The Nexus shuddered as the final fragments of Corrupted Lian faded into shimmering dust.
A new road — larger, pulsing with unknown energy — slowly emerged, stretching beyond the ruined skyline.
The system chimed.
[ New Quest: Ascension to the Grand Road ]
Objective: Enter the Grand Road through the Gate of Trials.
Warning: Gatekeeper-Class Threat detected. Survival Rate: 28%.
The team stood silently, the weight of the past battle still lingering on their battered bodies.
Jayce coughed, sitting cross-legged on the cracked asphalt. "Man… I feel like a cat who wasted eight lives already."
Demist inspected his battered axe, the blade nicked and cracked. "Weapons need reforging. We won't survive another fight like that unprepared."
Elric, pale and exhausted, traced runes of recovery on himself. "The Grand Road... It's where legends either rise or get erased."
Lian checked the new additions on his system panel:
New Talent: Timeline Diver
Skill 1: Future Shard (Active) – For 5 seconds, act with +500% speed, impossible to predict. Cooldown: 10 minutes.
Skill 2: Collapse Point (Passive) – Any fatal damage once every 24 hours rewinds you 3 seconds before death.
Upgraded Talent: Coin Multiplier – Ascended Form
Daily double effect → x4 instead of x2.
Weekly income → x10 instead of x7.
Monthly income → x150 instead of x100.
Bonus: Killing Elite or Boss Class enemies grants immediate 100% bonus coin on top of base.
New Vehicle Blueprint: Photon Cycle
Base Speed: 10x a normal cycle.
Special Feature: Phase Shift (pass through solid matter for 5 seconds every minute).
Upgrade Slots: 3 weapons, 1 shield, 1 special core.
Lian grinned. "Now we're talking."
They didn't waste time.
Demist scavenged metallic remains from the broken Nexus.
Elric recharged by meditating on a rune array drawn from stardust.
Jayce... was trying to stick a broken horn to his cycle as a 'good luck' ornament.
Lian accessed the Photon Cycle blueprint and activated it.
The cycle materialized in a dazzling burst of light — sleek, streamlined, almost like a machine designed to race through stars.
He immediately felt its difference — the energy thrummed beneath him like an extension of his own heartbeat.
The Approach to the Gate of Trials
The air grew thicker. Darker.
The road twisted into black stone, ancient symbols glowing faintly.
In the distance, an enormous gate stood between two colossal statues — each thousands of meters high, depicting forgotten gods of war and wisdom.
Before the gate... a figure waited.
At first glance, it looked human.
But when Lian focused, reality itself seemed to blur around it.
The system alert screamed in warning:
[ Gatekeeper Detected: "Keeper of Annihilation" – Tier 6 Threat ]
Abilities: Reality Severance, Temporal Shred, Void Scream.
Special Rule: No Backups. No Retreat. Survive or be erased.
The Gatekeeper raised its head — a face made of broken clocks and screaming mouths.
It moved.
And the world exploded into battle.
Hardcore Boss Battle: Keeper of Annihilation
The moment it moved, time fractured.
Lian felt multiple versions of himself being killed — beheaded, crushed, disintegrated — all in the same instant.
Only the Collapse Point passive saved him, rewinding him back three seconds before any mortal blow landed.
"IT CAN KILL OUR TIMELINES!" Elric roared, flinging layered barriers that shattered the moment they touched the Gatekeeper's aura.
Jayce zipped in with chaotic cycle stunts, firing coin-powered grenades from slings he crafted during their rest.
Demist went full berserker, rage-burning his stamina to anchor himself outside of normal time flow.
Stage One: Reality Severance
The Gatekeeper unleashed Reality Severance — a horizontal black cut through existence itself.
Demist tanked the first slash but lost 70% HP instantly.
Jayce dodged by sacrificing one of his cycles — it exploded into shards.
Elric froze time for 0.5 seconds, enough for Lian to Phase Shift through it.
Breathing was hard.
Existence was heavy.
Their health dropped under constant passive decay just standing near the Gatekeeper.
Stage Two: Temporal Shred
The Gatekeeper tore open time around them, reversing and accelerating random seconds.
Jayce's grenades exploded before being thrown.
Demist's wounds reopened faster than they healed.
Elric's mana spells misfired randomly.
Lian realized instinct wouldn't work here.
He activated Future Shard.
In five seconds of boosted, unpredictable motion, Lian accelerated like a photon, bypassing causality.
He delivered a blinding, spiraling kick onto the Gatekeeper's core.
The world shuddered — a true hit.
Gatekeeper roared — a thousand voices speaking at once — and finally showed signs of injury.
Stage Three: Void Scream (Enrage Mode)
The final stage.
The Gatekeeper shrieked, tearing reality out from under them.
Gravity vanished.
Sound died.
Light bent in impossible ways.
Lian barely held onto his sanity.
Demist was bleeding from eyes and ears, yet swung his axe in pure defiance.
Jayce sang a stupid song off-key to stay conscious.
Elric's entire robe was burning away, but he kept chanting.
They pushed.
Harder.
And harder.
Until finally…
Lian launched his Photon Cycle at full thrust, turning it into a weaponized comet.
With the last spark of strength, he rammed the Gatekeeper, unloading every stored coin, every boost, every ounce of Fate Divergence in one colossal attack.
[ Critical Hit – Fate Break! Gatekeeper's Core Shattered! ]
The Gatekeeper's form split apart like glass breaking under divine pressure.
The enormous gate creaked open, revealing endless golden roads stretching beyond.
They had won.
But barely.
Lian collapsed, bloodied and exhausted, his friends surrounding him.
Above them, the system screamed new announcements.
[ Congratulations: You have Cleared the Gate of Trials. ]
[ Welcome to the Grand Road. ]
[ Your Journey has Just Begun. ]
[ All team members eligible for System Evolution. ]
The screen flashed.
And before they could even celebrate…
A new shadow stepped out from the golden mist.
Smiling.
Waiting.
Another challenger.