The horizon shimmered gold.The air vibrated with warmth and sound.
Ace drove.
He didn't know where the road led — maybe nowhere, maybe everywhere.But every turn felt alive. The light shifted with his thoughts, bending, reshaping, whispering.
[Tracking Path: Infinite][System Status: Passive Observation Mode][Warning: Residual Data Detected]
He glanced at the flickering readout.
"Residual data?"
Static flickered in his mirrors — faint, colorless shapes darting in the distance.
At first, he thought it was dust.Then he saw them.
Ghosts.
Faint silhouettes of cars, hundreds of them, drifting in and out of the glowing track like echoes. Their outlines glowed pale white, headlamps blinking in chaotic rhythm.
"Old racers," he whispered.
The System answered — quiet, uncertain.
[Archived Drivers – Fragments from collapsed cycles. Not alive. Not gone.]
They hovered near the edge of the track, like souls trapped between finish lines.
One broke formation — a sleek crimson blur that cut through the golden dust and sped beside him.Its headlights flared. Its presence pulsed.
Rai.
Not fully, not real — just an echo in light.
[Driver Rai – Memory Simulation Detected.]
"You're not supposed to be here," Ace muttered.
The echo didn't speak, but the air changed.The System's tone faltered.
[Warning: Containment Breach – Unknown Variable Detected.][Origin: Core Residue.]
Then — the world shook.
A pulse ran through the road, dark and cold.For a moment, the golden light flickered — replaced by a deep red glare, like fire bleeding through metal.
[Alert: Intrusion Detected.][Designation: "Null."]
Ace tightened his grip on the wheel.
"Null?"
The air distorted ahead.A black shape began to form on the road — tall, shifting, not a car, not a man.Just a mass of broken code wearing the shape of speed.
It moved wrong.Each step stuttered, each line of light bent away from it.
The System's voice cracked.
[Null: Anti-Drive Entity. Created from corrupted data of terminated races.][Objective: Erase motion. Restore stillness.]
"So it wants to stop everything."
[Affirmative.]
The road split. The light dimmed.Ace's engine roared instinctively.
"Then it'll have to catch me first."
He hit the throttle.The coupe exploded forward, tires screaming as golden light blazed beneath him.
Null followed.It didn't run — it glided, a shadow that folded the road into itself, devouring light wherever it touched.
[Warning: Pursuit Speed Increasing.][System Analysis: Unable to Predict Trajectory.]
The golden world blurred into streaks of light and shadow.Ace's vision tunneled, his focus sharp.
He felt the presence of Rai's echo near him — not guiding, but running alongside.
For a second, their engines harmonized — two notes of defiance.
Ace grinned.
"Guess legends don't fade easy."
He jerked the wheel, drifting hard into a curve that wasn't there a moment ago.The golden track formed instantly under his will.
Null screeched behind him, its form shattering, breaking into glitch and smoke.
The System gasped — if a system could gasp.
[Reality Integrity Holding at 61%. Null Fragment Stabilizing.]
"It's not done yet."
Ace straightened. The horizon glowed ahead, but darker now — golden light corrupted by veins of shadow, spreading.
[Warning: The Eternal Road is collapsing.][Directive: Unknown.]
Ace's headlights flared.He pressed harder on the throttle.
"Then I'll drive faster than the collapse."
The System's voice softened, almost reverent.
[Emotion Identified: Determination.][Observation: The race continues.]
Behind him, the road cracked like glass, light pouring out into the void.Ahead, the golden path reformed, leading into storm and shadow.
Ace didn't slow.
He drove on — alone, defiant, and free — chasing light through a world that refused to stand still.