Reality cracked like thin ice under a hammer.
Jason Wu could barely stay on his feet as the chamber buckled around him—pillars warping, constellations above twisting into spirals, the stardust floor trembling like it was about to collapse into a cosmic void.
And in the middle of this chaos…
The masked figure stood perfectly still.
Unmoved.Unbothered.As if the destruction around him was nothing more than a breeze.
His aura was not pressure—it was an imposition.A declaration of existence so overwhelming that Jason felt his ribcage tighten, squeezing out breath he didn't have to spare.
Longwu Sword vibrated like it was facing an ancient predator.["…Jason. Do. Not. Move."]
Jason swallowed—slowly, painfully. "That's… already advice I'm following."
The masked intruder turned his head slightly, analyzing Jason with a precise, methodical tilt—like a scholar examining a rare insect pinned under glass.
His voice came out low and metallic, resonating with an eerie calm:
"Inheritor identified.Fate Severance Gauntlet: unstable assimilation."
Jason instinctively clutched his left arm where the gauntlet clung to him, its runes burning faintly under his skin.
The figure continued:
"Stage One Awakening: unauthorized.Threat level: unacceptable."
Jason's jaw clenched. "Unauthorized? It literally chose me!"
Longwu hissed.["Boy—stop arguing with the extradimensional killing machine."]
The masked figure lifted one hand.
Nothing dramatic.Just a simple, almost casual gesture.
But the chamber reacted violently.
The constellations above shattered, raining starlight like broken glass. Gravity twisted sideways. The air shuddered so hard it felt like needles against Jason's skin.
Then the figure spoke the words that froze Jason's blood:
"Protocol initiated.—Termination Order."
Jason didn't understand cosmic languages, but the intent washed over him clearly:
Kill Jason Wu.Here.Now.Without hesitation.Without mercy.
The figure extended his palm toward Jason.
A sphere of compressed space-time swirled into existence—dark, dense, pulsing with enough power to erase entire mountains.
Longwu screamed in Jason's mind:["MOVE!"]
Jason dove aside just as the attack fired.
SSSHRRAAAK—!!
The beam tore through the chamber, carving a hole through reality itself. Anything it touched vanished—not destroyed, not exploded, simply erased.
Jason slammed onto the stardust floor, tumbling across glowing symbols.
Longwu continued barking:["Jason, LISTEN! That attack wasn't meant to wound you—that was a direct kill strike! No warning, no testing, no hesitation! This thing isn't here to capture you—it's here to DELETE you!"]
Jason forced himself up, gasping. "No kidding!"
Another distortion blast formed in the masked figure's palm.
Jason rolled to the side as the beam fired again—SHUNK!It sliced through a pillar, and the entire column dissolved like sand poured into black water.
The figure took one step forward, his presence shaking the chamber.
Jason felt his heartbeat accelerate.
He wasn't strong enough to fight this.He wasn't even qualified to be killed by this.
He was prey.
Longwu's voice cut sharply:["Jason, run! RUN! Use the chamber's residual distortions! They're unstable—maybe they'll spit you out instead of shredding you!"]
Jason sprinted for the nearest distortion—The masked figure moved.
Not fast—Not teleportation—But something worse.
One moment he stood still.The next, he was simply there, directly in Jason's path, as if reality reluctantly allowed him to exist in any spot he desired.
Jason's eyes widened. "You've got to be kidding me."
The intruder raised a finger.
Jason barely crossed his arms in front of him when a pulse of raw force blasted him backward.
BOOOM!
He flew through the air, crashing across the ground, rolling until he slammed into the base of a fractured pillar. His ribs screamed. His vision shook.
But the masked figure didn't press.
He simply approached, step by step—slow, steady, inevitable.
Longwu raged.["Jason! On your left! The gauntlet—CHECK THE GAUNTLET!"]
Jason looked down.
The Fate Severance Gauntlet was glowing erratically—symbols flickering, bending, rearranging. The more distressed Jason became, the more violently the gauntlet pulsed, as if trying to sync with his fear.
Jason shouted, "What's it doing?!"
["IT'S RESPONDING TO THREATS! OR PANIC! OR BOTH! I DON'T KNOW! I'VE NEVER MET A GAUNTLET THAT'S HALF-ALIVE AND FULLY INSANE!"]
The gauntlet suddenly yanked Jason's arm upward.
"WH—HEY!"
A burst of warped energy shot out of his palm—A wave of fractured starlight exploding toward the masked intruder.
But the intruder didn't dodge.
He lifted one hand—
And the attack split apart smoothly, dissolving into sparks that drifted like harmless fireflies.
Jason's pupils shrank.
"That was… completely useless."
Longwu agreed grimly.["He dismantled your attack like ripping wet paper."]
The masked figure lowered his hand and spoke again:
"Combat capability: insufficient.Conclusion: elimination confirmed."
Jason grit his teeth. "I'm getting real tired of being evaluated like a broken spirit chicken!"
The masked figure didn't react.
He simply raised both hands this time.
Reality around him twisted, forming nine spiraling rings of inverted gravity—each one a miniature black vortex ready to collapse.
Longwu's panic spiked.["BOY. THAT. WILL. KILL. YOU."]
Jason didn't need the warning.
He could FEEL it.
Those nine rings weren't attacks.They were execution commands.
Jason forced his legs to move—But the masked figure clenched his fists—
And the nine rings collapsed inward.
Straight toward Jason.
Jason braced—
Longwu shouted—["LEFT! NOW!"]
Jason dove—
But the gauntlet reacted again.
Symbols flared violently—And the gauntlet dragged him sideways, not by choice but by force.
Jason spun, thrown by his own arm, smashing onto the ground as the nine rings struck—
WHOOOOOOM—!!!!!
The explosion wasn't sound.It was vacuum.
The air vanished.Everything dimmed.Jason's senses blackened for a moment.
He coughed violently when sensation returned, crawling desperately away from the shockwave.
The masked figure stepped through the dust cloud like a god of inevitability.
Longwu snarled:["Jason—take the gauntlet's guidance! It's trying to MOVE you! Let it!"]
Jason didn't want to trust a half-bound artifact that might tear his arm off—But he didn't have a choice.
He inhaled weakly. "Alright, gauntlet… do something smart."
The gauntlet pulsed.
And yanked him upward—Straight into a rising time distortion that had opened in the ceiling of the chamber.
Jason yelped, flailing. "NOT THAT SMART—!!"
He was sucked into the vortex—
And the masked intruder looked up sharply.
For the first time, his voice held a hint of urgency.
"Unauthorized dimensional exit detected.Continue pursuit."
His entire form broke down into particles—then streaked upward like a beam of dark lightning after Jason.
The chamber collapsed behind them, shredded into nothing.
Jason tumbled through a spinning tunnel of distorted time—colors he didn't know existed, fragments of past and future flashing in and out of view.
His stomach lurched. His mind spun.He tasted iron and starlight.He couldn't breathe.Couldn't think.
The gauntlet kept dragging him, pulling him deeper into the distortion as if trying to outrun something.
Longwu screamed in his mind:["Jason—HE'S FOLLOWING YOU!"]
Jason forced his neck to turn—Behind him, a streak of black light tore through the distortion, gaining speed, closing the distance.
The masked figure's voice echoed coldly:
"Termination must be completed."
Jason's heart nearly stopped.
He had never been so close to death in his life.Not during sect training.Not during ambushes.Not during illusions.
This was real death.Immediate.Absolute.
He tried to move—But gravity twisted—His body spun helplessly—
And the gauntlet burned on his arm like a star going nova.
Jason screamed—
The distortion ripped open—
And he fell.
Straight toward—
A forest?A cliff?A ravine?He couldn't tell.
Air rushed past him. Wind howled. He flailed helplessly in freefall.
Longwu yelled:["BRACE—BRACE—BRACE—!!"]
Jason hit something.
The world went black.
He didn't know how long he was unconscious. Minutes? Hours?
When he finally opened his eyes, his entire body ached. He lay on cracked earth, surrounded by broken trees and shattered stone.
The sky above him was unfamiliar—a swirling dusk-purple sky with streaks of drifting silver clouds.
Jason groaned. "Where… am I?"
But Longwu was silent.
Too silent.
Jason tried to sit up—
A shadow fell over him.
His blood froze.
The masked figure was descending from the sky, slow and deliberate—untouched, unscratched, aura heavier than death itself.
Jason's voice cracked.
"…You… followed me?"
The masked figure's reply was cold as a tomb.
"Termination is not location-dependent."
He raised his hand—
Condensing another killing sphere of compressed space-time.
Jason felt the world spin.
His body wouldn't move.His muscles wouldn't respond.He was still half-broken from the fall.
The masked figure spoke one last time:
"Jason Wu.This existence is concluded."
The sphere primed—
A flash ignited—
Jason made a weak attempt to lift Longwu—
And—
The world cracked again.
A hand—A real hand—grabbed Jason's collar from behind and yanked him out of the blast radius.
The killing sphere detonated—
BAAAAAANG—!!!!
Dust and rock erupted.
Jason coughed violently.
He looked up at the silhouette who saved him.
And froze in disbelief.
They stood tall, cloaked in golden spiritual light, aura fierce enough to make the masked figure pause.
Jason's eyes widened.
"You—?!"
The figure turned their head lightly.
And spoke:
"Stay down, Jason.This opponent… is mine."