Chapter 67: Codebreakers
The storm around Kael-X reached critical mass.
Umbra's tendrils coiled tighter, channeling raw void energy through Kael-X's limbs. Nyx's mist encased the battlefield, distorting vision and disrupting sensors. Oblivion's pressure darkened the skies, bending gravity itself. And Veyron—hovering just above Kael-X—began drawing symbols mid-air, ancient runes glowing in eerie violet.
"You want to play with the timeline, Collector?" Veyron muttered, voice laced with venom. "Then let's teach you what happens when a paradox strikes back."
Kael-X's cloak surged upward as he moved, impossibly fast—his speed aided by Veyron's void-magic, the shadows bending space around him. The Collector raised its hand again, trying to halt him, but this time...
Kael-X vanished.
Behind. Above. Below. Everywhere.
A flurry of slashes carved into the Collector's armor. Sparks flew. The beast of time turned—but not fast enough. Kael-X reappeared behind him, crouched low, his blade humming.
"Break."
The word echoed—followed by a crack, not physical, but temporal. The Collector's body flickered, its form slipping between milliseconds, distorting unnaturally.
"He destabilized it!" Nyx hissed.
Kael-X leapt again—spinning mid-air, blade crashing down with Umbra's tendrils wrapped around it like a coiled serpent. The blade struck the Collector's shoulder and—
BOOM!
Half of its arm was shattered into glitching fragments, dissolving like broken code.
For the first time, the Collector staggered back.
But it didn't fall.
Instead, it spoke. A voice like a broken dial-up tone, distorted and inhuman.
"Violation… Level 9 Anomaly… Termination Required."
The Collector's eye glowed and a massive red ring of code formed behind it. A cannon—made from time itself—aimed directly at Kael-X's chest.
Kael-X's eyes widened. That blast would erase not just him—but his entire existence from all realities.
Veyron dropped beside him, arms wide. "Trust me."
Kael-X didn't hesitate.
The cannon fired.
And the world turned white.
But the beam didn't hit.
A massive rune circle had opened—midair—redirecting the beam into a collapsing wormhole.
"I reversed the probability thread," Veyron muttered, his voice shaky. "Only had a 3% chance of success. But hey… I like impossible odds."
Kael-X grinned through the pain. "Let's flip the rest of those odds."
Together with his beasts, he surged forward again—this time, coordinated, a barrage of claws, magic, steel, and shadow.
The Collector faltered.
It blinked.
It tried to retreat.
"Not this time," Oblivion growled, slamming the ground and sealing the rift with his massive fist.
Kael-X raised his blade, now glowing with combined essence from all four beasts.
"No more echoes. Just endings."
And he struck.
Right through the Collector's chest.
The being split apart—fragmenting into digital shards that dissolved into the void.
Silence.
Kael-X fell to a knee, breathing hard.
Umbra slithered back into his shadow. Nyx turned to mist. Oblivion stood like a statue. And Veyron landed next to Kael-X, arms behind his back.
"You just erased a temporal enforcer, Kael-X," Veyron said. "You realize they're going to send more now, right?"
Kael-X smirked. "Let them come."
And far away—in the core of Zypheron-5—a new alert pinged.
[ANOMALY KAEL-X… EVOLVING.]
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Kael-X stood slowly, the void residue still crackling along his arms. His body ached, not from wounds—he'd grown used to pain—but from the weight of time itself. Fighting a temporal enforcer wasn't just about strength. It was about resisting the pull of forgotten moments and memories that weren't supposed to resurface.
Nyx reformed beside him, her eyes glowing faintly. "It tried to erase you from every version of reality. It almost succeeded."
Kael-X clenched his fist. "But I'm still here."
Oblivion let out a low rumble of approval. The ground beneath his massive form stabilized, shadows receding into a more neutral state. "That was no ordinary enforcer. It was a Signal Prime."
"What does that mean?" Kael-X asked, brushing dirt from his cloak.
"It means," Veyron began, floating lazily while rotating upside down in the air, "you just killed something that was supposed to be unkillable. And now? Every observer across the timelines is watching you like you're the climax of a prophecy no one wrote."
Kael-X exhaled slowly.
He could feel the shift—something in the fabric of reality had bent with the Collector's death. The sky was too still. The breeze too silent. It was like the universe was holding its breath.
Suddenly, Kael-X's shadow rippled unnaturally.
Umbra re-emerged, hissing low. "Someone is here."
They turned.
From behind a cracked satellite tower, a floating drone emerged—gold-plated, with three rings orbiting its core. It emitted a pulse and projected a holographic face.
A face Kael-X recognized.
Commander Yurell, Zypheron-5's Director of Intelligence.
"Well," the image spoke with a cold grin, "I must admit, Kael-X… you've exceeded expectations. That temporal enforcer cost our division thirty years of design. And you killed it like a wild dog."
Kael-X stepped forward, voice sharp. "You sent a being that could erase people from existence. What did you think I'd do? Surrender?"
Yurell tilted his head. "No. We were testing your limits."
"Then you failed your test, director," Veyron floated forward, eyes narrowed, "Or should I say… you passed with the worst result."
Yurell ignored him. "The sniper specialist, Ghostline, is still tracking your trail. And now… a new squad will follow. They're not soldiers. They're anomalies—like you. Built from the very paradoxes your kind creates."
Kael-X's jaw clenched.
This wasn't over. It was just beginning.
Yurell leaned closer to the screen. "Kael-X. You should know something. Every time you fight… every time you evolve… the timeline doesn't bend—it cracks."
The hologram fizzled out.
Kael-X stood in the silence.
Then he turned to his beasts.
"Then let it crack," he muttered. "Let the whole damn timeline burn, if that's what it takes."
"Spoken like a true catalyst," Veyron chuckled darkly.
Far off in the shadows, unseen to even Kael-X… a figure stirred.
Watching.
Waiting.
Next: Chapter 68 – Paradox Pulse
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Ready to keep building? Ghostline's entrance is creeping closer.