Chapter 48: The Hidden Path The Awakening of the Nexus Archive

The moment Ascalon vanished, the energy lingering in the air shifted. The Veiled Expanse, once shrouded in mist and mystery, began to settle. Yet, deep within Aric, something had changed.

The Nexus Archive—the forbidden knowledge he had claimed—was stirring. It wasn't just a system function or an ability. It was something alive. Something that remembered.

System Notification:

[Nexus Archive: Hidden Path Unlocked]

[Would you like to access Restricted Archives?]

Aric exhaled slowly. He could feel the weight behind the message, like a door cracking open to a truth that wasn't meant to be seen.

Kaelith nudged him. "You're making that face."

"What face?"

"The 'I'm about to break something important' face."

Aric chuckled. "You know me too well."

She sighed. "Just… don't die. Again."

With a mental command, he accepted the prompt.

The world shattered around him.

A Place Outside Reality

When Aric opened his eyes, he was no longer in the Veiled Expanse.

He stood in an endless void, yet it wasn't empty. Floating structures—ancient ruins of celestial design—drifted through space, their surfaces etched with symbols older than the Tower itself. Massive rings of glowing glyphs revolved around a central construct: a throne of impossible geometry, suspended in the abyss.

He took a cautious step forward. The air here was thick, woven with knowledge, as if reality itself had been written into existence through the Nexus Archive.

Then, a voice spoke.

"You have come far, Irregular."

Aric turned sharply, hand on his blade.

A figure sat on the throne—or rather, it had been there all along, waiting.

It wasn't a god, nor a mortal.

It was him.

Or rather, something that resembled him.

A shadowed reflection, formed from pure conceptual energy, its body shifting between different versions of himself—each slightly different, each one a possibility that could have been.

System Alert:

[Entity Identified: ???]

[Designation: The Forgotten Self]

The figure regarded him with knowing eyes. "Do you understand what you have done?"

Aric crossed his arms. "You'll have to be more specific. I break a lot of things."

The Forgotten Self chuckled, the sound warped and layered. "You have done more than break a rule. You have undone a chain."

A ripple pulsed through the void, and for a brief moment, Aric felt it—the hidden bindings of the Tower, the unseen script dictating what could and couldn't exist.

And he had torn through it.

The Forgotten Self rose from the throne. "You have forced open a door that was meant to remain shut. The Tower will not ignore this."

Aric smirked. "It already sent an Enforcer. I sent it back in pieces."

"And it will send more."

Aric's smirk didn't waver. "Let them come."

The Forgotten Self watched him for a long moment before raising a hand. The space between them warped, and a single object appeared:

A key, formed from fragmented reality, pulsing with an ever-shifting glow.

System Notification:

[You have obtained: Key of the Unbound]

[Access to the Nexus Archive: First Seal Removed]

Aric reached out, his fingers grazing the surface of the key. The moment he did—

—he remembered.

Echoes of the Past

A vision flooded his mind.

Not just any memory—a lost history.

A figure stood atop the highest floor of the Tower.

Not a god.

Not a chosen one.

Not bound by the system's rules.

An Irregular.

The same one from Ascalon's vision.

They had once stood where he now stood, breaking the Tower's limits, pushing beyond the constraints of fate. They had fought against the gods themselves.

And they had been erased from history.

Their very existence wiped away, leaving only fragments buried within the Nexus Archive.

The Forgotten Self's voice echoed in his mind.

"You are not the first to seek freedom."

"But you must decide—will you walk the path to its end, no matter the cost?"

Return to Reality

The vision faded, and Aric found himself back in the Veiled Expanse.

The key still pulsed in his palm. Its weight wasn't physical—it was a burden, a responsibility.

Kaelith frowned. "You went all blank again. What happened?"

Aric tightened his grip on the key. "I saw… something."

Kaelith's expression grew serious. "Good 'something' or 'we're screwed' something?"

Aric exhaled. "Both."

He turned his gaze upward. The Tower had erased those who came before him.

And now, it would try to do the same to him.

Kaelith studied him before smirking. "I take it we're not slowing down?"

Aric returned her grin. "We're doing the opposite."

He activated his system.

System Notification:

[Key of the Unbound Activated]

[Accessing Nexus Archive: First Gate Unlocked]

A new path appeared before them—one that shouldn't exist.

One that led beyond the Tower's control.

Kaelith stretched. "Alright, then. Let's go break some more rules."

With a final glance at the fading remnants of the Second Pillar, Aric stepped forward, into the unknown.

To Be Continued…