The Null-Realm opened fully—quietly, without fanfare, without cosmic thunder.
Just a dim, ancient breath, like a forgotten grave finally exhaling after twenty-three ages.
Jason Wu stepped forward.
Lan Yuren panicked.
"Jason! Stop—your body might not survive whatever laws exist in there!"
Wei Qing shouted, "We go with you!"
But the First Defier lifted an arm.
"No. Only he will be allowed to enter.
The realm is reacting specifically to his bloodline signature."
Jason grinned weakly.
"Yay, lucky me."
Longwu added dryly,
["You win a prize: one existential crisis. Maybe two."]
The Administrator hovered closer, its tone unnaturally sharp.
"WARNING: ENTRY INTO NULL-REALM IS PROHIBITED.
TEMPORAL CONTAMIN—"
Jason waved a dismissive hand.
"I wasn't asking."
Silence.
Even the Administrator froze.
Jason stepped past it.
---
### INTO THE NULL-REALM
A wave of cold air hit him—ancient, stale, heavy.
The kind of cold that wasn't temperature, but memory.
He felt… watched.
Not by a monster.
By history.
The sky above was fractured—like cracked porcelain suspended in twilight.
The ground was a mosaic of broken landscapes:
fields merging into deserts, deserts into frozen lakes, lakes into burning soil—
as if the realm couldn't decide what it used to be.
Longwu whistled,
["Kid… this place isn't decayed.
It's *unfinished.*"]
Jason frowned.
"What does that mean?"
["Means someone tried to erase it but stopped halfway."]
"…Why?"
["That's what I want to know."]
Jason continued toward the throne chamber he'd glimpsed earlier.
It stood atop a hill of splintered stone—
a ruin with half its columns missing, the other half floating midair as if refusing to fall.
Inside, mist gathered around a single figure seated on a massive stone throne.
Their head was bowed.
Their body faintly flickering—
not ghostly, but unstable, like an image trying to exist.
And on their chest—
The **Wu Clan crest.**
Old. More ancient than Jason's own family.
More ancient than any history books described.
Jason swallowed.
"…Hello?"
The figure did not move.
Jason stepped closer.
"Are you… a Wu?"
Still nothing.
Longwu muttered,
["Careful. I'm sensing layers of locked memories around that thing.
It's not alive—
but it's not dead either."]
Jason whispered, "…Was he erased?"
["Probably. His existence shouldn't be possible.
Which is why we're here."]
Jason circled to the front of the throne.
Then froze.
The figure looked young.
Human.
Worn by battle, yes—scarred and thin—but unmistakably alive once.
But the face—
Jason's breath caught.
He looked like Jason.
Not identical.
But close enough to cause a shiver.
Jason whispered,
"…Who… were you?"
As if answering—
The figure's chest suddenly glowed.
A symbol appeared—
Not Administrator-coded.
Not Defier-coded.
Something else.
Jason leaned in.
The figure's eyes snapped open.
Jason stumbled back.
"OH—okay—hi—! You're awake—loudly awake!"
The figure didn't move.
His eyes, pale as winter frost, locked onto Jason.
Then a voice—
hoarse, fragmented, yet still possessing terrifying clarity—
echoed inside the chamber.
"…You… came back."
Jason froze.
"…Me?"
The figure blinked slowly.
"No.
Not you."
His cracking voice softened.
"But you carry… his blood."
Jason's mind raced.
"Whose?"
The figure lowered his gaze, staring into Jason as though searching through his veins.
"Wu Tianhai."
Jason's heart nearly stopped.
"My ancestor—?"
No.
Not ancestor.
The figure continued:
"…Your descendant."
Jason blinked.
"WHAT—wait. That's—
that makes zero sense—
he can't be—"
But the figure kept talking.
"He told me… before he fell…
that another Wu would eventually return."
Jason stepped closer, whispering:
"Who are you?"
The figure's aura flickered like failing lantern light.
"…The first Wu erased from history."
Jason's pulse spiked.
"You were erased by the Administrator?"
The figure coughed a faint dust-cloud of shimmering fragments.
"No.
Not the Administrator alone."
Jason stiffened.
"There was another?"
The figure nodded painfully.
"The one above the Administrators…
the one who created the protocol to erase entire worlds."
Longwu's voice went ice-cold.
["…Kid.
He's talking about the Prime Authority."]
Jason exhaled shakily.
Great.
Wonderful.
He'd found the cosmic great-grandparent of multiversal paperwork nightmares.
The figure strained to continue.
"I… guarded this realm.
Our home.
Our bloodline.
Until he came."
Jason whispered,
"Who?"
The figure's fingers twitched.
Jason saw, now, faint lines carved into the throne—
names.
Thousands of names.
All Wu.
All crossed out.
The figure whispered the answer like a curse:
"…The first murderer of the Wu Clan."
Jason's entire body tensed.
Longwu hissed,
["The Butcher."]
But the figure shook his head weakly.
"No…
not the Butcher.
The Butcher was only the knife.
He was the one who ordered it."
Jason's blood chilled.
"Who?"
The figure looked up.
For the first time, Jason saw fear—
not for himself,
but for **Jason**.
"…An entity who wore a mask of light."
His voice cracked.
"He called himself…"
A long silence.
Jason stepped closer.
"…called himself what?"
The figure spoke the name—
and the realm trembled.
"…**The Shaper of Fates.**"
Jason blinked.
"…Okay… that's new."
The figure slumped back, barely stable.
"There isn't… much time.
He will sense this realm awakening.
You must listen…"
Jason knelt, leaning in.
"What do I need to do?"
The figure reached for him, trembling.
"Remember… this is not the first time we've resisted.
You are not the first.
But you might be the last chance."
Jason whispered:
"Last chance… to do what?"
The figure's eyes glowed faintly—
and suddenly, Jason saw visions:
A world burning.
Millions of Wu falling.
A masked entity rewriting fate lines like threads.
Jason—another Jason—standing alone against cosmic shadows.
A sword, broken.
A child crying.
A woman calling his name.
A timeline collapsing.
The visions vanished.
Jason gasped, clutching his head.
"What—what was that?!"
The figure's voice softened.
"…Your future…
if you fail."
Jason's breath shook.
So did his hands.
The figure's final words came out like a dying ember:
"Find… the Core Memory.
The truth they buried.
The first lie of the universe."
Jason grabbed his wrist.
"Where is it?!"
The figure's eyes dimmed.
A whisper:
"…Inside me."
His body dissolved—
slowly, like sand drifting away.
Jason yelled,
"WAIT—don't erase—DON'T—!"
But it was too late.
The first Wu erased from history…
…disappeared.
Leaving only a single glowing shard on the throne.
Jason reached out and caught it.
It pulsed once.
Then again.
Then—
**The entire Null-Realm screamed.**
Longwu shouted in Jason's mind:
["KID—RUN!
THE REALM IS COLLAPSING—!"]
Jason spun—
too late.
The Administrator ripped the entrance open.
The Defier reached in.
Lan Yuren shouted his name.
Wei Qing reached out her hand.
Jason leaped for the exit—
—
—
—
and the Null-Realm **exploded** behind him.
---------------------------