Darkness.


    Then—shattered memories.


    Brave’s body ached, the weight of consciousness pressing down on him like a collapsed building. His head throbbed, his lungs burned, and for a moment, he thought he was still frozen in that last moment of the fight.


    Wise.


    He forced his eyes open.


    The battlefield was a wreckage of debris, scorch marks, and fallen bodies. The hideout’s once-structured interior was now a fragmented ruin, illuminated by the flickering sparks of failing power conduits. The silence was deafening.


    Brave pushed himself up, coughing sharply. Blood on his glove. His body was still catching up to the damage he had taken.


    To his left, Senshi groaned, shifting onto his side, shaking off unconsciousness like a man waking from a nightmare. His knuckles were scraped raw, and there was a thin gash above his brow, but he was alive. Barely.


    Further ahead, Khem stirred—his movements slow, calculated. He hadn''t been knocked out like the others; he''d been locked in his own stasis. Now, as his body re-synced with reality, he exhaled sharply, his fingers flexing as he fully registered his surroundings.


    Shining was already awake, leaning against a collapsed pillar, his golden glow flickering unsteadily. His expression was unreadable.


    Samui was the last to move, her scanner flickering as she weakly pulled herself upright. The device was glitching violently, throwing unreadable data across her screen. She tried recalibrating it with shaking fingers, but nothing made sense.


    Weird was still flat on his back, staring at the ceiling. Unlike the others, he didn’t scramble to his feet or curse under his breath. He just blinked slowly and let out a breathless chuckle.


    He had been waiting. Watching. Waiting for everyone to move or wake up.


    “Well. That sucked.”


    No one disagreed.


    Brave clenched his teeth. His mind replayed the last thing he had seen—Wise, kneeling in the aftermath of his machine’s activation, bathed in the glow of the meteorite stones. Then—darkness.


    He turned to the others. “Report.”


    Silence followed. Not because they didn’t have answers—but because no one knew what the hell to say.


    Then, Samui spoke, her voice hoarse. “It wasn’t an energy overload. It wasn’t a blackout. It was… something else.”


    Shining exhaled, shaking his head. “Wise didn’t just power himself up. He rewrote the battlefield. I—” His jaw clenched, his normally sharp voice tinged with something rare. Doubt. “—I couldn’t track him at the end.”


    Brave inhaled sharply. “Where is he?”


    Before anyone could answer, his communicator buzzed violently in his ear.


    A transmission. Distorted, urgent.


    “Commander—” The voice was static-laced, barely intelligible, but recognizable. HQ.


    Brave straightened, tapping into the line. “Receiving. What’s the situation?”


    “…Wise…is gone.”


    Brave’s grip on the communicator tightened. “Clarify.”


    A brief pause. Then, the transmission stabilized slightly.


    “Wise has been spotted… everywhere.”


    Brave’s breath slowed.


    “All major cities. All security grids. Every major surveillance hub is registering him in multiple locations. He’s moving faster than we can track. Every broadcast, every emergency signal—he’s hijacked them.”


    Brave’s blood ran cold.


    Wise wasn’t just gone.


    He was everywhere.


    Before Brave could demand further details, his communicator crackled again—this time, a different transmission. A voice, smooth, amused, echoing through every frequency.


    Wise.


    “…Good morning, world.”


    The battlefield, the ruins, the hideout—none of it mattered anymore.


    Because Wise’s voice was being broadcasted to the entire planet.


    A Direct Offer


    Wise’s voice shifted in tone, the amusement fading into something calculated.


    “You’ve seen it yourselves. The system is broken. The world is a lie. You can fight me, and you will lose, or… you can step aside and let it all collapse.”


    The words hung in the air, heavier than any explosion.


    “You fight for order, but order is what made you tools. Think, Brave. Think, Khem. What have you really been protecting?”


    For the first time, someone on SOF hesitated. A flicker of uncertainty crossed Weird’s face. Even Samui’s fingers hovered over her scanner, her mind racing through every possibility.


    Brave made the call. “We move. Now.” They couldn’t afford to waste time. Wise’s influence was already spreading too far, too fast. If there was a way to stop him, they had to find it before the world was beyond saving.


    As the last of SOF evacuated the hideout, they never realized one person had stayed behind.


    Child.


    A small shift in the air. A silent presence. She watched as the room emptied, lingering in the shadows.


    And then—he returned.


    The very air seemed to vibrate with his arrival. A flicker of golden light, a warping of space, and suddenly, Wise was there again.


    He stepped forward, his usual smirk tempered by something else. Something softer.


    His eyes scanned the wreckage before settling on the empty space where SOF had been. Then, slowly, they turned—directly toward Child.


    “I thought so,” he murmured.


    He had known. He had always known.


    She hadn’t left. The last remaining royal member of his had stayed.


    Wise exhaled, stepping closer. For the first time in years, his voice carried no arrogance, no taunting edge.


    Child tilted her head slightly, her voice barely above a whisper, yet filled with something unmistakably resolute. "You saw me. You always saw me."


    “Thank you.”


    Child blinked, barely moving. Then, for the first time since this all began, her expression shifted—less playful, less mischievous. A quiet understanding flickered in her eyes, something deeper than amusement. She had been acknowledged, truly seen. For once, she didn’t just observe—she belonged.


    Wise exhaled and turned slightly, his gaze distant. "I have things to finish. The world is not ready yet. But when it is... I''ll return."


    He looked at her again, his expression unreadable. "Wait here. When it''s done, you''ll be the first to see it."


    Child nodded slowly, her voice steady this time. "I will wait. Until the world is ready."


    Wise gave one final glance, then, without a sound, he was gone. As if he had never been there at all.


    The city was barely holding itself together. The streets twisted in ways that defied logic, buildings shimmered between states of decay and reconstruction, and the air itself carried a static hum that sent shivers down the spine.


    Brave led the team forward, his fists clenched as he surveyed the ruined skyline. "We''re close. The broadcast station is just ahead."


    Samui walked beside him, her scanner glitching every few seconds. "Wise is still influencing the area. These distortions aren''t random—he''s rewriting reality in real-time."


    "Then we move fast," Brave ordered. "Before he locks us out of our own world."


    As they neared the tower, shadows emerged from the broken cityscape. A group of figures stood in their path, eyes glowing faintly with an unnatural light.


    One of them stepped forward, draped in ragged yet ceremonial robes, their voice thick with reverence. "You can''t stop what''s already begun. The world is finally free. Wise has given us a new existence. And you? You''re relics of a dying system."


    Samui narrowed her eyes, stepping forward. "Who are you?"


    The figure tilted their head, a slow smile forming. "We are the Heralds of the New Era. The ones who have seen the truth. Wise has given us purpose beyond the decay of your system."


    Brave didn’t hesitate. "We don''t have time for this. Move."


    The Heralds of the New Era did not move. Instead, they attacked.


    Chaos erupted.


    Gunfire and plasma arcs streaked through the warped landscape. Khem engaged first, his movements impossibly fast as he weaved through the fight, striking with precision. Shining held the line, his golden aura flaring as he absorbed an onslaught of energy blasts. Senshi summoned a torrent of flame, a spectral dragon coiling around his fists as he launched into battle, his fiery strikes overwhelming enemy ranks with relentless ferocity, while Weird’s unpredictable movements threw their opponents off balance.


    Brave, Samui, and Weird pushed forward, cutting a path through the Heralds toward the tower entrance.


    The moment they stepped inside, the world outside became eerily silent. The transition was jarring—one second, they were in a battlefield, the next, a tomb-like stillness surrounded them.


    "I don''t like this," Weird muttered, his fists raised in anticipation. "Way too quiet."


    Samui rushed to the main console. Her fingers flew over the controls, her face illuminated by the flickering screens. "This isn’t just a broadcast. Wise is embedding himself into the world''s frequency. If we don’t stop this now, he won’t need to be everywhere—he’ll just be."


    The lights flickered, and then came the voice.


    “Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”


    The sound wasn’t just in the speakers—it was in the walls, the floors, the air around them.


    “You’re standing in my playground, and you think you can change the rules?”


    The station trembled. Then Wise appeared.


    He didn’t walk in—he simply was. His form flickered between presence and absence, his smile amused, his eyes piercing. He was neither fully there nor fully gone, standing at the very edge of existence.


    Brave moved first, lunging forward. But the moment his foot left the ground, he was somewhere else—standing in an empty hallway that hadn’t been there before.


    Weird threw a punch—only to feel his fist connect with air, then solidify against his own reflection.


    Samui reached for the console, only for her hands to pass through it like mist.


    Khem’s voice cut through the growing disorientation. "This isn’t teleportation. This is… perception warfare."


    Wise smirked. "I don’t need to stop you. I just need you to realize you’ve already lost."


    Brave’s fists clenched. His body burned with exhaustion, but he refused to accept defeat. "Enough of this."


    Before anyone could react, Brave turned to Senshi. "Burn everything."


    Senshi''s eyes flickered with understanding, and without hesitation, he slammed his fists together. Flames erupted from his arms, spiraling into the air before twisting into the form of a massive spectral dragon. The creature roared, its fiery presence cutting through the distorted battlefield, illuminating the warped reality Wise had created.


    The moment the dragon’s flames touched the world, the illusion flickered.


    Walls that weren’t supposed to be there vanished in bursts of embers. The floor beneath them stabilized, solidifying into something real. Shadows melted away, revealing the true architecture of the tower. Samui gasped as her console—previously intangible—became real beneath her hands.


    But the most important thing was Wise.


    For the first time, his form flickered—not by choice, but by force.


    Khem and Shining moved instantly. Khem lunged first, his movements perfectly calculated, his attack aimed directly at Wise’s shifting presence. Shining followed, his golden aura flaring as he prepared to strike.


    Wise exhaled, his smirk faltering for a fraction of a second. Then, as if something about this moment genuinely intrigued him, he rolled his shoulders.


    "Alright," he murmured, a slow grin spreading across his face. "Let’s do this properly, then."


    And for the first time, Wise fought for real.


    The world itself responded.


    Before SOF could react, Wise was already everywhere.


    Brave lunged, but an unseen force crushed him mid-stride, his body locking in place as if gravity had betrayed him. Senshi’s flames roared—only to suffocate instantly, as if the very air refused to burn. Shining’s golden glow dimmed, his energy drained before he could counter. Samui gasped as her scanner flickered wildly, unable to register the forces at play.


    Each of them—immobilized in an instant. Conscious. Aware. But completely powerless.


    Except for two.


    Khem stood untouched, frozen—not by Wise, but by his own doing. His stasis lock had activated instinctively, preserving him outside the flow of Wise’s omnipresence. He had not dodged. He had not countered. He had simply ceased.


    And Weird—Wise never even touched him.


    Instead, Wise’s presence simply skipped past him, as though he did not exist in the same ruleset as the others. Weird exhaled slowly, his usual grin twitching at the edges, uneasy.


    Wise walked through the battlefield with quiet amusement, his hands folded behind his back. "This is what happens when you fight inevitability," he mused, studying them like flawed creations.


    Brave gritted his teeth, struggling against the unseen force pinning him to the ground. He couldn''t move. None of them could.


    Wise crouched beside him, tilting his head. "Tell me, Brave," he murmured. "Where’s your fight now?"


    Brave refused to answer, but his silence only widened Wise’s smirk.


    "I don’t need to kill you." Wise stood, exhaling softly. "I’ve already won."


    With a flick of his fingers, the invisible pressure vanished. SOF collapsed, gasping, struggling to recover.


    Wise turned away, his voice carrying with effortless finality.


    "Next time, don’t waste my time."


    And then—he was gone.


    Or so he thought.


    Weird moved first. He had been watching, waiting, knowing Wise was avoiding him for a reason. That meant he had a unique advantage—one no one else had. If Wise refused to attack him, then that meant he could get close.


    He lunged forward, his usual grin gone, his movements sharper than ever. Wise barely shifted in response, his smirk returning with amusement. "Pointless."


    But then Wise stepped back.


    A flicker of something—so fast, so small, that most wouldn''t notice. But Khem did. He had been waiting in his own stillness, locked outside of time. And now, the moment was here.


    Khem dropped his stasis lock and moved. Not just at Wise, but at the very space Wise occupied.


    His hand flicked outward, touching nothing—and everything.


    The area around Wise warped instantly, an unnatural ripple spreading in all directions. Stasis touch.


    Time stilled.


    For the first time, Wise was caught inside something he didn''t control. His form flickered wildly, phasing in and out as he struggled against the effect. His omnipresence bent—but it didn''t break.


    He snarled.


    It was the first true reaction of frustration they had ever seen from him.


    Brave, still gasping from the earlier attack, saw it happen. He pushed himself up, pain roaring through his limbs, but his eyes locked onto the sight of Wise—not moving.


    "We can hit him!" Brave roared. "NOW!"


    Senshi, Shining, and Samui didn’t hesitate. The counterattack began.


    Wise’s omnipresence flickered violently, his form stuttering between locations as he struggled against Khem’s expanding stasis field. For the first time, Wise wasn’t shifting at will—he was forced into a singular space.


    Shining charged, his glow flaring to full strength. Senshi’s flames reignited, roaring across his fists as he surged forward. Brave moved in tandem, fists clenched, his mind sharpening on the single truth that had just been revealed: Wise could be hit.


    Khem pressed his advantage, his hands carving lines of frozen time through the air, trying to expand the stasis field further. "He’s adjusting—keep up the pressure!" he warned.


    Brave was the first to strike, his fist colliding with Wise’s side. For the first time, Wise’s body reacted—not by fading, not by dodging, but by physically taking the hit. A shockwave blasted outward from the impact, sending fractures through the already-distorted battlefield.


    Wise exhaled sharply, staggering back. Then, a slow grin curled at the edges of his lips.


    "Interesting," he mused, rolling his shoulders. "You actually forced me to stop playing."


    He exhaled again—only this time, the breath didn’t dissipate. The air around him twisted, bending as though space itself was folding inward.


    Reality buckled.


    The battlefield collapsed and reformed simultaneously—walls stretched and curled into impossible spirals, the floor folded into itself, gravity inverted at random points.


    Senshi barely caught himself as he nearly fell upward. "Oh, hell no—he’s shifting the entire battlefield!"


    Samui’s scanner flared with red warnings. "He’s not just recovering—he’s restructuring the world around him. If he locks us inside his own ruleset, we won’t be able to fight back!"


    Brave’s jaw clenched as he dug his feet into the warping ground. "Then we don’t let him finish. We hit him before he completes whatever the hell he’s doing!"


    But Wise only chuckled, his form flickering at the edges. "You’re welcome to try."


    The fight was no longer about strength. Now, they were fighting against reality itself.


    Wise’s presence twisted the battlefield further. Walls curled into spirals, the ceiling flickered between solid and intangible, and the ground beneath SOF’s feet pulsed as if alive. Every step felt uncertain, every motion stretched and compressed unpredictably. The battlefield was no longer a space—it was an ever-changing, chaotic domain controlled by Wise’s will.


    Brave gritted his teeth as he adjusted his stance. "We can’t fight like this—we need to find the stable points!"


    Samui’s scanner was failing, but she kept it running, trying to pick up any possible patterns. The data was unstable, but one thing became clear: Wise’s distortions weren’t completely random. There were moments, fractions of seconds, where parts of reality stabilized.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "He can’t maintain all of this at once!" Samui shouted. "There are weak points—sections where the world stays normal!"


    Shining’s glow flared as he extended his light, trying to mark those stable zones. "Then let’s use them! Stay in the light!"


    Brave immediately adjusted, moving toward one of Shining’s marks before attacking again. His punch connected harder than before—Wise was still fast, but now, SOF could predict where he would be.


    Senshi let out a deep breath and launched forward, his flames spiraling around him as he targeted Wise’s midsection. The fire roared and twisted unnaturally, but he aimed for a stable moment—and landed a blow that seared through Wise’s flickering form.


    Wise stepped back, his smirk faltering ever so slightly. For the first time, he was reacting.


    Khem moved next, using his stasis touch not on Wise, but on the shifting battlefield itself. He extended his power in sharp bursts, freezing sections of the arena in a locked state for a few seconds, creating paths where SOF could move freely.


    "Take the openings!" Khem commanded.


    Brave and Senshi didn’t hesitate. Shining’s marks, Khem’s stasis control, and Samui’s analysis gave them a rhythm—a way to strike through Wise’s chaos.


    Wise exhaled slowly, his smile returning, but there was something else behind it now. Interest.


    "You’re adapting," he mused. "Not bad."


    His form flickered—then the battlefield warped again.


    "But you still don’t understand," Wise continued, his voice layered and distorted. "This is my world. And you are still just visitors."


    Reality twisted even further. SOF had found a way to attack—but Wise wasn’t done yet.


    Then, everything snapped.


    One moment, SOF was fighting together, their coordination closing the gap between them and Wise.


    The next—they were gone.


    Brave blinked and found himself alone.


    The battlefield, the shifting architecture, the presence of his team—all gone. The only thing that remained was an endless corridor, spiraling outward into infinity.


    "Senshi?" Brave called out, but his voice echoed back at him.


    No answer.


    Elsewhere, Shining and Samui tumbled through a zero-gravity void, weightless, unable to orient themselves as the space around them folded in impossible directions.


    Khem and Weird stood together in the battlefield—the only two Wise had not displaced.


    "He’s isolating us!" Samui’s voice crackled over comms, laced with static. "We can’t fight him if we’re apart!"


    Wise’s voice echoed through every distorted space, layered and omnipresent. "You’re clever, but strength means nothing when you’re alone. You only think you can win because you’re together."


    Khem’s fingers twitched. His stasis energy pulsed slightly—something was shifting.


    Weird, standing beside him, exhaled and rolled his shoulders. "Well. Guess it’s just us now."


    Wise appeared in front of them, fully formed, not flickering, not shifting—this time, he was facing them directly.


    "You two are the real problem," Wise said, his grin widening. His eyes flicked toward Khem. "And you—your existence is an anomaly I don’t like."


    Khem tensed, his instincts screaming. Wise was going to eliminate him first.


    Then, Khem reached forward and activated his Stasis Touch.


    But this time—it didn’t just freeze a section of the battlefield.


    Something was different.


    Everything went silent. The distortions ceased. The weight of reality pressing down on them disappeared.


    Weird inhaled sharply. "What did you just do?"


    Khem''s stasis pulse expanded, stretching outward, affecting more than just the battlefield. His vision blurred slightly as he felt something—an extension of his ability—grasping at something deeper. But before he could process it fully, the moment snapped back into motion.


    Wise hesitated for a fraction of a second—his form flickering unpredictably, as if something had momentarily disrupted him. But then, with a sharp exhale, he reasserted himself, his presence slamming back into reality like a crashing wave.


    Wise narrowed his eyes at Khem, his expression shifting—not with amusement, but with recognition. Then, his smirk returned, sharper, more predatory. "So that''s where the real threat lies."


    In an instant, Wise moved. No theatrics, no illusions—just pure, overwhelming force directed straight at Khem.


    Khem barely had time to react before reality itself seemed to crush in around him. The air turned dense, gravity multiplied, and unseen hands of distorted space wrapped around him, trying to erase him from the battlefield.


    Weird lunged forward, intercepting the attack just before it could fully consume Khem. But Wise didn’t even look at him. He refused to engage Weird, instead pressing down harder on Khem.


    “This won’t be like before,” Wise said smoothly, voice layered with echoes. “I let you exist because I found you amusing. But you’re becoming a problem.”


    Khem struggled against the suffocating force. His mind raced, trying to recalibrate his stasis energy—but Wise wasn’t just attacking him. Wise was unraveling him.


    Weird snarled. "Oh, hell no." Without hesitation, he threw himself at Wise again, forcing the tyrant to acknowledge him.


    For a split second, Wise’s attack on Khem faltered—but not enough. Khem gasped for breath, his body feeling like it was stretched between multiple timelines, just shy of breaking.


    Then, in the fragmented void where the rest of SOF had been scattered—they started fighting back.


    Brave and Senshi ran through the infinite corridor, the walls looping and stretching, trying to separate them further. But Brave had noticed something—small moments of stability.


    "Senshi! The walls shift on a pattern—see it?!"


    Senshi clenched his fists, his flames curling around them. "Yeah. I see it."


    Brave timed his movements perfectly, hitting a solid section of the wall with everything he had. The corridor cracked like glass.


    A hole tore through the illusion, revealing the battlefield again.


    Shining and Samui, trapped in zero gravity, finally found their way toward a point of stability.


    Samui’s scanner flickered wildly. "It’s not real gravity—it’s a construct!"


    Shining adjusted his golden light, forcing a beam of energy outward. The void around them rippled—then collapsed.


    In seconds, they were falling—back into the battlefield.


    Wise’s eyes flickered, his omnipresence stretching again, trying to reassert control. But SOF was breaking free.


    "Oh?" Wise murmured, tilting his head as he felt his perfect battlefield starting to crack. "You lot are more stubborn than I thought."


    Brave, Senshi, Shining, and Samui reappeared, landing on the battlefield with heavy breaths, weapons ready.


    Wise exhaled slowly. "Fine. If you insist on wasting my time—" His attention snapped back to Khem. "Then I’ll remove the problem first."


    And he struck again, his full power bearing down on Khem.


    A crushing force slammed into Khem’s body like the weight of a collapsing star. Space twisted around him, unseen hands of reality itself pulling him apart at the seams. He gasped, every nerve in his body screaming.


    Weird moved instantly, throwing himself between them, arms out. But Wise’s attack ignored him. Passed through him.


    Wise smirked. "You’re still not worth hitting."


    Khem felt his muscles failing, his stasis energy flickering in and out. His ability tried to push against Wise’s overwhelming force, but it wasn’t enough. Wise wasn’t just suppressing him—he was unraveling him.


    Something inside Khem pulsed. A whisper of something greater.


    For a moment, his mind flickered, grasping at something beyond his control—


    Then Wise’s attack fully landed.


    A shockwave blasted outward.


    Khem hit the ground hard, his vision darkening at the edges. His breath came in ragged gasps. He was still alive—but barely. His limbs twitched, but he couldn’t move. His body had reached its limit.


    "Tsk," Wise muttered, rolling his shoulders. "You lasted longer than I expected."


    Brave, Senshi, and Shining moved in to cover Khem, forcing Wise to step back slightly.


    Weird took a sharp breath and suddenly sprinted forward. His grin widened, but his eyes were sharper than ever. He wasn’t going for an attack—he was throwing himself into every strike Wise made.


    The next time Wise lashed out with a wave of warped energy, Weird jumped into it. The force struck him—and instantly rebounded, slamming back toward Wise.


    Wise flickered out of the way, barely avoiding the reflected impact. His eyes narrowed.


    "Tch. So that''s your plan?" he murmured.


    Weird didn’t answer—he just kept moving, dodging nothing, intercepting everything.


    Another pulse of gravity bent toward Brave—but Weird took the hit first. The force coiled around him, then snapped backward, disrupting Wise’s form for a brief second.


    Brave caught on immediately. "He''s forcing the rebound effect! We can use this!"


    Wise exhaled slowly, his smirk still present, but his gaze sharpened with calculation. For the first time, he wasn’t just toying with them—he was analyzing.


    "Hmph. Amusing," he muttered, but now there was something colder behind it. "But every ability has a limit. Let’s find yours."


    Weird lunged toward another attack, ready to take the hit and trigger the rebound—


    But Wise didn’t strike. Instead, he redirected his attack mid-motion, splitting it into countless micro-forces, dispersing them across the battlefield.


    Weird’s body tensed. He tried to throw himself into one of the distortions, but they were too small, too scattered. His power couldn’t reflect what it couldn’t fully absorb.


    Samui’s scanner blared warnings. "He’s adapting! He’s minimizing his attacks to bypass Weird’s reflection!"


    Wise let out a low chuckle, tilting his head. "You’re quick, but you never considered what happens when I stop hitting in ways you expect. Now, let’s see how well you handle the unexpected."


    In an instant, he attacked again—not with one massive force, but hundreds of scattered distortions, converging from all directions.


    Weird reacted immediately. If he couldn’t counter Wise’s dispersed attacks directly, he would force the effect another way.


    Without hesitation, he threw himself against Brave, his body nearly glued to his teammate just as Wise''s next attack came down.


    The distortion struck Brave—only to instantly recoil off Weird and rebound back toward Wise.


    "Tch!" Wise barely dodged the reflected energy, his smirk thinning slightly.


    Weird kept moving, keeping himself close to any SOF member about to be attacked. Every time Wise tried to strike one of them, Weird was there first, forcing the damage to bounce back.


    Samui widened her eyes. "He''s using himself as a shield! Wise can''t land a clean hit on anyone!"


    Brave clenched his fists, realizing the opening. "Then we press forward! Don’t give him time to adapt again!"


    Wise, however, was already adjusting.


    His smirk returned, but this time, it carried something more sinister. "Enough playing. Let’s go back to the beginning."


    In a single motion, Wise raised his hand—and reality bent. The space around him crackled as something formed out of pure conceptual energy. It was no ordinary weapon. It was invention itself.


    A beam of shifting, translucent light ignited in his grasp—a power nullifying force unlike anything seen before.


    "You’ve relied on that ability of yours for too long," Wise murmured, his tone almost curious. "Let’s see what happens when it’s gone."


    He pointed the newly-formed weapon at Weird and fired.


    The beam, a combination of pure nullification and Wise’s own power, cut through space, spiraling toward Weird. Weird moved to intercept it, expecting the usual rebound—


    —But it didn’t reflect.


    For the first time in his life, Weird felt pain.


    The force hit him directly, sending him skidding across the battlefield, a stunned expression on his face. His entire body trembled—not from fear, but from the sheer foreignness of the sensation.


    He clutched his chest where the beam had struck, his breath sharp and uneven. "What… the hell?"


    The battlefield went silent for a brief moment as SOF realized what had just happened.


    Wise twirled the beam between his fingers, his smirk widening. "Now… let’s see how you fight when you’re just another mortal."


    He raised the beam again, this time charging it with a force unlike before. The very air around it trembled, and the battlefield seemed to distort under its sheer presence. This wasn’t just an attack—it was meant to erase.


    Weird gritted his teeth, already moving. His body was failing him, but he could still fight. And if Wise had truly found a way to nullify his power, then there was only one option left—to take the hit for the others.


    He sprinted forward, throwing himself directly into Wise’s line of fire. His breath was ragged, his body screaming at him to stop, but his mind was set. If this was the end, at least he could make it count.


    The beam fired.


    And then—


    But something was wrong.


    Khem felt a pressure inside his chest, like something had just torn open within him. But he didn’t stop running. He didn’t even register the pain—because all he could see was Weird, about to die.


    His lungs burned as he sprinted, feet pounding against the unstable battlefield. His body felt too slow, too human, while the beam hurtled toward its target. He wasn’t going to make it.


    No. Move faster.


    His legs pushed harder, the muscles straining beyond their limit. Faster.


    The gap between him and Weird was closing, but not fast enough. Wise’s attack was already there, light bending in a way that felt inescapable.


    No. NO.


    His pulse roared. He reached out—


    Then, everything stopped.


    A deep, unnatural silence swallowed the battlefield, heavier than anything he had ever felt before. His heartbeat pounded in his ears, yet he couldn''t move—no, not just him. Nothing moved.


    At first, he thought he had blacked out. But then, his senses caught up. The dust that had been kicked up from the blast hung in the air like a still image. The flickering lights of the damaged transmission tower stood frozen mid-spark. Weird, caught mid-leap, remained suspended in the air, inches away from destruction.


    No.


    Khem’s body moved before his mind could catch up. He saw the attack coming, saw the force that would erase Weird from existence, and he knew—he wouldn’t make it in time.


    His legs pushed forward, but they felt like they were sinking into the ground. He had to move faster. His pulse roared in his ears. He had to stop this.


    Every fiber of his being screamed in resistance. He reached out, desperate, willing himself to close the gap. He had to reach Weird. He had to save him.


    He wouldn’t let it happen.


    He wouldn’t let another one of them fall.


    Then, just as his fingertips nearly grazed Weird’s shoulder—


    His fingers twitched. His breathing came in slow, ragged gasps. He tried to speak, but his voice didn’t carry—as if the very fabric of time had locked in place.


    His vision blurred for a split second. Was this death? Had Wise’s attack already landed?


    Then he realized—he was still standing. And nothing else was.


    This was something else.


    Not just the attack. Not just Wise. All of it.


    The battlefield locked in place, an eerie, unnatural stillness swallowing everything. The dust, once swirling in chaotic bursts, now hung suspended, frozen mid-motion like a painting. The flickering lights of the transmission tower crackled and sparked—yet remained eerily motionless, trapped in the moment. The entire world had become a snapshot, caught in an instant that refused to move forward. Weird, caught mid-leap, remained suspended in the air, inches away from destruction.


    Time itself had ceased.


    And at the center of it all—Khem stood, his body radiating with an unnatural glow. His breathing was heavy, his stance unsteady, but his eyes burned with a clarity he had never felt before.


    He had stopped time.


    His gaze snapped to Weird, frozen in his final act of defiance. To Wise, locked mid-smirk, unaware of what had just occurred. To the battlefield, chaos frozen in time, the battle itself suspended in a single, motionless instant.


    This was his moment.


    His hands clenched into fists. This fight… wasn’t over.


    Khem inhaled sharply, his body trembling under the weight of his own power. He tried to move—his foot barely lifted off the ground before it felt like an invisible force crushed down on him. The stillness he had created wasn''t just affecting the battlefield—it was affecting him too.


    His breath came in ragged gasps as he clenched his fists, struggling against his own frozen reality. Move. I have to move.


    At first, it was like pushing through solid stone. Every muscle resisted, every fiber of his being told him he was part of the stopped world. But he refused to accept it. His fingers twitched, his knees bent ever so slightly. He focused, not on forcing himself free, but on letting go—


    Not all at once. Not completely. Just enough.


    He let the edges of the stasis loosen, easing the pressure off himself while keeping the world around him frozen. A slow exhale left his lips as he felt the shift. His movements became easier, controlled. His arm lifted—trembling, but moving.


    For the first time since time had stopped, Khem was moving inside his own power.


    It was working.


    The realization hit him like a surge of electricity—he could move. And if he could move, then he could save Weird.


    Without hesitation, Khem turned toward Weird, reaching out and shoving at his frozen form. But Weird didn’t budge. His body was locked in the same stillness as everything else, untouched by the flow of time.


    Khem gritted his teeth. He didn’t have time to think—he had to get Weird out before his own strength gave out.


    He adjusted his focus, shifting his control. Just like he had eased the stasis off himself, he had to release Weird without letting the rest of the world slip free.


    His breathing grew heavier as he concentrated, his vision blurring at the edges. The strain was building. His head pounded, his muscles trembled, but slowly—Weird’s form flickered.


    First, his fingers twitched. Then, his shoulders slumped slightly. Khem pushed harder, his legs shaking beneath him.


    Move. Please, move.


    The effort was draining him faster than he expected. His grip on time itself wavered, the edges of the frozen battlefield beginning to shudder. He had to do this before he lost consciousness.


    With one final burst of effort, Khem grabbed Weird by the arm and yanked him free from the stasis lock.


    Then, he let go.


    Time surged forward in an instant.


    The battlefield roared back to life, the static stillness breaking like shattered glass. The momentum of Wise''s beam, frozen mid-flight, resumed its deadly course—but Khem’s intervention had thrown off its trajectory. The blast streaked past where Weird had been and exploded harmlessly in the distance, tearing into the ruins beyond.


    For the first time since his ascension, Wise stopped smiling.


    His expression was unreadable, his piercing gaze locked onto Khem, who lay sprawled on the floor, breathing heavily, still gripping Weird. The exhaustion in Khem’s face was evident, his body barely able to respond.


    Wise took a slow step forward, his voice dangerously quiet.


    “What did you do?”


    SOF barely had time to register what had happened. Brave, Senshi, Samui, and Shining looked around in disbelief, their bodies tense from the sheer force of the moment. None of them had seen it—none of them understood how Khem had just stopped time itself.


    But Wise did.


    His piercing gaze locked onto Khem, and for the first time since his ascension, his voice carried something other than amusement.


    “You… are a problem.”


    In a blink, Wise raised his hand, and the power-nullifying beam reignited, surging toward Khem with terrifying speed.


    Khem barely had time to register what was happening—his body refused to move, drained from the weight of stopping time itself.


    The beam should have hit him.


    But it didn’t.


    The space between Khem and Wise remained frozen—the residual stasis from Khem’s power lingered, locking the air, the battlefield, and even Wise’s attack mid-flight.


    The beam crackled violently, its energy collapsing against an invisible barrier, frozen in time, unable to move forward.


    Wise’s smirk faltered. He had not accounted for this.


    Khem’s breath came in ragged gasps, his vision swimming. He tried to lift his arm, but even that simple motion sent waves of exhaustion through him. He needed to move. He needed to get away.


    Before he could react, a pair of hands grabbed him.


    Weird.


    “Alright, buddy, time to go,” Weird muttered, his usual grin strained. With a powerful yank, he pulled Khem away—just as the stasis barrier began to collapse.


    The second the frozen space released, Wise’s beam surged forward once more, ripping through the air where Khem had just been. The explosion from its impact sent shockwaves through the battlefield, forcing SOF to shield themselves from the blast.


    Khem barely registered the destruction. His body felt like it was sinking into itself, the weight of time manipulation pressing down on him. He had stopped time, but now time was trying to reclaim him.


    Weird dragged him further back, his grip firm but steady. "Yeah, yeah, you did something crazy—now let''s not die before we figure out what the hell just happened, alright?"


    Wise remained still, then he turned his attention to the lingering remnants of stasis scattered across the battlefield. Slowly, he stepped forward, his eyes gleaming with curiosity. He raised a hand, passing it through one of the invisible distortions, watching as the air itself resisted his touch before snapping back into place.


    "Interesting..." Wise murmured, his voice laced with genuine intrigue. He didn’t attack. Not yet. Instead, he began moving deliberately, testing each remaining fragment of frozen time, studying the way they reacted to his presence.


    His inaction granted SOF a moment of respite.


    Brave immediately seized the opportunity. "Samui, check on Khem. Now."


    Samui was already moving, kneeling beside Khem as he lay slumped against Weird, his breaths shallow, his face pale. She scanned him quickly, her fingers pressing against his wrist. "His vitals are unstable. Whatever he did, it''s taking a toll on him."


    "Can he still fight?" Brave asked, his voice tight.


    Samui hesitated, then shook her head. "Not like this. He’s barely holding on."


    Brave’s jaw clenched. They had managed to get Khem out of immediate danger, but Wise wasn’t done. Not even close.


    Wise, still eerily quiet, raised his hand again—not to attack, but to test. He reached toward the lingering distortions of stasis Khem had left behind, his fingers brushing against the frozen space.


    The air around his touch shuddered, resisting him at first. Then, with a slow smirk, he pushed further, twisting his grip slightly. The frozen distortion shifted—not breaking, but bending under his influence.


    "Ah," Wise murmured, watching the anomaly ripple outward. "So even time can be reshaped."


    He moved fluidly through the battlefield, his gaze scanning the lingering effects of Khem’s ability. With every step, he reached out and altered another piece of frozen time, warping it into something new.


    Then, the effects began to manifest.


    Brave’s fist clenched involuntarily, a strange delay between his intention to move and his body actually responding. Something was wrong.


    Samui’s scanner beeped erratically. "Our movements—! They’re desynchronizing!"


    Khem, still barely conscious, tried to lift his head. "He’s… rewriting it…" His voice was weak, but the warning was clear.


    Wise wasn’t just studying Khem’s power—he was manipulating it.


    Brave lunged forward, trying to close the distance between them—only for his momentum to shift unpredictably, as if time itself had lagged behind his action. His punch swung through empty space, hitting nothing but an afterimage of where Wise had been.


    Senshi’s flames flickered unpredictably, bursts of fire appearing and vanishing before he could control them. Shining tried to generate his golden aura, but the energy lagged, dispersing too late to be effective.


    Even Weird stumbled slightly, feeling his balance betray him. "Okay, yeah, that’s new."


    He took another step forward, his presence pressing down on the battlefield as more of the lingering stasis warped around him.


    "Let’s see how long you last in a world that refuses to follow your rules."


    Brave clenched his fists. "We can’t let him keep control. Samui, what do you see?"


    Samui’s scanner flickered erratically as she tried to pinpoint weak spots in Wise’s distortions. "He’s stabilizing reality in bursts. There are brief moments where he’s more focused on rewriting than defending himself. That’s our window."


    Brave’s mind raced. If they could keep Wise distracted long enough, Khem might get a chance to strike.


    "Then we give him everything we’ve got. Senshi, pin him down. Shining, lock down his movements. Weird, force him to react to you. Samui, track the gaps. We make Wise fight on our terms."


    Weird exhaled sharply, rolling his shoulders. Even without his ability, he wasn’t about to sit this out. His fists clenched as he glanced toward Khem, who was still struggling to keep himself upright. If Wise figured out Khem was their last hope, he’d eliminate him immediately.


    Weird grinned to himself. "Guess that means I’m your bodyguard, Khem."


    Brave caught his eye and nodded, understanding instantly. Weird would run defense, keeping Khem safe while the others pressed the attack.


    Weird moved fast, positioning himself between Khem and Wise. The moment Wise shifted toward Khem, Weird threw himself into the path of the attack. Even without his powers, he refused to let Wise get through.


    At the same time, Weird’s eyes scanned Wise’s movements carefully. The way he adjusted his stance, the slight flicker before he rewrote the battlefield—there was a pattern.


    "Brave! Senshi!" Weird shouted. "He moves right before he gets hit! Aim where he''s going to be, not where he is!"


    Brave barely hesitated before adjusting his stance. Senshi’s flames roared to life, redirected toward the exact spot Weird had called out.


    Wise stepped back—but for the first time, he was forced into an uncomfortable dodge.


    "Hah!" Weird grinned. "Gotcha, you smug bastard."


    Samui immediately capitalized. Her remote flicked between controls, switching channels rapidly. In a split-second adjustment, she swapped Brave and Senshi’s positions, placing Senshi directly in Wise’s path just as his flames surged. Wise barely had time to react, his evasion disrupted by the sudden shift. rewinding Wise’s step just slightly, causing him to momentarily glitch back into a previous movement. Shining''s golden aura flared, locking him into position as Senshi’s flames closed in.


    Wise barely managed to shift away, but it wasn’t as clean as before. He narrowed his eyes, preparing to activate his omnipresence combination again—


    But the moment he flickered, Samui’s remote clicked.


    For just a fraction of a second, Wise paused, his form freezing mid-motion. Then, as he regained control, another rewind hit, forcing him back into a previous stance. His movement stuttered, breaking the seamless flow of his attacks. Samui’s eyes flicked to her scanner, searching for the next opportunity. "Stay sharp! I can swap you in if you need an opening! And if he tries that omnipresence trick again—I''ll make sure he glitches instead!" The battlefield was changing—SOF was learning.


    And the longer they kept him occupied, the more time Khem had to prepare his final move.


    But Wise was already adapting.


    His sharp eyes caught onto the shifting patterns—Samui''s rewinds, Senshi’s flames cutting his escape, Brave’s attacks forcing him toward weaker positions, and Shining’s light attempting to seal his movements at every turn. He exhaled slowly, his smirk thinning. "Cute. You think you''ve figured it out."


    Then, Wise stopped dodging altogether.


    Instead of avoiding their attacks, he let them land—only for them to pass through a version of him that had already left the moment.


    Senshi’s flame dragon struck first—but Wise had already dodged before the attack existed.


    Brave lunged—only to be hit by a strike from Wise that had been placed in the past.


    Shining launched his light-binding technique—but Wise had already freed himself before it had even activated.


    "Oh no…" Samui’s scanner flickered erratically, struggling to register the battlefield. "He''s—he''s attacking from multiple points in time simultaneously!"


    Wise’s voice echoed across the battlefield, layered and distorted. "Your reactions are too slow. You’re already dead before you even realize it."


    Temporal Collapse had begun.


    SOF’s coordination fell apart in an instant.


    Brave swung—and was countered before his punch fully extended.


    Senshi flared his flames—only for Wise’s attack to land before he even finished summoning his fire.


    Samui tried to rewind Wise—but her remote lagged, caught between multiple states of time.


    Shining tried to adjust his light field—but Wise moved through past and future versions of himself, already knowing where not to be.


    For the first time, Wise was no longer simply reacting.


    He was untouchable. He was everywhere. And he was erasing them before they could even fight back.


    Khem’s pulse pounded in his ears.


    He had to stop time.


    Khem started signaling Weird, a subtle motion that only the strategist would notice. Weird’s gaze flickered, and he began discreetly signaling the rest of SOF—letting them know Khem was ready.


    But Wise noticed.


    His omnipresent awareness locked onto Khem instantly. Before anyone could react, Wise shifted his entire focus toward him.


    Weird didn’t hesitate. He threw himself in front of Khem, arms outstretched—


    Then, everything stopped.


    Khem had stopped time for the second time.


    His breath was heavy, his vision locking onto Wise—but then he saw it.


    Weird, lying on top of him, his body shielding Khem. A massive amount of red liquid gushed from him, pooling across the frozen battlefield.


    Khem’s heart pounded. Weird had taken the full force of Wise’s attack.


    Shock threatened to consume him, but he shoved it aside. He had to finish this now, or Weird’s sacrifice would be meaningless.


    Khem forced his shaking arms to push Weird’s body away, rolling him gently to the side. His body ached, but he ignored it, moving as fast as he could.


    His target—Wise.


    Khem rushed forward, every step an eternity in the frozen world. His hand stretched out, reaching for Wise’s face—


    Then, just before he could make contact—


    Wise’s hand moved.


    A powerful grip clamped onto Khem’s wrist. Wise’s smirk was gone, his expression replaced with raw focus. He was aware.


    He was breaking through the stopped time.


    Khem’s breath hitched. Wise was brute-forcing his way through, his sheer power tearing through the frozen reality.


    Khem had to act—now. He threw his other hand toward Wise’s torso—


    But an invisible force slammed against him.


    Wise was now partially moving in frozen time.


    Khem struggled, pushing through the resistance, trying to break Wise’s grip. If this went on any longer, even his time stop wouldn’t be enough.


    This was it. The final moment.


    Khem’s body strained under the force of Wise’s resistance, every muscle screaming at him to stop. But he didn’t.


    Instead, he smirked.


    Wise’s eyes flickered—not with fear, but with something close to confusion. Khem wasn’t afraid.


    The force against him grew stronger, time itself straining under Wise’s sheer willpower. But Khem didn’t fight it head-on. He just let out a slow breath and spoke.


    "You feel that, Wise?"


    Wise’s grip tightened.


    "That’s not me struggling. That’s you losing control."


    For the first time, Wise hesitated.


    The battlefield around them wavered, his omnipresence flickering. He was brute-forcing his way through stopped time, but now he felt it—the cracks forming around him.


    Khem seized the moment. With every ounce of his remaining strength, he tore his wrist free from Wise’s grip and slammed his second hand into Wise’s torso. Stasis lock activated.