The dust settled in the sanctum.
Shattered ink pooled at Yuto's feet, the remnants of the Mirror Curator still twitching as code unraveled and scattered into data motes. The library groaned in response, ancient bindings flickering with unstable runes.
[Warning: Layer Stability Dropping – Abyssal Spiral Corruption at 12%]
[Presence of Void Sovereign Accelerating Collapse]
"So… I break the world just by existing now?" Yuto muttered.
[Technically, yes,] Nyx replied.
[Void-based lifeforms erode normal system logic. You are considered an active anomaly. Congratulations.]
"Gee, thanks."
He moved deeper into the vaults.
The lights dimmed the further he went.
Until finally—he found it.
A sealed archive behind five black glyphs and a warning burned into gold above it:
"HERE LIES ALL THAT WAS ERASED."
[Requires: Forbidden Access Thread – Granted.]
The door opened like silk tearing apart.
Inside was not a room—but a memory-space, hovering like a dead star between timelines.
Dozens of thrones, each one cracked. Empty. Cold.
Above each sat a symbol—a name long lost:
V'Kareth, the Mind Weaver.
Zhe-Lum, the Iron Whisper.
Sovereign No. 7: Null Spiral.
And finally…
[???: Redacted. No Data Found.]
Yuto stepped toward the final throne. It was bigger than the rest—shaped like a cocoon dripping shadow.
"I don't get it," he whispered. "If they were Sovereigns… why were they erased?"
[Because they refused the Mirror.]
Nyx's voice had gone cold.
[The Mirror Gate offers two choices: Submission, or corruption. Those who refused became unstable anomalies—just like you.]
"So they erased them."
[Yes. And now the world is trying to erase you, too.]
Suddenly, the air rippled.
One of the thrones began to flicker.
[Sovereign No. 3: Signal Detected]
[Status: Dormant. Awakening…]
Yuto stepped back.
"Wait. Did I just—wake someone else up?"
From the throne, a single word echoed through the void:
"BROTHER?"
Yuto's core froze.
"That's… not me," he hissed.
[Warning: Another Void Signal has gone active elsewhere in the Spiral.]
[Awakening Chain Triggered.]
Nyx interrupted urgently:
[We need to leave. Now.]
"Why? Who was that?"
[One of the Old Ones. Not erased. Just… sleeping. And you just rang the bell.]
Yuto turned and ran from the memory vault, just as the structure behind him began to unravel.
The throne cracked. Screams echoed. Ancient protocols activated.
[You have learned: Void History (Fragmented).]
[Trait Acquired: Forbidden Awareness LV1.]
You can now see hidden system logs and corrupted files.
As the door slammed shut behind him, Yuto paused to catch his breath.
But his thoughts were darker than before.
He wasn't the first.
He wasn't even the strongest.
He was just the next.
And now the others were waking up, too.