Jason Wu walked through the forest without knowing how long he'd been moving.
His feet shifted automatically.
His mind didn't.
Branches scraped his shoulders. Leaves brushed his cheek. The air smelled like cold moss and iron. But none of it fully registered.
All he saw—over and over—was the moment The Butcher dissolved.
The blue thread.
The fading voice.
"Don't become like me."
Jason clenched his jaw.
He didn't even realize he'd stopped walking until the Longwu Sword nudged his mind.
*["Boy."]*
A pause.
*["Sit down before you walk into a tree."]*
Jason blinked.
He *had* been about two steps away from smacking his head on a trunk.
He lowered himself onto a rock. The forest around him was dim, lit only by soft patches of borrowed sunlight breaking through the canopy.
For a long time, neither he nor Longwu spoke.
Then—
*["I know what you're thinking."]*
Jason shook his head. "No, you don't."
*["Boy."]* Longwu sounded offended. *"I've followed your bloodline for three generations. I absolutely know when a Wu boy is mentally spiraling like a confused duckling."]*
Jason pinched the bridge of his nose.
"…That's not helpful."
*["I am being emotionally supportive."]*
Pause.
*["In my own majestic way."]*
Jason let out a shaky breath—half frustration, half… something softer.
But the silence after that wasn't peaceful.
Because now the memories rushed back—clearer, stronger.
His father's voice as described by The Butcher.
'If the boy lives, that is enough.'
Jason closed his eyes.
The ache in his chest returned with full force.
"When he died," Jason whispered, "I wasn't strong enough to stop it. I wasn't strong enough to even understand it."
Longwu hummed.
*["You were a child."]*
"That's not an excuse."
*["It is."]*
A pause.
*["…but I know you won't accept it."]*
Jason exhaled shakily.
A gust of wind blew past, scattering leaves around him. The forest felt like it was listening—quiet, heavy, patient.
Jason finally spoke.
"The Butcher… he wasn't supposed to remember."
His fingers curled into fists.
"Which means he died for telling me the truth."
Longwu's voice dimmed.
*["…Yes."]*
Jason lifted his head.
"So now I need to figure out three things."
Longwu shimmered faintly.
*["Ah. Planning mode. Good. Hit me."]*
Jason raised one finger.
"First: Who corrupted the Termination Order?"
A second finger.
"Second: Why target my father… and now me?"
A third finger.
"And third…"
He looked upward, toward the sky he couldn't see past the forest.
"…how do I reach the level of those above the Observers?"
Longwu whistled in his mind.
*["Boy, you just jumped past seventeen stages of cultivation and a few metaphysical walls."]*
Jason muttered, "We don't have time to go slow."
Longwu snorted.
*["You are literally at the beginning of your cultivation journey."]*
*["You have zero business worrying about cosmic puppet masters."]*
A pause.
*["…which means of course you will."]*
Jason stood again.
His legs were steadier now.
His mind clearer.
His heart still hurt—but it hurt in a shape he understood.
Resolve.
*["So, what's next?"]* Longwu asked.
Jason looked through the trees.
"The Butcher said the Order for me was already issued. That means someone—something—will be coming."
*["Correct."]*
"So I can't stay still."
*["Correct."]*
"And I can't run."
Longwu paused.
*["…Correct, but I dislike where this is going."]*
Jason turned—sharply—toward the faint trace of distortion in the air. A ripple that shouldn't have existed. A shimmer too subtle for normal senses.
But Jason felt it now.
Someone—or something—was watching.
He pointed Longwu directly at the distortion.
"I know you're there."
Silence.
Then the shimmer… froze.
Jason's pulse slowed.
His voice was cold.
"You can come out on your own," he said, "or I'll carve your hiding place apart."
Longwu whispered approvingly.
*["Now that's the Wu bloodline I know."]*
The air twisted—slowly, reluctantly—and a figure stepped out from the distortion.
A hooded silhouette. Pale gray.
Neither fully solid nor fully spiritual.
A… projection.
No face.
No eyes.
Just a mask-like surface of swirling light.
Jason tensed instantly.
Longwu hissed.
*["Jason—careful. That is not an Observer. Nor an Administrator. Nor anything bound by this realm's rules."]*
Jason readied his stance.
The figure spoke—its voice layered, as if a thousand tones overlapped at once.
**"You are not meant to have survived."**
Jason's eyes narrowed. "Too bad."
**"We issued Termination. Twice."**
Jason's grip tightened. "Then try a third time."
The figure tilted its head.
**"Your existence destabilizes the design."**
"What design?"
**"Irrelevant."**
A pause.
**"You must be erased."**
Jason's heart didn't race.
It froze.
But not in fear—
In rage.
"That's what you said about my father."
The figure didn't blink.
**"His elimination was necessary."**
Jason's voice cracked with fury. "He was framed."
The figure didn't deny it.
**"Correct."**
Jason's blood went cold.
So they *admitted* it.
"The Butcher said you fed false data into the Protocol."
**"Incorrect."**
Another pause.
**"We allowed false data to be processed."**
Jason's eyes widened.
"…You let it happen?"
**"Correct."**
"Why?"
The figure wasn't built to hesitate.
But it did.
A faint crack appeared in its composure—tiny, but real.
**"Because your father… interfered."**
Jason's heart dropped.
"Interfered with what?"
The figure leaned forward—just a fraction.
**"With you."**
Jason blinked.
"What does that mean?"
Another pause.
And then—
**"Your birth was a mistake."**
Jason's breath caught.
Something in his chest *snapped*.
Longwu roared in his mind.
*["JASON—DON'T LET THAT GET TO YOU—"]*
But it was too late.
Jason stepped forward, Longwu Sword raised, voice shaking with fury he had never felt before.
"What. Did you. Say?"
The projection flickered.
**"You were never meant to exist. Your father violated the intended sequence."**
Jason wanted to strike, but something in the figure's next words froze him.
**"Your father refused to let the Design discard you."**
Jason's breath hitched.
The figure continued.
**"He chose defiance.
He chose anomaly.
He chose… you."**
Jason trembled.
The figure straightened, voice now flat again.
**"That is why he had to be removed."**
Jason didn't shout.
He didn't curse.
He didn't scream.
He whispered.
"…I'm going to kill every single one of you."
Longwu pulsed.
*["Jason—don't—"]*
But Jason wasn't listening.
The figure flickered.
**"You cannot kill what does not truly exist."**
Jason took another step.
"You exist enough to kill my father."
Silence.
Then the figure said:
**"Your Termination window begins now."**
Longwu screamed in warning.
The forest ripped open behind the projection—
Space tearing like fabric.
Dark silhouettes stepped through the tear.
Not puppets.
Not constructs.
Not humans.
Something else.
Something entirely… wrong.
The projection vanished as the air snapped shut.
Jason exhaled shakily, raising Longwu.
"Fine," he muttered.
He lowered his stance.
Centered his breath.
And glared at the first creature stepping through the crack.
"…come at me."
The sky darkened.
The air tightened.
And Jason Wu's Termination truly began.