The sky does not crack.
It empties.
Stars dim. Sound dissolves. Even concepts hesitate.
Aionex manifests not as a body, but as a perfect absence shaped like infinity.
Every god in the Empire freezes.
Kael does not.
So you finally step forward, Kael says calmly.
Aionex answers without vibration:
You approach the threshold of PreGenesis.
This is not an attack.
This is evaluation.
Aionex extends a fragment of pure precreation a force that erases not existence…
But the idea of existence.
It moves toward the Empire.
Kael raises one hand.
He does not block it.
He steps into it.
For a moment
Kael Veyris disappears.
At the same time
Caelum senses it.
Fearless.
Instinctive.
He reaches upward.
And without meaning to
He tears open a new layer of reality.
Not multiversal.
Not Outer.
Something else.
A realm where:
Laws form themselves
Energy has intention
Creation and erasure coexist naturally
Lyra gasps.
Astraeia's eyes widen slightly.
He just accessed a ProtoRealm
The tear stabilizes on its own.
Caelum did not destroy anything.
He expanded reality.
Inside Aionex's pre-creation field, Kael does not resist.
He adapts.
He sheds structure. Sheds authority. Sheds identity.
Until only his core soul remains.
And then
He does something unprecedented.
He integrates PreGenesis energy instead of rejecting it.
The void trembles.
Aionex pauses for the first time.
Kael steps back into existence.
Different.
Calmer.
Vaster.
New ability awakened:
PreGenesis Sovereignty
Kael can now operate in the state before creation itself.
He looks at Aionex evenly.
You are not above me.
You are a layer I had not walked yet.
Aionex does not retaliate.
It studies him.
Then
It withdraws.
Not defeated.
But acknowledged.
Caelum stands beside the newly formed ProtoRealm.
Kael stands above structured reality.
Aionex watches from beyond PreGenesis.
Three pillars now exist:
The Origin (Aionex)
The Progenitor (Kael)
The Evolution (Caelum)
Kael looks at his son.
You moved without permission.
Caelum smiles slightly.
So did you.
Silence.
Then Kael laughs quietly.
The Empire is no longer just strong.
It is ascending.
And this time
Even the PreGenesis layer is not unreachable.