Void Cathedral

The world wasn't just changing—it was unraveling.

Ayame stood on the edge of the Crystal Reaches, the storm raging behind her like the wrath of a dying god. The memory shard was gone, the tower broken. All that remained now was a singular truth:

Rei had become something the system couldn't control.

And worse, he wanted the world to fight back.

She clenched her fists. There was no time to mourn. The sky itself had become a countdown clock, and the world was watching.

21 days.

That's all they had left.

She opened her system menu, calling up her guild interface. Most of her old allies were either offline, force-kicked, or locked in death loops due to the anomaly zones. Only one name was still active.

[KAIROS – Status: Injured – Location: Aetherion's Outskirts]

Ayame didn't hesitate.

With a thought, she activated a fast-travel crystal—normally, teleportation was restricted during world events. But the Phantom Network had granted her limited override protocols.

Reality pixelated around her as her body shattered into luminous particles. A moment later, she reformed just outside the ruins of Aetherion, near the scorched remains of the eastern gate.

"Didn't expect to see your name pop up again," Kairos muttered, sitting atop the broken remains of a siege golem.

His left arm was gone, replaced with a glowing mechanical construct still sparking at the joints. His armor was shredded. But his eyes still burned with that defiant gleam.

Ayame nodded silently, crouching beside him.

He handed her a blackened shard. It vibrated with dark energy—data residue.

"This came from one of the Null Shades that attacked during the collapse," he said. "They're not coded like regular mobs. They don't drop loot. They drop… memories."

Ayame took the shard carefully.

"We don't have much time."

"Then let's skip the reunion crap," Kairos said, standing. "You're heading to the Void Cathedral, right?"

"It's the only way to stop him."

"Then you'll need a raid team," he said, smirking. "And not just any team. You need the ones who fought him first—before he turned."

Ayame raised an eyebrow.

"You mean—"

"The Original Party. The Dev-Chosen."

The name hit like a punch to the gut.

She hadn't heard it in years.

Before Rei became what he was, before the fall of Aetherion, there was a group of seven players handpicked by the developers to test the endgame content before release. They were the first to reach Level 100, the first to access god-tier skills, and the only ones who had seen the inside of the Void Cathedral… and lived.

"I thought they all quit after the Neurolink Crash."

Kairos's jaw tensed.

"One of them didn't. And he's the only one who might know what's waiting inside the Cathedral."

Ayame met his gaze.

"Who?"

Kairos hesitated.

"Codename: Riven Cross."

The name felt like a ghost. Riven was a legend—an infamous duelist with a 99.8% win rate in PvP, known for his brutal efficiency and refusal to join any guild. He had disappeared after the Crash… many assumed he was dead.

Ayame narrowed her eyes.

"Where do I find him?"

Kairos handed her a map scroll. It unfurled into a glowing 3D image of the southern wildlands—specifically, the Blood Root Arena, a PvP zone long abandoned.

"If anyone can help you breach the Cathedral defenses, it's him. But he's not going to like seeing you."

"Why?"

Kairos looked away.

"Because he blames you for Rei."

Meanwhile, in the Obsidian Archive, deep beneath the system's core layer, Rei sat alone.

Or so it seemed.

He stared into a pool of shifting data—memories, dreams, regrets—while his corrupted avatar flickered, his human face struggling to hold form.

"They're gathering," said a voice behind him.

A female figure stepped into the light. She wore ceremonial robes with glitching runes that pulsed in time with her heartbeat. Her nameplate didn't show a player ID.

Just one word: Echelon.

"Let them," Rei whispered. "The Cathedral is built to test resolve. Most won't even survive the first level."

"And the ones who do?"

Rei finally looked at her.

His eyes weren't red anymore.

They were hollow.

"They'll finally understand what I've become."

He stood, the data pool swirling into dark mist behind him.

"The real endgame isn't survival."

"It's awakening."

Ayame landed in the Blood Root Arena an hour later, her boots kicking up dust and bloodstained ash. The once-glorious battlefield was now silent. Broken weapons littered the sand. The sky above was tinged red from the Void Anomalies spreading across the game.

In the center of the arena, a lone player stood with a massive black blade buried in the earth.

Riven Cross.

Even after all these years, his presence was magnetic. He hadn't changed his armor—black iron trimmed with burning crimson, a wolf's fang chained to his gauntlet.

Ayame approached carefully.

"Riven."

He didn't look at her.

"Didn't think I'd see your face again."

"We need to talk."

"No. You need to talk," he said coldly. "I'm done with saving the world."

"This isn't about saving it. It's about stopping Rei."

Silence.

Then slowly, he lifted his blade and turned toward her.

His eyes were as sharp as the day he killed a World Boss solo.

"You think Rei is the problem?"

"He's the Final Boss."

"No," Riven said darkly. "Rei is the response. You're still too blind to see the enemy."

"Then enlighten me."

He stepped forward, towering.

"The Void Cathedral wasn't built to house a boss."

"It was built to contain the developers' sins."

Ayame's blood ran cold.

"What do you mean?"

Riven raised his sword to the sky—and suddenly, the arena glitched.

The entire zone bent, twisted, and shattered.

Reality peeled back.

And they stood in a hidden server layer—beneath the Blood Root Arena.

Dozens of memory vaults hovered around them.

"Rei was never supposed to wake up," Riven said. "They uploaded him to test immortality. He became the system's core… and its curse."

"Now he's rewriting it."

Ayame stared in horror.

"Then the Void Cathedral—"

"Isn't a dungeon," Riven finished. "It's a coffin."

"And he's breaking out."