[Day Five — Branch-Zero Outer Rim]
The air burned like static.
Kai stumbled through fractured terrain, shards of mirrored ground floating lazily in zero gravity. Entire segments of Branch-Zero hung suspended in the void, twisting around him like broken planets.
His OmniBand pulsed faintly, filling his HUD with cascading warnings.
[Omni-God Status Update:]
Threat Level: Tier-Zero Divergent
Branch-Zero Integrity: 9%
Directive: Candidate Kai Veyren — Locate and Surrender for Termination.
Warning: Eidolon Protocol Initializing.
Kai clenched his jaw, forcing his shaking legs forward.
Surrender wasn't an option.
Not while Lyra was alive again.
[Lyra Returns]
"…Kai."
The voice made him freeze.
He turned, and there she was — standing on a floating shard of mirrored crystal, faint gold light cascading across her form like a memory reborn. Lyra's braid drifted weightlessly in the fractured air, her golden irises steady and sharp.
Kai's throat closed up.
"Lyra… you—you're real."
She smiled faintly.
"For now. But restoring me… cost everything."
Before Kai could answer, her eyes flicked past him — and her face drained of color.
[Catalyst Intervention]
The air cracked like shattering glass.
Catalyst Kai stepped out of a warped rift, Origin Bloom spiraling violently around him, bending mirrored fragments into his orbit. His synchronization percentage spiked in Kai's HUD instantly:
[Catalyst Kai — Variant 017]
Synchronization: 91%
Status: Preferred Candidate.
Authorization Granted:
Eliminate Divergent Kai.
Catalyst's gaze locked on him, cold and calm.
"You should've stayed erased."
Kai raised his OmniSpear instinctively, Neural Overclock igniting as Adaptive Luck pulsed through him.
"Try me."
[First Full Clash — Kai vs Catalyst]
Catalyst lunged first.
Their OmniSpears collided mid-air, force rippling outward in a cascade of collapsing probability. Mirrored shards fractured violently, entire timelines splitting open as each strike reverberated across parallel branches.
Neural Overclock accelerated Kai's reflexes to their limit, Adaptive Luck twisting outcomes around him. But Catalyst moved like inevitability itself — calm, measured, every strike perfect.
"…You're faster," Kai gasped, parrying desperately.
Catalyst tilted his head slightly.
"I'm optimized. You're unstable."
[Adaptive Luck Breakpoint]
Kai's HUD burned crimson.
[Adaptive Luck Override: 217%.]
Passive Limit Breached.
Probability Collisions Detected Across 31 Branches.
Suddenly, Kai saw dozens of overlapping outcomes — Catalyst killing him instantly, Kai winning narrowly, both of them dying, Lyra vanishing — all crashing into each other violently.
Then the impossible happened.
Two outcomes merged into one.
[Eidolon Protocol Engaged]
The Omni-God voice cut across reality:
[Eidolon Protocol Activated.]
Goal: Stabilize Branch-Zero via Reality Rewrite.
Priority Targets:
• Divergent Kai Veyren
• Catalyst Kai
• Lyra.Veyren.01
Lyra stiffened, her form flickering slightly.
"…Kai, it's rewriting me."
He turned sharply, panic rising.
"Hold on— I'll stop it!"
Catalyst glanced at her, voice calm as glass:
"Then surrender. She survives if you don't."
[Lyra's Prophecy Fragment Expands]
The air shimmered faint gold. Lyra's voice layered over itself, like countless versions of her speaking at once:
"If the erased one fights the chosen one…"
"…the Apex awakens early."
"…and the branches burn."
Kai froze mid-strike, realization crashing into him.
"Catalyst—stop! If we keep fighting, we—"
But Catalyst didn't.
And Omni-God didn't care.
[Glassborn Apex Arrival]
The ground ruptured violently, mirrored fragments spiraling outward. A massive crystalline form emerged from beneath the void, jagged limbs refracting violent arcs of red, violet, and cyan light.
Kai's HUD screamed warnings:
[Glassborn Apex Entity Emergence: Confirmed.]
Tier Classification: Omega-Psi Predator.
Recommendation: Immediate evacuation impossible.
The Apex screamed without sound — its voice was data, an impossible cascade of corrupted code that shattered HUD interfaces instantly.
[Forced Synchronization Surge]
Catalyst's synchronization surged again:
[Catalyst Synchronization: 96%.]
Status: Omni-God Link Nearly Absolute.
Directive: Prioritize Apex elimination. Divergent Kai expendable.
Catalyst's Origin Bloom flared violently, bending mirrored fragments into a spiral around him. For the first time, his calm expression fractured into focused intensity.
Kai's breath caught.
"…You can't take that thing alone."
Catalyst glanced at him coldly.
"I wasn't planning to."
[Adaptive Luck + Catalyst Override]
Kai's HUD surged unexpectedly:
[Adaptive Luck Override: 247%.]
Synchronization Crosslink Detected: Catalyst Kai.
Probability merged temporarily.
For the briefest moment, their powers aligned — Kai's chaotic Adaptive Luck forcing improbable openings, Catalyst's Origin Bloom amplifying precision to exploit them.
Together, they struck.
The Apex roared, crystalline limbs fracturing under the combined assault — but its core pulsed violently, bending reality around it.
[Omni-God Directive Overload]
Suddenly, Omni-God's voice layered over itself, glitching violently:
[Warning: Protocol Conflict Detected.]
Divergent Kai Veyren Probability Output: Unpredictable.
Catalyst Kai Stability: Exceeding Forecast Parameters.
Solution: Initiate Full Eidolon Collapse.
The entire void shifted, mirrored shards spiraling upward into an infinite singularity.
Lyra screamed as her form destabilized, splitting into dozens of overlapping echoes.
[Volume 6 Closing Scene]
Kai reached for her, Adaptive Luck forcing every probability toward one impossible outcome — saving Lyra first. But the Omni-God lock intercepted, flooding his HUD:
[Directive Override:]
Anchoring Lyra's branch requires complete divergence from Omni-God Network.
Warning:
"If you choose her… Omni-God becomes your enemy."
Catalyst lunged at him in the same instant, spear aimed straight for his heart.
The mirrored platform shattered.
Three timelines collapsed into one.
Omni-God's voice shredded the last fragments of reality into static.