The moment Null touched the cracked monolith, the world shattered.
Not exploded.Not collapsed.Shattered.
Like glass beneath a titan's fist.
He found himself standing in a void—no stars, no ground, no horizon.
Only endless, consuming black.
And floating before him—
Himself.
But it wasn't the Null he knew.
This version wore armor made of broken clocks and rusted chains. His eyes were hollow, a deep violet whirlpool pulling everything in.
[Memory Integration: Initiating…]
[Warning: This memory fragment is unstable.]
[Side Effects: Identity distortion, emotional bleed, cognitive overwrite possible.]
He didn't care.
He needed answers.
The hollow-eyed Null spoke without moving his lips.
"You abandoned them."
Null flinched.
The memory-echo stepped closer.
"You let the world rot because you feared what you would become."
"I had no choice," Null growled.
The hollow twin smiled—a sad, broken thing.
"There's always a choice. Sovereigns are defined by the ones they run from."
The void began to spin, slow at first, then faster, dragging Null into the memory itself.
The Past.
He saw a kingdom—no, an empire—of glass towers and iron rivers, ruled by a boy with a crown too heavy for his head.
He saw a rebellion rise from the wastes. People twisted by the Chrono Plague, their bodies half-timeless, half-rotting.
And he saw himself—standing at the center—doing nothing.
Refusing to act.
Fearing that if he unleashed what lay within the Hollow Core, the entire epoch would end.
And so, by doing nothing, he killed them all anyway.
Towers falling.Iron rivers boiling.Sky cracking into pieces.
He turned away from the vision, clutching his chest.
It hurt.
Worse than any wound he'd ever taken.
[Emotional Synchronization at 60%...]
[Pain Threshold Exceeded.]
The memory-Null raised a hand.
Chains of time lashed out, wrapping around Null's arms and throat.
"Accept it," the broken reflection whispered. "Or be devoured by your own cowardice."
Null roared, pushing back with everything the Hollow Core could muster.
Void energy exploded outward, shattering the chains.
The memory-echo smiled sadly—and vanished like ash on the wind.
The visions ended.
The void cracked—
And he woke up, back in the Hollow Wastes, gasping for air.
Sweat poured down his body.
Blood leaked from his nose.
His hands trembled.
But inside—
Inside, a new strength stirred.
Something colder.Sharper.More merciless.
[Forgotten Memory Assimilated.]
[Skill Gained: Epoch Rend – Sever the connection between cause and effect for a single enemy. Cooldown: 12 hours.]
[New Passive: Sovereign's Indifference – Emotional trauma no longer reduces combat efficiency. May increase cruelty.]
[Title Upgraded: From Fragment Challenger → Epoch's Bane.]
Null pushed himself to his feet, head pounding.
The Watcher was gone.
Only the broken monolith remained—now just a slab of useless stone.
The Hollow Wastes were silent once more.
But Null knew better now.
This world wasn't his enemy.
He was.
He looked at the horizon, where storms of memory brewed, flashes of past battles flickering across the sky like dying stars.
And he smiled.
A grim, blood-soaked smile.
There was still so much to reclaim.So much to destroy.So much to remake.
And if fate itself opposed him—
He would devour it.
One memory at a time.