The air itself looked fractured — like a shattered mirror suspended in place.
Ren felt a cold knot twist in his stomach.
“I can see it…” Kael murmured.“The rift… it’s unstable.”
Something moved inside.
It wasn’t enormous.
But every step it took felt like it was tearing through the world itself.
Then it emerged.
Its body was formed from irregular plates, like broken stone layered over muscle.Thin luminous lines opened and closed across its surface, pulsing like breathing scars.
The pressure in the air intensified.
Ren felt it press against his lungs.
“Nexum…” Kael whispered.“Fourth Form.”
The creature raised its hand.
The ground in front of Ren split apart.
Crack.
An invisible slash tore through the air and carved a jagged rupture across the stone floor.
Ren barely leapt back in time.
Dust exploded upward.
“It’s cutting space…” Ren muttered.
The monster advanced.
Kael stepped forward and raised his hand.
“Impose!”
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Gravity crashed down.
The air warped as invisible force slammed the creature into the ground, stone cracking beneath it.
For a second—
It worked.
Then the monster placed its hand against its own chest.
The glowing lines widened.
Fracture.
Kael felt something snap inside his body.
His muscles weakened instantly.
His breathing grew heavy.
His strength dropped by half.
“It’s… reducing me…!” he gritted out.
The Nexum stood again.
Unaffected.
Ren dashed forward.
He couldn’t hesitate.
“Impulse Slash!”
His blade cut clean through the air, pressure exploding outward in a focused arc.
The strike landed.
Stone plates cracked.
But the creature smiled.
It touched the air between them.
“Sever.”
Something invisible split.
Ren felt it.
The connection.
His sword was violently torn from his grip, flung across the warehouse as if reality itself had rejected his hold.
Ren hit the ground hard.
Pain burned across his chest.
The air in front of him fractured.
A translucent screen manifested.
STATUS — REN ARKEN
Origin: ??? (UNLOCKED)
Access: LOCKED
Ren’s eyes widened.
“I… can’t…”
The system flickered.
As if something deeper was trying to surface.
Behind the Nexum, the rift began to pulse violently.
The fractured air stretched.
Expanded.
From within—
Something vast shifted.
Watching.
Kael stepped in front of Ren, even as his body trembled under weakened strength.
He activated again—
“Rewrite.”
For a brief moment, his body hardened.
Defense increased.
But he was reaching his limit.
Blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
Still, he stood.
“I don’t care what you are…” he said, breathing heavily.“I won’t let you touch him.”
The Nexum tilted its head.
Behind it—
From the other side of the rift—
Something ancient observed them.
Not with eyes.
But with awareness.
And for the first time since the Abyss had appeared in this world…
Something was curious.
Fourth Form Nexum.
Spatial Severance.
Stat Reduction.
Dimensional Instability.
And something beyond it.
The Abyss did not open randomly.
It was responding.
And Ren’s Origin…
Just knocked on a door that was never meant to open.