The space was quiet-dark and void of movement or sound.
Khalzheroth floated mid-air in the vast darkness, an intense grin stretched across his face as his eyes gleamed with pride.
"No single being has ever escaped my complex," he declared, voice laced with self-glory.
"A technique where space, time, and domains bend to my will-forming a void of infinite collapse. A place where all presence is erased forever! Not even light survives."
He threw his arms wide.
"Even if by some miracle one clings to life, they are trapped in an endless loop of annihilation!"
He raised his gaze toward the empty void above.
"Oh, great heavens! Ain't I marvelous?!"
Then-
A voice.
Low. Cold. Unyielding.
"Khalzheroth."
The voice sliced through the void like a blade.
Khalzheroth's eyes snapped to the source. Far ahead-
Red-black hair.
A suffocating aura.
The unmistakable hum of anti-tenzen.
It was her-
Aralyss.
The Dreadveil.
"Ugh?!" Khalzheroth recoiled, eyes flaring wide.
"Impossible," he muttered, trembling.
'No... it can't be!' he screamed internally.
But there was no mistaking the aura-the pressure that threatened to collapse the very domain. She was real.
"Aralyss...?" he whispered, lowering slowly to one of the cube platforms near her. He couldn't look her in the eye. Instead, he stared off into the dark.
"You died! How are you still alive?"
"Shut it," Aralyss interrupted flatly. Her tone held no warmth-only cold purpose.
She smiled faintly.
"This body... it's perfect."
Khalzheroth stepped forward.
"A vessel?"
"Truly, I died," she admitted.
His mouth parted.
"During the war... 1004 years ago. I lost my form, my meaning-my being. But then... fate changed."
She stretched her hand forward.
"How or why, I don't know. But I awoke in this vessel some time ago. And now... I walk again."
"Fate?"
Khalzheroth stood frozen. Silence reigned.
Until-
"However," Aralyss continued, "Do not think I have any intention of dealing with filth like you-traitors to my Lord!"
Her eyes sharpened.
"Those who serve Void will fall. My Lord will surely-"
She paused.
"My Lord will surely..."
Again.
"My Lord will surely..."
Khalzheroth blinked.
"Uh...?"
"My Lord will surely..."
Her voice repeated. And repeated.
Each time with the same gesture.
"My Lord will surely..."
The same line. The same inflection. Over and over.
A dark pressure began to spread. The aura thickened until Khalzheroth's chest grew tight.
He turned frantically.
"What's this? An illusion? No-there's no one here. Illusions are impossible without proximity."
Then it struck.
A chill down his spine.
He staggered.
"No... this isn't a glitch... it's-"
"A time loop," he realized.
His eyes widened. He clenched his fists.
Then-
Another voice.
Cold. Weary. Cracked.
"You know..."
In the far-off dark, something glowed.
Something golden.
A silhouette emerged-
Dark. Blood-drenched. Clothes torn. Twin golden swords clenched in both hands.
Hovering midair.
Ken.
"...I just can't bring myself to die," he muttered.
Khalzheroth's body trembled.
"This-this is a dream. It must be!"
"No mortal survives my complex. NO ONE!"
Ken exhaled slowly, hovering closer.
"You think so?"
Khalzheroth's voice cracked.
"This is unthinkable-only an immortal could've-"
Ken laughed.
It started small.
Then burst into maniacal joy.
"Immortal? That's your conclusion? Hahahaha!"
He grinned, eyes wild.
"Fear."
Khalzheroth snarled.
"Then how?! Not even high-class demons have survived my Grave Axis Complex!"
Ken rotated his shoulder casually.
"You wanna know how?"
He pointed a thumb at himself.
"Here's the thing. I didn't dodge it. I didn't resist it. I died. And I lived. At the same time."
Khalzheroth's jaw clenched, confused.
Ken's voice grew sharper.
"Right before the black hole consumed me, I made a gamble. You see... there's a concept in quantum tenzonology called-superposition. It says a particle can exist in multiple states at once, until observed. Alive and dead, simultaneously. Like Schrödinger's cat."
He raised a glowing hand.
"Now, inside your black hole, space and time are devoured-gravity bends everything. At the core, where the singularity lives, time halts. Past, present, future-all blur. The laws of general relativity collapse. Cause and effect break down."
Ken's smile widened.
"So I layered my consciousness across two quantum realities: one where I was dead, the other-alive. As time disintegrated inside your black hole, the singularity split that reality into two timelines. Both real. Both coexisting."
Khalzheroth's lips quivered. "You mean..." He whispered.
Ken continued.
"And when time reasserted itself-when your black hole collapsed-I simply chose. I rejected the universe where I died... and walked out from the one where I lived."
He pointed his sword.
"Simple."
Ken's eyes glowed.
"I call it..."
A beat.
"The Ken Superposition Paradox."
Khalzheroth's gaze fell to the ground.
"Im-impo-" The words wouldn't come.
"This is beyond my understanding..." he whispered, eyes wide with dread.
"A Singularity Lag Bleed?" he muttered in disbelief.
A rare cosmic phenomenon-where a singularity-class domain(Grave Axis Complex: black hole) breaches the boundary of spacetime itself. When this happens, the laws of reality are forced into a feedback loop-a backflow buffer-until equilibrium is restored. It was only theoretical... until now.
And the cause?
Ken.
His reentry triggered it.
A fraction of the black hole's territory clashed with the laws of the real world, breaking the dynamic equilibrium between the real and the imagined. The result: time warped, slowed, and glitched. Reality jerked, adjusting itself to the pressure-a moment looping, caught between collapse and repair.
That was why Aralyss repeated the same words-"My Lord will surely..."-over and over again, when truly, she hadn't stuttered. She had spoken once.
Reality was the one that repeated her.
Khalzheroth staggered backward.
"You mean... him? A mere mortal's presence was powerful enough to connect reality... and imagination?!"
***
To be Continued.
Please take note:
(A/N: The ideas here are drawn from scientific quantum theories, plus the author's imagination.
-The "Schrödinger's cat" stated is from Erwin's Schrödinger's quantum theory.
-Law of General Relativity is from Albert Einstein's works.)