Jason Wu didn't feel himself fall.
He didn't feel ground, wind, or impact.
He felt *transition*—as if reality itself held its breath while deciding whether to let him in or spit him out.
When sensation finally returned, it was a soft one.
A field.
Warm wind.
Golden grass stretching endlessly like a sunlit ocean.
Jason blinked. "Huh… this is weirdly peaceful."
Longwu hummed cautiously.
*["Boy… peaceful places in ancient realms are usually the most lethal."]*
Jason muttered, "Why do you always say things AFTER I start relaxing?"
Before Longwu could retort, the sky flickered.
Clouds twisted into symbols.
Symbols sharpened into runes.
Runes rearranged into—
A colossal EYE.
Blue.
Cold.
Ancient.
Looking straight at him.
Jason flinched. "Okay—nope, not peaceful anymore."
The eye blinked once.
Then a voice fell from the sky, neither loud nor soft—but inevitable.
**"Child of the Wu bloodline… step forward."**
Jason looked around. "Can we not do ominous god-speeches? I just woke up."
But his feet moved anyway.
The golden field shifted, bending under his steps as if acknowledging him. The horizon shimmered until a figure slowly emerged—female, tall, elegant, and terrifyingly composed.
His grandmother.
Or rather, the *projection* of her.
She didn't speak yet.
She simply *looked* at him.
And instantly, Jason felt stripped to his bones—every memory, every emotion, every insecurity laid bare.
Longwu whispered, uncharacteristically soft.
*["Brace yourself… she sees through everything."]*
Jason straightened his posture.
His grandmother finally spoke.
**"You carry his face."**
Jason stiffened. "My father's?"
Her gaze sharpened.
**"No. The other one."**
Jason felt cold.
"The other…?"
She didn't answer.
Instead, she raised her hand.
The field dissolved.
The golden light collapsed inward, folding like an origami world until Jason stood in total darkness.
Her voice echoed everywhere—
**"Trial of the Ancient Bloodline, Phase One."**
A pulse of light struck Jason's chest like a hammer.
He gasped and dropped to one knee as something crashed into him—no, *into his mind*.
A memory.
Not his.
A battlefield under a red sky.
A woman—her, younger—slicing through a legion of silver constructs.
A symbol burning on her forehead.
A voice screaming, "ERASE HER!"
A thousand beams firing at once—
Jason tore himself free, panting, sweat pouring down his face.
"What… was that?"
His grandmother stood before him, expression unreadable.
**"Phase One: Memory Inheritance. You will experience fragments of my past. Survive them."**
Jason wiped his forehead. "Okay… that would've been nice to know BEFORE you threw a war at my head!"
She ignored him.
**"Phase Two: Body Resonance."**
The darkness rippled.
A circle of ancient sigils spun around him—dense, heavy, vibrating with fate-crushing energy.
Longwu yelped.
*["BOY—BRACE!"]*
Jason yelled, "For wha—"
The sigils slammed into him.
Jason screamed as his blood boiled, his bones vibrated, and his meridians twisted like liquefied lightning. His vision split; his consciousness flickered. It felt like being rewritten from the inside out.
His grandmother's voice cut through the agony—
**"Your blood carries potential, but it is stagnant. It remembers neither my strength nor my rebellion."**
Jason gasped, "Maybe—because—I never met—you?!"
**"Excuses."**
The sigils tightened.
Jason felt his heart stutter.
His grandmother's tone remained completely calm.
**"Strength is inherited, but greatness is earned. If you cannot endure my echo, you cannot endure your future."**
Jason spat blood.
Longwu shouted:
*["Boy, if you pass out now, you DIE!"]*
Jason clenched his teeth, forcing his trembling arms to steady.
"You think… I'll break?!" he shouted at the darkness.
"I've already survived assassins, Observers, and a Butcher! I've survived a system that wants me erased, timelines trying to kill me, and you—YES YOU—throwing me into a cosmic blender!"
He pushed himself up.
Blood crackled along his arms, glowing faintly red.
"So if this is my bloodline—THEN LET IT BURN!"
The sigils exploded outward.
The darkness cracked like shattered glass, reforming into another landscape—
A cliff overlooking a stormy, spiraling void.
Jason staggered but didn't fall.
His grandmother now stood at the cliff's edge, her hair flowing unnaturally in the wind.
She turned her head slightly.
**"Phase Three."**
Jason gulped. "There's a phase three…?"
A faint smile touched her lips.
**"This is the real trial."**
Lightning tore across the sky.
Wind roared.
Something massive moved in the void below—like a titan waking from centuries of sleep.
Jason stepped closer. "What IS that?!"
She didn't answer.
Instead, she extended her hand toward the abyss.
A pulse echoed.
A second figure rose from the void—
shadowy, shifting, with Jason's height, Jason's posture…
Jason's face.
Jason's breath froze.
"…Grandma… I already fought an evil version of myself last week. I'm not doing another—"
**"This is no copy."**
Her eyes glowed.
**"This is the version of you that will exist… if you fail."**
Jason stared.
The shadow Jason stepped forward—
eyes hollow
aura twisted
presence monstrous.
Longwu whispered:
*["…Boy… that thing is YOU without free will."]*
*["A Jason built by the Termination Order."]*
Jason's heart hammered.
His grandmother lifted her chin.
**"Phase Three: Kill the version of yourself they want you to become."**
Jason's breath shook.
His grandmother's voice hardened—
**"Or he will replace you."**
The shadow Jason raised a hand.
The void screamed.
Jason screamed back, drawing Longwu—
"FINE! LET'S DO THIS!"
His grandmother stepped back, her expression unreadable.
"You have one chance."
Jason charged.
The shadow Jason mirrored him perfectly—every movement synchronized, every swing identical, every breath matched like an echo.
Longwu cried out:
*["Boy—he's reading your thought patterns!"]*
Jason snarled, "Then I'll stop thinking!"
He swung wildly.
Shadow Jason matched him.
Jason tried a feint.
Shadow did the same.
Jason cursed. "THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!"
His grandmother's voice echoed coldly:
**"Then do the impossible."**
Jason's eyes widened—
And for the first time, he stopped trying to *fight* like himself.
He fought like—
Lan Yuren—
Unique footwork.
Wei Qing—
Precision spear-angle incorporated into a sword thrust.
Lily—
Flexible, fluid repositioning.
His father—
A single strike filled with impossible intent.
The shadow hesitated—
just one heartbeat.
Jason seized it.
He slammed Longwu into the shadow's chest.
The void erupted.
The shadow cracked.
Shattered.
Dissolved into nothing.
Jason collapsed to one knee, gasping for air.
His grandmother approached slowly.
For the first time—her expression softened.
**"…You carry more than my blood."**
Jason managed a tired grin. "Yeah. I carry a whole bunch of people yelling at me in my head."
A soft breath—almost a laugh—escaped her.
Then the warmth vanished, replaced by solemn gravity.
**"You passed."**
Jason sagged in relief.
But she wasn't finished.
Her eyes sharpened with a terrifying seriousness.
**"Now… for the truth."**
Jason straightened instinctively.
His grandmother spoke—
**"Jason Wu… you are not being hunted because of who you are."**
Jason held his breath.
Her voice thundered—
**"You are being hunted because of what you will become."**
Jason's heart stopped.
And then—
**"Because YOU… are the next Defier."**
Darkness swallowed the golden sky.
Jason froze.
Longwu whispered:
*["…Boy… this is where everything changes."]*