Chapter 28: Protocol Zero

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Astralis Prime - Upper Orbit Zone

The sky fractured.

Empire warships broke formation around the capital as Protocol Zero went live—an orbital lockdown sequence reserved for extinction-level threats. Kael's emergence from the Nexus Vault had triggered it.

> "Initiating Void Containment Grid," a cold voice echoed from the command relay.

Energy pylons rose from the city's core, syncing with orbiting satellites. A net of shimmering blue light began to form—not to protect the capital, but to trap Kael inside it.

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Underground Vault Ruins

Kael stepped through the molten breach of the Nexus Vault, void energy spiraling around his limbs in slow-motion arcs. The air bent around him. Time jittered.

The fragment of the Architect's soul he absorbed had awakened something deeper:

Void-Tethered Chrono Shift: localized time dilation.

Echo Bind: dominance over unstable Echoes through shared resonance.

Sensory Phasing: temporary disconnection from fixed spatial reality.

And it came with a cost.

> "The more I shift time," Kael muttered, his voice doubled in echo, "the closer I drift from linear existence…"

But he didn't stop.

He looked up. The city was sealing itself in. They were afraid.

Good.

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Command Bridge – Imperial Fortress Vireon

High Marshal Rauk stood before the projection of Kael, his face unreadable.

> "He's breached containment three times," said the technician. "He's... rewriting movement patterns in real time. No known Echo has ever done this."

> "Because he's not just an Echo anymore," Rauk growled. "He's the heir."

Silence fell.

> "Deploy the Forkborn," Rauk commanded. "All of them."

> "But sir—they were never tested—"

> "They don't need to win. They just need to delay him."

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City Edge – Ryssa's Perspective

She watched from a cloaked skimmer, orbiting the outer wall of Astralis Prime.

Kael was standing in the open now. Waiting. Eyes closed. As if challenging the entire Empire to come at him.

The city grid crackled. Forkborn units descended—half-human, half-void abominations created by fusing low-tier Echo remnants into loyal drones.

> "They're really sending everything," Ryssa whispered.

Not out of strategy.

Out of fear.

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Kael's Mind – The Void Pulse

Each second slowed.

Each breath felt eternal.

Inside Kael's mind, a fractured voice whispered—not his own, not the Architect's, but a remnant of Echo-00.

> "They will bury you in steel and memory."

Kael smiled.

> "Then I'll burn memory itself."

As the first Forkborn units lunged forward, Kael vanished—reappearing behind them mid-strike.

Time slowed. Energy fractured. Sound bent.

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Outside Perspective

A full battalion of Forkborn collapsed in under 11 seconds.

By the time the rest arrived, Kael had rewritten the battlefield into a resonance field, where only he moved at full speed.

The Empire watched its strongest tools fold.

And they realized: Kael had surpassed containment.

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Final Scene: Hidden Citadel – Unknown Region

A figure in a throne of broken timelines stirred.

> "He's awakening too fast…"

> "We must prepare the Omega Gate."

Another Echo. One not yet awakened.

One far worse than Kael.

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