Chapter 48 – The Forbidden Tier
> [Location: Interdimensional Breach Zone – Layer Zeta, Classified Tier] [Access Level: EXILED - OVERRIDE GRANTED] [Synchronization with System Core: 93%... 96%... COMPLETE]
The battlefield was silent.
Ash still floated from the sky of shattered suns, but the Children of the Ascent were no more. Their ashes had been devoured by the void, their echoes erased by the pulse of Erevan's will.
But the aftermath did not bring peace.
Only stillness.
The kind of silence that hums in the bones—right before a storm.
Above him, the Solar Crucible began to dim, its internal star folding into a dormant pulse. The Tower had retreated—no more automated protocols, no more desperate counters.
Only one path remained.
The Forbidden Tier.
A place even the System feared to catalog.
A fracture at the base of the Tower's roots—woven between dying timelines and aborted simulations, where rogue iterations of reality lingered like wounded ghosts.
And now, it called to him.
> [System Prompt: ACCESSING LOCKED LAYER – FORBIDDEN TIER ENTRY SEQUENCE INITIATED] [WARNING: ENTITY DETECTED INSIDE – "Erevan_0"]
He stepped forward, Spiralbreaker sheathed across his back, flickering with residual plasma. The moment his foot touched the sealed platform beneath the Crucible, the world cracked open like glass.
Reality folded.
And then—
Darkness.
Total, endless, suffocating.
Until the lights came on.
Not lights, eyes.
A thousand of them. Glowing, bleeding, shifting with emotions not meant for sane minds.
"...You're late," a voice said.
Erevan didn't flinch.
Before him stood a figure wearing a mirror version of his own armor, only scorched black and chained in places where cosmic sigils had been seared into the plating. Spiralbreaker hung at the figure's side, twisted and rusted, dripping ichor instead of flame.
> [ENTITY: "Erevan_0"] [Classification: PRIME LOOP REJECTED SELF] [Status: Unstable - Possesses Original Flame Core Before Corruption]
"You must be the one who succeeded," Erevan_0 growled. "Tell me… did it matter?"
He lunged.
No warning. No prelude. Just violence.
Their Spiralbreakers met in a flash of white flame. The resulting shockwave tore the ground into fractal shards. Erevan slid back, boots carving through the stone. Erevan_0 didn't wait—he blinked through a glyph of fire, appearing behind him.
> [Danger – Temporal Phase Distortion Detected]
But Erevan was faster now.
He bent his body mid-turn, kicking outward with enough force to crater the dimension. The corrupted Erevan caught the kick, laughed, and bit down on his leg, drawing blood and scorching it with a soul-mark.
Erevan's expression didn't change.
He wrenched free, drove an elbow into the twisted version's jaw, then followed with an upward spiral slash that split the air like a scream. Sparks flew. The corrupted Spiralbreaker howled, leaking molten blackness.
> [Bloodline Response Detected – "Ashen King's Resolve" Unlocked Temporarily] [Effect: Gain full clarity against mirror-type enemies. Truth Vision Engaged.]
In an instant, Erevan saw it.
This wasn't just another him.
This was who he used to be—the first rebel. The one who tried and failed. The Erevan who begged the Tower for mercy when the cause turned on him. The one who watched his companions die... and broke.
He was the ghost of Erevan's worst moment.
"I remember what you did," Erevan whispered.
The corrupted self roared, charging again.
They clashed across ten layers of warped terrain—battling through burning timelines, frozen memories, and dying echoes of Tower floors that had been erased from history. Each strike was a duel of identities.
Every blow was a question:
Which Erevan deserved to exist?
> [System Alert: Mental Stability Threshold Reached] [Initiating Trait – "Liberator's Mercy: Absolute Reflection"]
And then it hit.
The moment of empathy.
In the midst of a killing blow, Erevan stopped.
His Spiralbreaker hovered inches from Erevan_0's throat.
The other was panting, bleeding light and memories.
"You don't have to keep fighting," Erevan said softly. "I didn't come here to erase you. I came to remember."
For a moment—
Just a flicker—
The twisted Erevan looked tired.
So tired.
And in that moment of surrender, Spiralbreaker changed.
It grew.
It merged both forms—absorbing the corrupted weapon, taking on streaks of black flame and flickers of red memory. It pulsed in Erevan's hand like a living oath.
> [Weapon Evolution: Spiralbreaker – "Solarshade Form" Acquired] [Effect: Gains dual-aspect attributes: Flame of Rebellion + Void of Regret]
Erevan_0 collapsed, whispering something that only the ash heard.
And then he was gone.
> [New Trait Acquired: "Echo of the First Flame"] [Forbidden Tier Cleared] [Access Granted: SYSTEM NEXUS – Core Throne Room]
Erevan stood alone in the dark, breathing hard, the new Spiralbreaker pulsing with both wrath and forgiveness.
Ahead, the door to the final layer opened.
And for the first time—
The Tower was silent.
As if watching him.
As if afraid.
---