Chapter 67 – The Blade That Cut the Light

Location: Yxtrielle – Near Collapse Vector

Time: [Override Suppression Phase – Glyph Null at 28s Remaining]

The Riftblade.

It didn't hum.

It didn't glow.

It bled.

Silently.

In strands of concept, unmade realities, and logic that didn't belong here.

Va'theran gripped it with both hands, and it responded by splitting space around his palms, like reality was disgusted he dared to hold it.

BLAZE (staggering):

"That's not just a weapon—

That's a fucking paradox carved into steel."

FROST (shaking):

"That's the blade Kael locked out of existence.

Why is it here?

WHY is it still alive?"

Ren's knees buckled.

Threadbreaker — now fully bound to his Aetherium Core — pulsed quietly inside his soul, trying to heal, trying to adapt.

The glyph-nullification field was still active — his own summons unreachable.

And Va'theran didn't care.

Because he wasn't using glyphs anymore.

He had become the host of the first collapse engine.

The original Riftblade wasn't a tool.

It was code in a weapon's shape — forged from pre-Drift memory threads.

And it wanted blood.

Kael's.

Ren's.

Everyone's.

THE RIFTBLADE

Class: Forbidden Prototype / Collapse Engine

Effect:

Cuts through timelines Deletes cause/effect relationships Each strike erases a choice someone could have made

Bonus Trait:

Cannot be blocked by memory or intention Every wound is a consequence you'll never understand

Va'theran lunged —

His form flickered through non-logic.

He was there—then wasn't—then had always been there.

Ren rolled, barely dodging a horizontal slash that didn't cut skin…

…it cut out the reason his heart was beating.

He gasped.

Not pain.

Just—loss.

A missing heartbeat.

GRAVITY (grunting):

"He's using the Riftblade to fracture probability anchors.

He's not killing you.

He's removing your ability to survive."

Ren's left arm dropped—useless.

Not wounded.

Just edited out of existence's permission slip.

VA'THERAN (calm now, voice like a judge):

"Kael never finished it.

Because Kael feared what it would do to you.

I don't. I believe in your extinction."

REN (spitting blood):

"Funny. I believe in you losing teeth."

Threadbreaker pulsed.

Weak. But alive.

And from deep within Ren's soul, the Aetherium Core asked a question.

AETHERIUM CORE (voice… different):

"Do you want to evolve?"

Ren blinked.

REN (quiet):

"I thought you were still stabilizing."

AETHERIUM CORE:

"We are.

But if you die, we never finish."

"This is your choice."

"Collapse Threadbreaker into your body.

Let it become your second spine."

Ren didn't even hesitate.

CORE FUSION: THREADBREAKER 2.0

Result: Soul-Bonded Combat Form

Weapon is no longer physical

Exists only when intention to kill is present

Bonus: Survives timeline erasure via anchor in Ka'rath'Mar's planetary memory

Ren stood.

Barely.

But now?

His body shimmered in spirals of forgotten light —

Threadbreaker wasn't in his hand anymore.

It was in his breath.

His skin.

His shadow.

FROST (whispering):

"He's fighting with a weapon that doesn't exist…"

BLAZE (choked):

"He is the weapon."

Va'theran struck.

A downward arc that should've ended Ren's lungs—

But Ren didn't dodge.

He didn't block.

He blinked forward by 0.2 seconds using Time-fracture sync, and Threadbreaker reformed mid-swing —

carving directly into Va'theran's shoulder.

And that's when shit broke loose.

COMBAT FLARE – STATUS:

Va'theran:

Riftblade wielder Timeline anchor breaking Losing physical consistency (Reality Reject: 42%)

Ren:

Glyphs reactivating in 12s Summon slots locked Fighting with integrated soul-blade Override Core rebooting

And then space cracked above them.

Something else had noticed the Riftblade was active.

Something older than Kael.

Older than the Watcher.

Older than the Verge Ring.

SPACE (screaming):

"SHUT IT DOWN.

THE ARCH-THREADS ARE LISTENING—"

Too late.

A black tendril — not a being, not a spell, just a response — pierced the sky like a needle through existence.

It wrapped around Va'theran's ankle.

And dragged him one step backward in time.

REN (eyes wide):

"What… the fuck… was that?"

GRAVITY (flat):

"Punishment.

For playing with weapons that never should've been made."

Va'theran fell to a knee — bleeding memory now, not blood.

He looked up at Ren, snarling, glitching, trembling.

VA'THERAN (desperate):

"You don't even know what you're protecting!"

"This world was never supposed to live!"

REN (raising Threadbreaker-light):

"Then I guess I'm here to ruin expectations."