style.
IV. The Shadow Assistant
"Null! He's a parasite!" Fang shouted, recovering from the blast. "Every second you fight him, he's downloading your soul!"
Fang didn't wait for an answer. He knew Kai wasn't here Kai was back at the marble city, helping Sophie and Sooji manage the refugees. It was just them.
Fang unleashed his Primal Form, his blue fur bristling with frost. He became a distraction, a chaotic element that Aris couldn't easily predict. He tore through the plaza, creating a storm of ice and shadow to mask Null's movements.
Null took the opening. He closed his eyes, reaching for that 1% he was missing. He remembered the man in the silver cloak the Ouroboros.
If he copies me, he copies my flaws, Null realized.
Null stopped fighting with "Balance." He did something Aris didn't expect. He tipped the scale on purpose. He flooded his right side with pure, unrefined Life-Grace and his left side with pure, crushing Void-Death.
He became an unstable explosion.
"Can you copy a suicide?" Null roared, charging at the Executioner.
Aris's eyes widened. He tried to mimic the dual-energy, but the sheer instability of Null's 49% state was too much for a "stable" knight to handle. Aris's obsidian armor began to crack. His stolen wind began to turn into a chaotic hurricane that tore at his own missing arm.
"You... you would break yourself to kill me?" Aris hissed, his sword glowing brighter.
"I've died once," Null said, his cross-shaped eyes burning. "I'm used to the feeling."
V. The Climax of the Plaza
The two forces collided in the center of the city. The wind vs. the balance. The mimic vs. the original.
Null grabbed Aris's sword arm, the heat of the Sol-Sunder blade melting the skin of his palm. But Null didn't let go. He stared into Aris's pale white eyes and saw the reflection of the Future Null standing right behind him.
"49.2%," a voice whispered in the back of Null's mind.
The explosion that followed was a dome of pure white light that turned the night into day. When the light faded, the plaza was a crater of molten glass.
Aris stood on one knee, his sword broken in half. His obsidian armor was shattered, revealing a chest covered in scars. He looked at Null, who was standing over him, blood dripping from his hands.
"You... you didn't copy me," Aris whispered, his breath coming in ragged whistles. "You... tricked the Mirror."
"I am the God of Balance," Null said, his voice cold and terrifyingly calm. "And you are just a man who forgot how to be himself."
Before Null could deliver the final blow, Aris vanished into a gust of wind, leaving only a single, broken obsidian shard behind. He hadn't been defeated he had retreated to report to the King of Stone.-or did he
Null stood in the center of the ruined plaza. Fang walked up to him, his blue eyes tired.
"He's gone. For now."
Null didn't answer. He looked at his hands. He was closer to his brother than ever, but he could feel the Axiom watching him. The universe was starting to tilt.
End of chapter 80
See you later