Chapter 24: The Absolute Being

The true power of TON618 was sealed within Zero's body as an immense archive that required colossal resources to 'unpack'.

This power, compressed to a tiny particle, remained hidden until Zero's body reached full readiness to receive it. This was the key moment, and Zero knew that any mistake could have disastrous consequences.

Zero sat in meditation, hovering over the summit of Mount Everest. The entire neon aura, of different colors, like a multicolored spiral, swirled around him, twisting tighter and tighter, forming a sort of endless stream of energy. His concentration was absolute. He checked everything once more. It was unnecessary - his training was perfect. Still, Zero remained human, and the feeling that every detail mattered lived within him. It was important for him to realize every step of this moment.

- Finally, I'm ready, - he said mentally, gathering his strength.

Zero remembered his mother, her affectionate smile, her words that she was waiting for him. That memory strengthened his resolve, making the last step easier. He peered into his inner world to reveal the macroparticle that was hidden at the center of his essence. A gray, perfect sphere, it was waiting for its time, hidden deep within. Zero felt it needed an incredible amount of energy - the kind of neon volume that could unlock it.

Zero touched that point.

In that instant, the space around him froze. The universe itself seemed to freeze, denied the right to move without his permission. This had happened before, at the time of his birth. This state lasted only a moment, but he felt his body overflowing with incredible strength.

Immediately after that brief pause, all the neons around him, every unstable atom, began to be absorbed by his body. Like a boundless whirlpool, Zero drew energy to himself, absorbing neons of all kinds, without exception. His body reacted to their structure, adapting and assimilating every bit of energy. The mountains seemed to have lost their luminous aura, gone were the bright colors of the neon energy - all absorbed by Zero. It was enough to unleash the latent power that now resonated within him.

Zero's body tensed up, and his aura instantly enveloped the entire Mount Everest, turning it into the center of a huge energy vortex. Gray energy hovered around him, and its powerful currents encompassed every part of space. Veins began to protrude on Zero's body. The veins in which gray blood flowed was not ordinary blood, it was the sum total of his power and connection to TON618, an absolute being with absolute power. Zero felt a pain unlike anything he had ever had to endure before. The pain was unbearable, penetrating him at the deepest level, tearing away the old limitations that held him back from evolving, removing the limitations of his earthly body. But in that pain, he felt his potential, which he had been striving to achieve for so long, finally begin to unfold like a flow of pure energy. 

His consciousness suddenly connected with TON618 for a moment - it was as if he was looking into a mirror ... For just a moment, streams of information appeared before him. He saw galaxies, planets, endless cosmic voids, news from all parts of the universe. The knowledge he needed to fight for Earth FX12, for the people he had promised to protect, was revealed to him.

Suddenly, a super-powerful burst of energy erupted from the mountain and traveled around at the speed of light, engulfing the planet in its glow... 

In the very next instant, Zero was levitating above the planet, looking at his right hand. He shifted his gaze, observing his body and his new powers. A dense, thin, gray aura was around his body, occasionally a lettuce glimmer of neons would appear - signifying wisdom, these neons had endowed him with this world at birth. Feeling powerful and interacting with the neons was now natural to him. He had achieved what he had been striving for, and he finally felt at one with the world... or rather, the world felt at one with him.

- I was born, - Zero said, smiling - again, but for real.

This moment had a special significance - today was Zero's birthday, and it was today that his power was finally revealed. Even he himself had not expected it to happen on this particular day. At that moment, his physical body had certain limitations that made it impossible to predict such an event. Perhaps it was the influence of TON618 that had quietly interfered, or just a coincidence gifted by fate.

Right now, he was an absolute being. His speed, strength, and wisdom all surpassed the limits of what was possible. He was now the embodiment of a power that all civilizations would and should reckon with.

When the massive surge of energy occurred during Zero's awakening, this explosive pulse had the potential to attract the attention of all advanced civilizations.

Their sensors usually picked up the slightest fluctuations in energy in the universe, and a surge of such power could be a signal for them to act. However, Zero had foreseen this situation and had enveloped Everest in advance with a barrier of his own energy in an attempt to limit the outgoing flow. Although he was unable to completely conceal the explosion, he was able to keep it within the Milky Way. That was enough to keep the other galaxies from recognizing his awakening, or else Zero would simply have to destroy them before the scheduled time.

At this time, AVI, the artificial intelligence responsible for security control, immediately activated at SON headquarters. All the monitors in the headquarters turned red, sirens howled throughout the building, and AVI, in its mechanical, emotionless but clearly concerned voice, announced:

- Anomaly activity detected. There is an 80% chance that this is a threat related to Project Megalodon. Neon energy surge exceeds all known readings. An immediate response is required.

SON officers rushed to the monitors, analyzing the readings. According to the data, the structure of the neons emitted from Everest was unique - the energy spectrum indicated the mixed nature of the particles. This anomaly was due to Zero absorbing a huge amount of unstable neons to unseal the absolute power. This drastically differentiated its energy from other known neon structures, which further alarmed the highest circles of SON command. In an emergency meeting, the highest authorities who had access to information about Project 'Megalodon' instantly made a decision. All present unanimously supported sending a reconnaissance squad of S-rank Phantoms to Everest. They were ordered to avoid direct combat under any pretext and find out the reasons for this anomaly.

But at that moment AVI suddenly interrupted the meeting with a new warning:

- Attention ! An unidentified object has been detected levitating over the planet.

The S-rank commander instantly tensed, glancing at the other officers.

- This is definitely a threat, not a miracle.... - he muttered, watching the screens that showed a cloud of neon energy that seemed to be part of the cosmic void.

At that moment, everyone realized that the neon anomaly was just the beginning of something much bigger.