The thread remained at the edge of the universe.
It did not rush forward.
It did not attack.
It simply existed.
Yet its presence was enough to make the ancient powers uneasy.
For beings who had witnessed countless eras, that alone was abnormal.
They had seen invasions.
They had seen wars.
They had seen civilizations disappear beneath the hands of stronger civilizations.
But this was different.
There was no army to measure.
No enemy to identify.
No clear attack to resist.
Only a single thread that had crossed the boundary.
And somehow, the universe itself seemed to be reacting to it.
William spent the next several days observing the changes.
He didn't rush toward the edge of the universe.
He didn't attempt to investigate the seven immediately.
He knew too little.
Instead, he watched the connections.
Some remained stable.
Others became weaker.
A few changed direction without any apparent cause.
And one had completely disappeared.
The disappearance bothered him more than anything else.
A connection could be cut.
It could be hidden.
It could be blocked.
But this one had simply ceased to be accessible.
William sat in meditation with his eyes closed.
Mira stood nearby.
"Anything?"
"No."
She sighed.
"You've been trying for hours."
"I know."
"Maybe you should stop."
William opened his eyes.
"I've already stopped."
Mira frowned.
"What?"
"I'm no longer trying to find the missing connection."
"Then what are you doing?"
"Trying to understand why I can't find it."
She looked at him for a moment.
"What's the difference?"
William smiled faintly.
"If I search for it, I'm assuming it's still there."
"And?"
"I'm no longer sure it is."
That distinction remained in his mind.
The missing connection might not have been hidden.
It might have been erased.
William had seen abilities capable of destroying things.
But this felt different.
There was no trace.
No residue.
No broken edge.
Nothing.
It was as if the connection had never existed.
William stood.
"We need to leave."
Mira looked surprised.
"Where?"
"Somewhere with fewer connections."
"Why?"
"Because I need to know whether the disturbance is following me."
They traveled far from the valley.
William deliberately chose a region he had never visited before.
There were few settlements.
Few cultivators.
Almost no major powers.
The surrounding area was quiet.
Perfect for an experiment.
William stopped in an empty plain.
Mira looked around.
"Now?"
"Now we wait."
"For how long?"
"Until something happens."
They waited.
Nothing.
Hours passed.
The stars moved across the sky.
Still nothing.
Mira eventually sat down.
"You really can be patient when you want to."
William smiled.
"I've had practice."
Then—
a star disappeared.
Mira looked upward.
"Did you see that?"
William nodded.
He hadn't moved.
The star hadn't exploded.
There was no flash.
No shockwave.
It simply vanished from his perception.
William's expression became serious.
"Again."
Another star disappeared.
Then another.
Mira stood.
"That's not normal."
"No."
William closed his eyes.
He reached toward the surrounding connections.
One by one, they became visible.
Then he noticed something.
They weren't disappearing randomly.
They were being disconnected from the surrounding network.
William's eyes widened.
"It's spreading."
He immediately returned to the valley.
This time, he didn't travel slowly.
The moment he arrived, he sensed the change.
Several connections had become unstable.
Adrian was already waiting.
"You felt it."
William nodded.
"What happened?"
"Three observation points stopped responding."
William's expression hardened.
"Any attacks?"
"No."
"Any destruction?"
"None."
"Then what happened to them?"
"We don't know."
William looked toward the sky.
"Show me."
Adrian led him toward the central chamber.
Several projections appeared.
Three regions were marked.
William examined them.
The first was silent.
The second was silent.
The third—
was completely disconnected.
William frowned.
"How long?"
"Several hours."
"Did anyone approach them?"
"No."
"Then they disappeared without an attack."
Adrian nodded.
William remained silent.
This was beginning to resemble what had happened at the edge of the universe.
The difference was that now the disturbance was moving inward.
Mira entered the chamber.
"William."
He looked at her.
"We received another message."
"From whom?"
"The same organization."
William took it.
The message was short.
Do not investigate the disappearing regions.
William read it twice.
Then smiled.
Adrian looked at him.
"Why are you smiling?"
"Because they are afraid."
"Of what?"
"Of what we'll find."
Mira frowned.
"Or they're trying to keep us away from something."
William folded the message.
"That's exactly what I mean."
He didn't obey the warning.
But he didn't immediately investigate either.
Instead, he sent someone else.
A small group of trusted cultivators traveled toward the first region.
William instructed them to observe from a distance.
No confrontation.
No attempt to enter.
No unnecessary movement.
They returned several hours later.
Their faces were pale.
William immediately asked:
"What did you see?"
One of them swallowed.
"Nothing."
William frowned.
"Explain."
"There was supposed to be a city there."
"Was it destroyed?"
"No."
"Then?"
The man hesitated.
"It was there."
"Then why did you say nothing?"
"Because we could see the city..."
He looked at William.
"...but we couldn't reach it."
William's eyes narrowed.
"What does that mean?"
"We traveled toward it."
"We kept traveling."
"But the distance never changed."
Silence.
William understood.
"The region has become disconnected from space."
The cultivator nodded.
"That's what it felt like."
William immediately left.
Mira followed.
Adrian attempted to stop him.
"Where are you going?"
"To see it myself."
"You don't know what it is."
"I know."
"Then why?"
William looked at him.
"Because if we keep sending people toward it, someone will eventually get trapped."
Adrian had no answer.
William continued.
"I'd rather be the one taking the risk."
The journey was short.
The region appeared normal from a distance.
A city.
Mountains.
Rivers.
Everything seemed intact.
But as William approached, something became wrong.
The air felt empty.
Not still.
Empty.
He extended his perception.
Nothing answered.
No connections.
No traces of movement.
No normal fluctuations.
Mira stood beside him.
"It's like the place doesn't exist."
William nodded.
"But we can see it."
He took a step forward.
Nothing happened.
Another.
Still nothing.
Then he crossed an invisible boundary.
The world changed.
Mira disappeared.
William immediately turned.
"Mira!"
No answer.
He tried to reach her through their connection.
Nothing.
William's expression changed.
He turned around.
The boundary was still behind him.
He could see Mira standing outside.
She could see him.
But neither could hear the other.
William raised his hand.
Mira did the same.
A transparent barrier separated them.
William immediately stepped backward.
The moment he crossed the boundary, the connection returned.
Mira rushed toward him.
"What happened?"
"Space."
"That wasn't normal space."
"No."
William looked at the region.
"It's separated."
"By what?"
William shook his head.
"I don't know."
He didn't enter again.
Instead, he examined the boundary.
His ability slowly revealed something.
The region wasn't sealed by an ordinary barrier.
It was disconnected from the surrounding universe through its relationships.
The city still existed.
The mountains still existed.
But their connection to everything outside had been interrupted.
William stared.
"This isn't destruction."
Mira looked at him.
"Then what is it?"
"Isolation."
"Who could do this?"
William didn't answer.
Because he already knew the answer he was afraid of.
Something from beyond the boundary.
That evening, another message arrived.
This time, it wasn't from the organization.
It came through the symbol.
William opened his hand.
The symbol trembled.
A single line appeared.
Then words formed within his perception.
Do not let them establish a connection.
William stared.
Mira asked:
"What does it say?"
William told her.
Adrian's expression changed.
"Who are 'they'?"
William looked toward the isolated region.
"I don't know."
"Then what connection are they trying to establish?"
William remained silent.
The answer came from the sky.
A faint distortion appeared above the distant region.
Something was approaching.
Not from another direction.
From above.
William looked up.
The distortion widened.
Mira stepped backward.
"What is that?"
William didn't answer.
He could feel it.
The same sensation from the Archive.
Outside.
The distortion remained open for only a few seconds.
Then something passed through.
Not a creature.
Not a body.
A fragment of darkness.
It descended slowly toward the isolated region.
The moment it touched the boundary—
the entire region trembled.
William's eyes widened.
The darkness spread across the boundary like ink through water.
And suddenly—
a connection appeared.
For the first time, William could sense something within the isolated region.
It wasn't a person.
It wasn't an organization.
It wasn't even a familiar form of life.
It was a connection without an origin he could understand.
William stared at it.
Mira whispered:
"William..."
"I know."
The connection began moving.
Not toward the city.
Not toward them.
Toward the rest of the universe.
William immediately understood.
"The region was only the beginning."
He extended his ability.
His connection reached the spreading disturbance.
The instant they touched—
William's mind was flooded with unfamiliar sensations.
Distance.
Silence.
A vast emptiness.
And something moving through it.
He immediately severed the connection.
William staggered backward.
Mira caught him.
"What did you see?"
William breathed heavily.
"I don't know."
"Tell me."
He looked toward the darkness.
"There are more."
"More what?"
William hesitated.
"More of them."
Mira's expression became tense.
"How many?"
William looked toward the sky.
"I couldn't count."
Far away, the ancient powers received the same information.
The first region had become isolated.
Then the second.
Then the third.
The elders gathered again.
This time, there was no debate.
One of them spoke immediately.
"The boundary has been breached."
Another shook his head.
"Only partially."
"For now."
Silence.
The oldest among them looked toward the projection of the universe.
"They're testing the world."
"Testing?"
"Yes."
"For what?"
The elder's expression darkened.
"Connections."
One of the younger elders frowned.
"Why would they care about connections?"
The oldest looked at him.
"Because that's how they enter."
The chamber became silent.
"They can't simply cross the boundary."
"They need a relationship with something inside."
"And the isolated regions?"
"Experiments."
"Then the first thread..."
"Was their first connection."
Another elder asked:
"Can they be stopped?"
The oldest remained silent.
Finally, he answered:
"Perhaps."
"What do we need?"
He looked toward the projection of the universe.
"Someone capable of severing their connections before they become stable."
Everyone understood.
Nobody said William's name.
They didn't need to.
William returned to the valley before dawn.
He didn't speak much.
He went directly to the chamber containing the Archive's entrance.
Mira followed.
"You think the Archive can help."
"Maybe."
He stood before the sealed entrance.
His hand moved toward the ground.
Then he stopped.
He remembered the figure inside.
The seven connections.
The warning.
The thing beyond them.
William lowered his hand.
"No."
Mira looked at him.
"What?"
"I won't enter yet."
"Why?"
"Because now I know what they're looking for."
"The Archive?"
"Not exactly."
William looked toward the sky.
"They're looking for connections."
Mira understood.
"And your ability..."
"Could give them one."
William remained silent.
Then he turned away.
"For now, we don't give them anything."
Mira nodded.
"But they're already inside."
William looked at her.
"Yes."
"Then what do we do?"
William's expression hardened.
"We find every place they've touched."
"And?"
"We isolate it before they establish themselves."
Mira smiled faintly.
"That sounds like a war."
William looked toward the horizon.
"It is."
At the edge of the universe, the original crack widened again.
This time, several threads crossed through it.
One.
Two.
Ten.
Then dozens.
They moved silently through the darkness.
Each searched for something.
A connection.
A relationship.
A point of entry.
And one of them finally found what it was looking for.
A distant connection inside the universe.
It touched it.
The connection trembled.
Then—
something on the other side noticed.
William suddenly opened his eyes.
His perception was flooded by a single sensation.
A connection had been touched.
Not by him.
Not by one of the known powers.
By something outside the world.
William stood.
"Found you."
The moment he said those words, the connection vanished.
But this time, William had memorized its direction.
He looked toward the stars.
A faint smile appeared.
For the first time since the beginning of the investigation, he had something the enemy didn't know he possessed.
A direction.
And William intended to follow it.