Silence.
Not the silence of peace…
But the silence of something waiting.
Akimo stood alone in the shattered ruins of what was once reality. The sky above him no longer existed. It had been replaced by a moving darkness… like something alive, breathing slowly across the void.
The ground beneath his feet pulsed faintly, as if the world itself had a heartbeat—and it was dying.
"Where… am I?"
His voice echoed.
But the echo didn't return.
Instead, something answered.
"You are where existence ends."
Akimo's body froze.
That voice… it didn't come from any direction. It came from everywhere. Inside his head. Inside his bones.
A pressure formed around him.
Heavy.
Unbearable.
His knees almost collapsed, but he forced himself to stand.
"I won't kneel…"
His voice trembled—but his eyes didn't.
"I've lost everything already."
The darkness above him shifted.
Then—
It opened.
Not like a sky breaking.
Not like a portal forming.
But like an eye… opening for the first time.
A colossal, endless eye stared down at him.
Cold.
Ancient.
Hungry.
Akimo couldn't breathe.
His heart pounded violently as memories flooded his mind—his past, his pain, his losses… everything began replaying at once.
His childhood.
His friends.
The moment the world collapsed.
The screams.
The fire.
The emptiness.
"STOP!!"
He shouted.
But the memories didn't stop.
They twisted.
Changed.
Corrupted.
He saw things that never happened.
He saw himself killing.
Destroying.
Smiling.
"No… that's not me…"
"It is you."
The voice returned.
Calm.
Unquestionable.
"You are not a survivor, Akimo."
"You are the anomaly."
The world cracked.
Literally.
Reality around him fractured like glass, revealing layers beneath layers—endless dimensions overlapping each other, all collapsing into one singular point.
And that point… was him.
Akimo staggered back.
"What… are you saying…?"
The eye narrowed.
"You were not meant to exist."
Silence.
A deeper silence than before.
"When the Void consumed your world… everything was erased."
"Every life."
"Every timeline."
"Every possibility."
Akimo's breath hitched.
"…Then how am I alive?"
The eye's gaze intensified.
"Because something chose you."
A sharp pain exploded in Akimo's chest.
He dropped to his knees, clutching his heart as a burning sensation spread across his body.
It felt like something inside him… was awakening.
"AAAHHHHH—!!!"
His scream tore through the void.
Cracks of blue and crimson energy burst from his skin, wrapping around him like chains.
His vision blurred.
And then—
He saw it.
A memory.
Not his own.
A vast, endless darkness.
And within it…
Something even darker.
A presence so immense that even the void seemed small in comparison.
"The Origin."
Akimo whispered the word unconsciously.
The memory continued.
That entity—The Origin—reached into nothingness…
…and created something.
A spark.
A fragment.
A mistake.
Akimo's eyes widened.
"…Me?"
The memory shattered.
He returned to reality—if this could even be called reality anymore.
His body was shaking violently now.
Energy surged uncontrollably around him.
"You are not human."
The voice spoke again.
"You are a fragment of something that should never have been divided."
Akimo clenched his fists.
"No…"
He forced himself to stand.
Even as his body screamed in pain.
Even as the void tried to crush him.
"I don't care what I am."
His voice grew stronger.
Steadier.
"I lived as a human."
"I suffered as a human."
"I lost everything as a human."
His eyes burned with determination.
"So I'll fight as one."
The void trembled.
For the first time…
The eye showed something.
Not anger.
Not curiosity.
Interest.
"Fascinating…"
The pressure intensified.
Stronger.
Heavier.
As if the entire existence was now focused on crushing him.
Akimo dropped to one knee again.
His body began to crack—literally.
Small fractures appeared across his skin, glowing with that same blue-crimson energy.
But he didn't scream.
He smiled.
A broken.
Defiant.
Unyielding smile.
"If I'm a mistake…"
He looked up directly into the eye.
"Then I'll become the worst mistake you've ever made."
BOOM.
Something inside him exploded.
Not physically.
But spiritually.
Existentially.
The chains of energy around him shattered.
A massive surge of power erupted outward, pushing back the void itself.
For the first time…
The darkness moved away from him.
Akimo stood at the center of it all.
His eyes glowing.
His presence… different.
Not human.
Not void.
Something in between.
"Power recognized."
"New classification detected."
A system-like voice echoed.
But it wasn't mechanical.
It felt ancient.
Alive.
"Designation: Forbidden Existence."
Akimo froze.
"…Forbidden…?"
"Ability unlocked: Void Assimilation."
"Ability unlocked: Reality Fracture."
"Hidden Protocol Activated…"
The world glitched.
Literally.
Like broken code.
"WARNING."
"THE ENTITY HAS BEEN NOTICED."
Akimo's expression changed.
"…What entity?"
Silence.
Then—
Something far worse appeared.
Behind the eye.
Behind the void.
Behind existence itself.
A shadow.
No…
Not a shadow.
An absence.
Something that even darkness feared.
The eye trembled.
For the first time.
"Impossible…"
Akimo felt it.
That presence.
And unlike before…
This time…
It wasn't observing.
It was coming.
Step.
Reality broke with each movement it made.
Step.
Time stopped functioning.
Step.
Akimo's instincts screamed.
Not fear.
Not danger.
Annihilation.
"RUN."
For the first time—
The voice commanded him.
But Akimo didn't move.
Instead…
He stared directly at it.
"…No."
The presence paused.
A moment of stillness.
Then—
It focused on him.
And in that instant…
Akimo understood.
This thing…
Was hunting him.
Not because he was weak.
Not because he was strong.
But because…
He existed.
"Target confirmed."
The voice wasn't from the eye.
It was from that thing.
Akimo's heart stopped for a second.
Then—
He smiled again.
"…Good."
Energy surged violently around him.
His newly awakened power reacted instinctively.
If something wanted to erase him…
Then he would do the same.
"Let's see…"
He raised his hand slowly.
The void around it began to distort.
Collapse.
Rewrite itself.
"…who erases who."
The presence moved.
And the world…
Ended again.