:
The battlefield was a ruin. Smoldering craters dotted the earth. Fractured buildings stood like skeletons of a once-great city. Smoke curled skyward as hunters dragged away the injured, many crying, some already dead. And at the epicenter of it all, Kai Ren lay unconscious, his body torn and burned, but still clutching the hilt of a weapon he had never trained with—the Heaven-Slaying Spear, an armament he hacked into existence moments before slaying the World Breaker.
Lyra kneeled beside him, her silver hair matted with blood and sweat. Her voice trembled. "You idiot..." She whispered, gently pulling him into her arms. Above them, clouds began to break. Sunlight spilled through like divine judgment, casting light on Kai's shattered figure.
But far above, in a realm untouched by time and space, an ancient being opened one golden eye.
"He's awakened it... the last system."
---
Three days later, Kai Ren awoke inside a pure white room, unfamiliar yet comforting. He was connected to a matrix of cables glowing with blue energy. It wasn't a hospital. It was a Stasis Chamber within the Moonlight Sect's forbidden sanctuary—The Veil of Secrets.
A voice greeted him. Mechanical. Calm.
> [Divine Hack System v3.0] Recovery Complete. System Functions Stabilized. Warning: Host has crossed dimensional law thresholds.
Kai sat up. His body felt... too light. As if he had lost something vital, yet gained something far heavier.
Lyra entered, accompanied by a tall, scarred man in white robes. His eyes were silver flames, his aura dense with age and experience.
"So," the man said, "you're the G-Rank anomaly who bent an SSS-tier monster to his knees."
Kai tried to stand. His knees buckled.
Lyra caught him. "Easy. Your soul was cracked. You burned through three lifetimes' worth of life energy when you bent space-time to kill that beast."
Kai chuckled weakly. "Worth it."
The old man introduced himself as **Elder Wushone of the last remaining Dimension Walkers. He'd once transcended the realm Kai barely understood.
"You are no longer bound to the structure of this world, Kai Ren. The Hack System has become something far greater."
> [New Feature Unlocked: Parallel Hack] Ability: Copy powers from alternate realities. Limited to one use every 72 hours.
Kai stared, stunned. "Alternate... me?"
Elder Wushen nodded. "Versions of you who became villains, kings, gods... or corpses. You may borrow their powers. But beware... the cost is always balance."
---
Days passed. Kai trained beneath waterfalls carved from lunar essence. He sparred with Lyra under the crimson moons. He fought illusions of himself from timelines where he failed, where he became a monster, or never awakened at all.
He learned not just how to fight—but how to endure himself.
And then came the whisper. At midnight, the Divine Hack System buzzed in his mind:
> Incoming Request... Source: Realm of the Forgotten
> Will you accept connection?
Kai frowned. The name felt... familiar.
He accepted.
Suddenly, he stood in a grey void. Shadows swirled. Broken stars floated like dying fireflies. And before him stood a boy who looked exactly like him—except older, scarred, and filled with darkness.
"I'm you," the shadow said. "The you that lost."
> You have unlocked: Shadow Hack Skill: Reversal Surge When near death, you may reverse cause and effect once per battle.
Kai fell to his knees. The memory surged into his mind—a world where he failed to defeat the Dreadfire Cerberus. His family died. He was captured. Experimented on. Turned into a monster.
The system pulled him back.
> Warning: Parallel hack fatigue detected.
> Reboot in progress...
But Kai opened his eyes with fire. "No more running. If these versions of me are real... then I will become the one that saves them all."
And so began the next journey.
To reach the Realm Tower, a structure in the Skylands where all dimensional laws converge. A place only those chosen by fate, error, or rebellion may enter.
Kai Ren, the G-Rank mistake, now hunted by the gods, hunted by his own echoes, would climb that tower...
And burn heaven if he must.