[Day Two — Restricted Containment Zone]
Kai woke to the sound of metal restraints clicking.
His wrists were locked into steel cuffs bolted into a cold chair. A faint white light hummed above, and a translucent barrier sealed the room in a hexagonal cage. Outside, blurred silhouettes moved behind polarized glass.
The memory of yesterday's sparring chamber chaos came rushing back:
Joren's "accidental" death.
The Protocol Hunters.
The explosion that shouldn't have happened.
And through it all…
The whispers.
Catalyst's voice inside the mirrored fragments.
"…I didn't do anything wrong," Kai muttered under his breath.
"…I didn't…"
His OmniBand pulsed faintly, responding to his thought.
[Omni-God Status Update:]
Evolution Path: Adaptive Luck (Active)
Memory Bleed: 4%
Branch Instability: High
Warning: Containment protocol detected.
Threat Level: Tier-1 Anomaly.
[Hunter Interrogation]
The glass hissed open.
Three Protocol Hunters stepped inside, their segmented armor catching the sterile light. Omni-God insignias pulsed faint gold across their helmets, glyphs rearranging in real time as their systems synced to Kai's HUD.
The lead Hunter's voice filtered through synthetic distortion:
"Candidate Kai Veyren. By Omni-God directive, you are charged with:
• Unauthorized probability manipulation.
• Accidental termination of S-tier candidate Joren Lask.
• Singularity instability.
Recommendation: Memory Purge or Termination."
Kai stared blankly.
Memory purge? Termination?
They were just… going to erase him?
"I didn't choose this," he said hoarsely. "I didn't even—"
The lead Hunter stepped closer, cutting him off:
"Omni-God does not require intent. Only outcomes."
[Adaptive Luck Triggers]
Suddenly, Kai's OmniBand pulsed violently.
[Adaptive Luck Engaged.]
Probability Cascade Triggered: Survival Priority Activated.
The ceiling light above sparked — exploding into a shower of glass. A shard fell, slicing through the power coupler on the Hunters' restraints. For one second, their Omni-God uplinks faltered, desynchronizing their armor.
Kai felt his cuffs unlock.
By accident.
"…No way."
He ripped free instinctively, lunging for the nearest OmniSpear mounted on the wall.
The lead Hunter recovered instantly, visor flaring red.
"Candidate breach detected. Authorization: Terminate on sight."
[Catalyst Intervention Detected]
Before the Hunter could strike, Kai's vision fractured into mirrored shards.
A ghostly figure stood inside one — Catalyst Kai — silver-blue eyes glowing faintly.
"Still alive?" Catalyst's voice dripped with quiet amusement.
"Pathetic."
Kai spun, shouting into the empty air:
"Stop interfering!"
Catalyst ignored him, placing a single hand against the mirrored glass between them.
Reality bent, folding like paper around Catalyst's Origin Bloom.
[Catalyst Override Detected.]
Synchronization Surge: 37% → 52%.
Warning: Variant 017 establishing priority over Candidate Kai.
The mirrored shard cracked, Catalyst's reflection smirking as if to say:
Catch up if you can.
[Probability Breakpoint]
Kai's HUD flooded with overlapping alerts:
[Adaptive Luck Probability Override: 112%.]
Passive Safety Limit Exceeded.
Neural Feedback Imminent.
Emergency Evolution Path Available:
[Neural Overclock — Tier-β]
Confirm Install? [Y/N]
His chest tightened. His skull burned.
Somewhere deep inside, his instincts screamed one word: Yes.
[Neural Overclock Installation]
[Evolution Installed: Neural Overclock.]
Reflex Acceleration: +380%
Cognitive Uplink Speed: +420%
Memory Bleed: 9% (Two anchor memories erased.)
Kai's breath hitched. His vision sharpened instantly — the world around him slowing to a crawl. The Hunters' movements became predictable patterns of code, every strike telegraphed before it landed.
"…This… feels impossible…"
[First Protocol Hunter Clash]
The lead Hunter lunged, gauntlet slicing downward like a blade.
Kai sidestepped effortlessly, twisting past the strike and driving the OmniSpear into the Hunter's shoulder seam. Sparks flared, armor plating rupturing.
The second Hunter moved in — too fast for anyone else — but Neural Overclock made time stretch thin.
Kai dropped, spinning the spear in one smooth arc, using Adaptive Luck to "accidentally" hit the floor just as the Hunter's kick missed by centimeters.
The spear ricocheted off the steel, slamming into the Hunter's visor at the perfect angle.
The visor cracked. Systems went dark.
"…That wasn't skill," Kai whispered.
"That was luck. Pure luck."
[Omni-God Override Directive]
The remaining Hunters recalibrated instantly. Omni-God's golden glyphs spiraled across their armor plates as new authorization flooded through their uplinks.
[Omni-God Override Initiated.]
Probability Suppression Engaged.
Candidate Kai Veyren survival odds: 3%.
Kai froze.
Adaptive Luck pulsed violently, resisting Omni-God's suppression attempt.
[Adaptive Luck Counteracting Override.]
Success Rate: Unknown.
[Singularity Surge Event]
The containment room rippled violently — walls bending inward, air fracturing into mirrored fragments.
Kai saw flashes of infinite Kaises — thousands of him — standing across collapsing timelines. Some victorious. Some broken. Some dead.
Through one shard, Catalyst stared back, calm and composed. His silver-blue gaze burned with quiet certainty.
"You're still behind," Catalyst said softly.
"And you always will be."
Kai's fist clenched.
"We'll see."
[Adaptive Luck Overload]
[Probability Override: 143%.]
Risk Level: Catastrophic.
Chain Event Likelihood: Imminent.
A distant hum filled the chamber. Systems failed one by one, lights dimming, walls vibrating under unseen pressure. The Omni-God glyphs burned white-hot, warning symbols cascading across every HUD in the room.
Suddenly, the floor ruptured.
The Hunters fell into defensive stances.
Kai tightened his grip on the OmniSpear.
Then the Omni-God voice cut through the chaos:
[Candidate Kai Veyren: Tier-0+ Threat Confirmed.]
Protocol Hunters: Full Lethality Unlocked.
"Survive, if you can."
[Volume 3 Closing Scene]
One Hunter lunged — Kai sidestepped, Neural Overclock accelerating his body beyond human limits. Adaptive Luck twisted probability in his favor again, forcing the Hunter's strike to rebound violently into the wall.
The chamber erupted in sparks, smoke, and chaos.
And then Kai heard Catalyst's voice again, quiet, deliberate:
"Branch-Zero's collapsing faster than you realize, Kai."
"Keep up… or vanish."
The mirrored shard shattered.
The battle wasn't over — it had only just begun.