The world held its breath.
Not the metaphorical kind, not poetic exaggeration—the Realm itself froze.
Clouds halted mid-sway.Fragments of star-seeds stopped drifting.Even Jason's heartbeat hesitated for a fraction of a second, as if his body wasn't sure it was allowed to keep living after what he just saw.
Because the figure stepping out of the sky crack—the one emerging from the path Jason himself forced open—spoke with a voice that struck clean through his bones.
"Jason…"
That voice.
That impossible, familiar echo.
Jason's knees weakened.
"…Father?"
The figure stepped onto the floating platform with a soft sound—barely a tap—yet the entire sky rippled like a lake struck by a meteor. His presence wasn't heavy. It wasn't overwhelming. It was simply… wrong.
Like reality had never been designed to hold him.
Longwu Sword trembled violently in Jason's grip.
["Jason—listen to me.LISTEN.That is NOT your father."]
Jason whispered, "I know my own father's voice, Longwu."
["Yeah?? WELL MAYBE HE SHOULDN'T BE ALIVE—DOES THAT OCCUR TO YOU?!"]
Jason swallowed hard.
Because Longwu wasn't wrong.
His father wouldn't—shouldn't—be alive.
The last memory Jason had was a grave.A cold stone.A man he never knew, because he died before Jason was old enough to understand anything.
Yet here he was.
Breathing.Standing.Walking toward him.
Jason took an involuntary step back.
The robed figure—his examiner, judge, observer—moved fast, appearing in front of Jason like he was shielding him.
"Stay back."
The hooded judge's voice was firm, harsher than Jason had ever heard before.
The man—Jason's father?—stopped only a few steps away.His face was shrouded in shadow, as if the crack behind him still clung to him like a veil. The only clear thing was the faint outline of his jaw, the shape of his shoulders—
Exactly like Jason's.
"Move," the man said quietly, addressing the robed judge. "He is my son."
The judge didn't budge.
"You have no right to claim him."
A cold wind surged—one that didn't belong to the Origin Layer. It was thin, foreign, like the breath of something ancient crawling along the edges of existence.
Jason forced himself upright.
"Stop—both of you."
His voice shook. He didn't care.
He pointed at the stranger—at the man shaped like his father.
"You.If you're real…step into the light and show your face."
A silence settled.
Then the man obeyed.
He stepped forward—letting the fractured light fall across his features.
Jason's breath caught.
He looked… exactly like the portrait Jason's mother kept.
Same jawline.Same sharp eyes.Same expression always described as "stern but gentle."
Except—
The eyes.
The eyes were wrong.
Too hollow.Too old.Too… shattered.
Like someone had taken lifetimes and stuffed them into a single human shape.
Jason whispered, "…Father?"
The man smiled faintly.
Painfully.
"You've grown."
Jason's throat tightened. A part of him—the small, desperate part that still mourned a parent he never had—wanted to run to him.
But something else—instinct, smell, the pulse of his blood—screamed danger.
Longwu voiced it first.
["Jason, that thing isn't alive the way you think alive works."]
Jason swallowed. "What… is that supposed to mean?"
The robed judge answered instead.
"He is a temporal remnant."
Jason blinked.
"A what?"
"A man whose fate was erased—yet somehow still exists."
Jason felt cold.
The father-figure tilted his head.
"I was not erased."
The judge snapped sharply:
"LIE."
The sky trembled.
Jason stared between them.
"What the hell is going on?! Someone tell me clearly!"
The judge turned his hood toward Jason.
"Jason Wu.Your father did not die naturally."
Jason's blood froze.
"What do you mean?"
"He was severed."
Jason felt sick.
Longwu gasped aloud.
["Jason—your mother—she—"]
The judge cut him off.
"No.Not her."
Jason's heart hammered.
"Then who?!"
The judge pointed at the crack in the sky.
At the realm beyond.
"Him."
Jason stared.
"W-what—what do you mean HIM?! He killed himself? He—"
"Jason."
His father's voice cut through him like a blade.
Soft but absolute.
"I did what was necessary."
Jason's mind reeled.
"You… severed your own fate?"
His father nodded.
Jason staggered.
"Why?! WHY would you do that? Why leave mother alone? Why leave ME?!"
His father lifted his hand.
A soft white thread rose from his palm—thin, trembling, almost broken.
"I severed myself…to protect you."
Jason's breath hitched.
His father continued:
"You were born under a fate that should not exist. A remnant of a severance that predates you. To keep the watchers away… to divert their eyes… I had to remove myself from your thread."
The judge's voice cut in sharply.
"And yet you returned."
Jason's father exhaled.
"I returned… because Jason opened the path."
Longwu groaned.
["Of COURSE HE DID.Jason Wu: world champion of breaking sealed things that should NOT be opened."]
But Jason barely heard him.
He stared at the man—this echo of a father.
Then whispered:
"If you severed yourself to protect me… why are you here now? Why reveal yourself?"
His father lowered his gaze.
"Because your path…"He looked at the crack Jason created."…cannot be walked alone."
Jason's heart squeezed painfully.
But the judge stepped forward.
"Jason Wu.Do not listen.He is not whole."
Jason snapped, "I know that! But he's still—he's still my—"
The judge hissed:
"HE IS NOT YOUR FATHER."
Jason froze.
The judge pointed at the man.
"He is what remains.A shadow of a shadow.A memory with a shape."
Jason's father didn't deny it.
Instead, he looked directly at Jason.
"Even a shadow remembers why it was cast."
Jason's lips trembled.
He wanted to scream.He wanted to hug him.He wanted to demand answers.He wanted to run.
He wanted—everything—
and nothing.
Jason finally asked:
"…What do you want from me?"
His father's expression softened.
"Nothing."
Jason blinked.
"Then why—"
"I came to give you what I never could."
He stepped closer.
Jason didn't move.
His father lifted a hand—
And touched Jason's head.
Warm.
So warm.
Jason's eyes burned.
"I came…to give you a father's blessing."
Jason gasped.
Something flowed into him—
Not power.Not cultivation.Not fate.
But memory.
A fragment of a lullaby.A hand holding his as a newborn.A man whispering apologies to a sleeping child he would never see grow.
Jason staggered.
His father's voice cracked.
"I am proud of you, Jason.Even as a remnant…I am proud."
Jason choked.
"…Dad…"
Longwu fell completely silent.
Even the judge didn't interrupt.
But the moment didn't last.
A tremor tore through the crack—violent, angry, hungry.
Jason's father stiffened.
His outline flickered.
The judge's voice sharpened.
"Jason—step back! The Severed Realm is pulling him in!"
Jason panicked.
"What?! NO! He just got here—I haven't—WE haven't—!"
His father smiled sadly.
"That's why I said what I needed to say quickly."
The crack surged—tendrils like black roots pulling at his ankles.
His body warped like smoke under a gale.
Jason lunged forward—
"DAD!"
His father raised a hand, stopping him.
"Don't.If you touch me…you'll be dragged with me."
Jason froze, trembling.
"Then—then what do I do?! Tell me how to bring you back! Tell me how to save you!"
His father shook his head gently.
"Jason…I am already gone."
"NO!"
Jason's voice cracked, raw.
"You're right here! I can hear you I can TALK to you—"
His father's face softened.
"Because you made an impossible choice.You forged a path no one should walk."
The judge murmured:
"The Third Severance…"
Jason's father nodded at him.
"It opened a door even gods cannot touch."
He looked at Jason again.
"But doors… always take their toll."
Jason's breathing rattled.
His father extended his hand one last time—but stopped inches away from Jason's cheek.
"I love you, son."
Jason's heartbeat shattered.
The crack roared—and pulled the man in violently.
"DAD—!!"
Jason grabbed his wrist without thinking.
His father's eyes widened in horror.
"Jason—NO—!"
The force yanked them both.
Jason felt his body lifting—
The world pulling apart—gravity fracturing—his soul being dragged toward the crack—
Longwu screamed in his mind.
["JASON LET GO LET GO LET GO OR YOU'LL—"]
But Jason yelled back:
"I'M NOT LOSING HIM AGAIN!"
The judge struck the ground with his staff.
A barrier flared—cutting between Jason and the crack with explosive force.
Jason was thrown backward—skidding across the platform.
His father was yanked into the darkness.
His final words echoing:
"LIVE, JASON!LIVE FOR BOTH OF US—!"
Then—
Silence.
The crack sealed.
Like he was never there.
Jason lay on the ground, gasping, staring up at the empty sky.
Longwu whispered softly.
[…Jason…I'm sorry.]
Jason didn't respond.
The judge walked toward him.
"Jason Wu."
Jason's fist trembled.
His voice cracked, barely audible.
"…I lost him twice."
The judge knelt beside him.
"You gained something, too."
Jason looked up, empty.
"What could I have possibly—"
"You gained the truth."The judge touched Jason's chest."And a blessing.Both are heavier than grief."
Jason swallowed painfully.
"Then tell me…what am I supposed to do now?"
The judge stood.
His shadow stretched long across the cracked platform.
"You walk the path you created."
He pointed at Jason.
"And you bear the cost."
The sky above rumbled ominously—as if the Third Severance had awakened something watching from beyond.
Jason forced himself to stand.
Barely.
Longwu whispered:
["…Jason…something else came through the crack."]
Jason stiffened.
"What?"
Longwu didn't answer.
Because something spoke behind Jason.
A voice that wasn't human.Wasn't whole.Wasn't sane.
"…Wu bloodline detected."
Jason turned slowly.
A figure stood where the crack had been.
Not his father.
Not a remnant.
Not anything alive.
Something wearing a human shape—but made of fractured timelines and shredded fate.
It tilted its head at Jason.
"Termination protocol reactivated."
Jason's eyes widened.
"YOU—?!"
The judge's aura erupted.
"Jason—RUN!"
But the entity ignored the judge.
Its voice pierced Jason's mind directly.
"Jason Wu.You opened the forbidden path.Now—you inherit what hunts it."
Its body twisted.
Unfolded.
Transformed.
Jason felt the sky darken.
Longwu whispered, terrified:
["Jason…that's not a guardian.It's a butcher."]
Jason raised his sword.
His hands trembled.
"What… are you?"
The entity smiled—a broken, glitching smile.
"I am the one who killed the man you call 'Father.'"
Jason felt his world collapse.
And then—
It lunged.