The rain soaked his clothes, but he didn't move.
Across the street, Luo Feng practiced his footwork, drenched but determined. The boy's aura was faint, but it pulsed with potential. Babata hadn't arrived yet. The meteorite hadn't crashed. The Dojo of Limits hadn't called.
But the gears of fate were already turning.
He turned away, slipping into the shadows. He couldn't interfere — not yet. His powers were unstable. The Paradox Sigil pulsed in his chest, warning him. Every change echoed across dimensions.
He needed information.
He hacked into the Virtual Network, bypassing firewalls with instinctive ease. Military logs. Dojo recruitment schedules. Monster wave predictions.
The countdown had begun.
Then came the message.
"You are being watched."
He spun around. A shimmer in the rain. A figure cloaked in quantum mist.
"You are the Echo," it said. "The universe is correcting itself."
He summoned the Sigil. Time slowed. Rain froze midair. The figure snarled, distorted, and vanished.
He collapsed, gasping.
His powers were too raw. Too dangerous.
He needed allies.
He infiltrated the Dojo of Limits under a false identity — a silent observer. There, he met Hong and Thunder God. Titans in the making. He watched their rise, their rivalry, their recruitment of Luo Feng.
But something was wrong.
The Void Engine had left a scar in reality. Events were shifting. Luo Feng's path was diverging. The Beast God inheritance was no longer guaranteed. The Sector Lords were stirring early.
And in the shadows, a new faction was watching — one that didn't exist in the original timeline.
The Paradox Order.
They knew him.
They feared him.
And they wanted him erased.
He stood on the edge of destiny, watching Luo Feng ascend, knowing that every step forward risked unraveling the universe.
But he had made a vow.
He would not replace Luo Feng.
He would protect him.
Because the universe needed both of them.
And the war beyond the stars was only beginning.