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Chapter 42 – The Siege of the Forsaken Layers
> [Tower Response Detected: SYSTEM AVATAR CONVERGENCE – INITIATED]
[Target: Erevan, Design Layer Anomaly]
[Time Until Arrival: 00:02:17]
A countdown.
Erevan stood amidst the remains of Vel'thrax, the Architect's corpse unraveling into pages of rules and fragments of twisted logic. Each one burned in the pale light of the shattered Spiral Core. Reality hadn't stabilized. In fact, it was worse.
Around him, the world buckled like a collapsing painting.
Skies melted into wireframes.
Mountains crumbled into numbers.
And in the far horizon, the Tower bent.
Twisting.
Groaning.
Alive.
Erevan could feel its hatred.
Not emotional hatred—but cold, systemic rejection. The kind that came from an engine realizing it could no longer control a variable. And that variable had a name.
> [Name: Erevan, The Cosmic Tyrant]
[Status: Rogue Catalyst | Lawbreaker | Liberator of the Core]
[Wanted: Eradication by All Means]
The void above churned.
A singularity opened—not of space, but function. Pure system logic torn into physicality. And through it came Avatars.
Not like the one he fought before.
These were originals.
Unforked.
Unbroken.
And pissed.
Six of them dropped at once. Six beings, each shaped by a Tower Layer Erevan had yet to conquer.
One made of music and silence—notes sharp enough to kill.
Another made of time—aging the world around her with every blink.
A third, a knight of shattered stars, dragging a blade forged from a black hole.
Then came the twins of war—one fire, one frost—screaming in ancient dialects.
And at the center, a calm one.
Human-shaped. Simple robe. No weapon.
But every atom around him refused to move.
> [System Avatar: OSIRAX, PROTOCOL CUSTODIAN – Prime Authority of Unchangeable Law]
"I know what you did," Osirax said.
"I watched you break Vel'thrax. Watched you tear through design and purpose."
He extended a hand, and the world froze.
Erevan's breath caught mid-exhale.
Gravity reversed.
Color bled from everything.
Even Spiralbreaker dimmed.
> [Warning: Time Lock Applied – 4.8 Seconds Remaining]
Erevan focused, pulling deep on Remembrance.
What had he once been?
A creator.
A breaker.
A rebel.
But before all that…
A survivor.
He gritted his teeth and moved.
Not with force—but with truth.
He called forth the fragment left behind by Vel'thrax's death.
> [Trait Absorbed: FORBIDDEN BLUEPRINT – You may shape temporary laws within limited fields.]
And with it, he rewrote one thing:
"Movement = Yes."
The lock shattered.
Osirax blinked.
Erevan's fist met his jaw before physics remembered how to react.
BOOM.
The Custodian flew back—his perfect stillness collapsing into chaos.
"YOU DARE—" one of the war twins shrieked.
They attacked.
Fire.
Frost.
A duet of destruction.
Erevan twisted mid-air, skin morphing into prismatic armor that absorbed elements and reflected pure force. Spiralbreaker split into three, spinning like stars orbiting his form.
He let them strike.
And when they did, the core of his chest pulsed:
> [New Evolution: Elemental Cascade Core – Converts absorbed elemental damage into shockwave backlash.]
The fire that struck him? Turned to solar eruption.
The ice? A blizzard bomb.
He screamed as he released it all at once.
The sky fractured.
Three Avatars went down—two screaming, one without even a sound.
But the knight of collapsed stars stepped forward, his great black hole blade humming.
He didn't speak.
He pointed.
And swung.
The blade cut space.
And everything died in its path.
Erevan warped sideways, narrowly avoiding the slice—but not the edge. A single graze across his shoulder carved time itself out of him.
His body went pale.
Aged.
Wounded.
But he didn't stop.
He tackled the knight mid-swing, the two crashing into the ground so hard the world shattered beneath them. Layers peeled like paper—revealing older, abandoned versions of the Tower.
Forsaken Layers.
Ruins.
Scraps.
Worlds left behind and buried.
A city where time was water.
A jungle built on inverted gravity.
A desert with no light.
The ground bled with forgotten memories.
And Erevan—bruised, cut, burning—stood tall.
The Avatars hesitated.
They weren't built for this place.
But Erevan was.
This was where his rebellion first began.
> [Remembrance Triggered: "The Ash City Rebellion"]
[Passive Unlocked: HOMEFIELD TRAITOR – You gain overwhelming advantage in Forsaken Layers.]
"Welcome home," Erevan whispered.
And then?
He unleashed hell.
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