CHAPTER 28: ONLY I LEVEL UP (1)

The world held its breath as the golden light encased the Third Gate platform, pulsating with the energy of Mireya’s transformation. Tao Cheng’s troops, once coordinated and formidable, now stumbled under the blinding luminosity.

A momentary hesitation gripped them, their formation fracturing as the ground trembled like the steed of a restless spirit. A rift in the sky like a ripping seam widened, darkening the air with threads of violet and gold.

The wind wailed fiercely, not with a chilling bite but as if memory itself was stirring from a long slumber; something ancient was awakening.

Ning staggered forward, heart pounding in his chest, his arms wrapping around Mireya to lend support. He could feel the remnants of his own being shifting alongside her. A sovereign core merging, reconfiguring the very fabric of his existence.

As this transformation coursed through him, unfamiliar senses flooded his mind, unveiling layers of reality that had once been veiled. He could feel it, the tremors of something powerful rippling just beneath the surface, an energy steeped in shadows and bright as daylight.

Sovereign frequencies and the resonance of countless souls merged in intricate patterns racing through his thoughts like whispers of a forgotten past.

"What is this?" he murmured, feeling Mireya lean into him breaths short and labored.

"It’s not just energy..." Her voice was steadier than he expected. "It’s a convergence. Things are "

"Look out!" Aeris shouted, disrupting their moment. The battlefield erupted into chaos.

Tao Cheng regained his composure, rallying his troops. He bellowed orders, his voice slicing through the confusion like steel amidst flesh.

"Restructure! Recalibrate! Open fire!"

Mireya’s eyes widened with dread as suppressor rounds erupted from the Guild elites, slicing through the air with intent.

Viera quickly thrust her hands forward, a shimmering barrier emerging just in time to absorb the impact, though not without effort; her brows knitted in concentration, blood trickling from her nose.

"Hold them back!" she yelled, desperation lacing her voice. "I can’t sustain this for long!"

The ground shuddered under the weight of the conflict; cracks spidered beneath them, and chaos reigned supreme.

Ning felt his heart drop as he watched Aeris’ graceful yet deadly weaving through enemy fire, dismantling weapons with a deftness he could hardly fathom.

Lyra, a whirlwind of ferocity, kept them at bay, striking at the Guild soldiers who sought to encircle their group.

"Stay strong!" Ning called out, though his voice felt small amidst the clamor.

But he didn’t strike back; he stood rooted, his eyes lost in the fissure of the sky above. Something called to him through the veil, a whisper now drowning in the rising tide of noise.

"You broke the seal too soon. You fractured the Pattern..." It resonated through him a warning drenched in a rage older than the Sovereigns.

Mireya turned her gaze up, voice trembling yet assured.

"We were never supposed to open it. Not yet. The Thread wasn’t finished. The balance wasn’t ready." She took a tentative step towards the platform’s edge, eyes wide. "It’s not just us they’re coming for, Ning. The Rift remembers...the First War."

Tao Cheng’s furious shout cut through her words.

"You don’t know what you’ve done! You’ve undone the Sleep!" His frustration boiled over as he locked his eyes onto Ning’s. "You were supposed to contain it!"

Ning opened his mouth, but no words came; fear gripped him as the ground cracked with a violent thrash, splitting the platform.

He barely had time to react as Tao and half his squad fell backward, their bodies scrambling for solid ground. A beam of golden-black energy erupted from the newly formed chasm, a shockwave pummeling them with raw force.

"Move!" Ning shouted, wrenching Mireya back just as they were swept away, not by the physical force of the blast but by something far more profound.

Silence descended heavy and unnerving.

From the chasm that now marred the ancient stone of the platform, a figure began to rise, defying logic and reason. Not summoned nor alive, yet undeniably humanoid. Its silhouette flickered a shifting mirage tethered to the remnants of existence.

Obsidian skin beckoned with glowing threads of golden runes, flickering pulses that ensnared the gaze. Empty eyes yet Ning felt them penetrating his very soul, reading every whisper of dread in his heart.

"I am the First Pattern," it spoke not as a voice but as a consuming presence that mingled in each mind, present an unholy truth that gripped them like ice in the veins.

Ning’s body felt as though it were encased in lead; the gravity of the being’s words weighed heavily on him. He struggled against this invisible weight. No longer a Sovereign nor Reclaimer, this was something wholly other.

"Mireya!" he cried, but his voice was swallowed by the tension.

She collapsed not from weakness but from an overwhelming resonance that enveloped her. The threadlight radiating from her exploded a blinding flare before fading into desperate pulses.

Viera wailed in horror as her protective barrier shattered, sending fragments of energy spiraling into the void. Tao Cheng, witnessing the creature, fell to his knees, eyes wide with an ancient terror as if he were peering into the abyss of time itself.

"What have we done?" he whispered, disbelief gripping his features. "Your war was never yours to fight," the entity continued in its tone, unwavering like a narrative woven into the stars. "You wore our broken weapons. You lived inside our abandoned prisons. You have disturbed the last seal."

Ning’s heart raced. With each word, he felt the amalgamation of guilt and fear coiling tightly around him, intoxicating him in its embrace.

Shadows flickered around the entity as a second silhouette began to rise beside the First, and then a third, a grotesque ballet of neon darkness lurking just beyond the boundary of understanding.

They were pieces of something more significant, fragments of a god, splintered across memory and time, each carrying ancient weight.

The Rift above opened wider, revealing glimpses of a realm not bound by stars but by threads, constellations with minds of their own, pulsating with the energy that transcended the tangible. Memory choice and debt merged into a tapestry of fate.

"No, stop!" Ning gasped, retreating a step as a choking realization sank in. A grim understanding dawned upon him.

The First Pattern raised its hand, and the Guild soldiers around them erupted into screams. It wasn’t physical pain; it was the agony of revelation, past lives unraveling within their minds. Wars they had never fought betrayals they hadn’t endured, sliced through them.

Some collapsed, others clawed at their heads as if trying to escape the prison of their own minds. A few simply dropped their weapons, terror painted across their faces as they fled.

"Ning!" Aeris’s voice broke through the madness as she gripped his arm, her grasp tightening in panic and disbelief. "What is that? Why does it feel like it knows me?"

He couldn’t form the words; his mind raced, refusing to register the horrors unfolding around them. The name echoed like a distilled curse within him.

"The Architect..."

"What do we do?" Lyra implored, blood streaming down her temple, her eyes wild with fear. "We can’t let this happen! We have to fight!"

Ning felt the familiar warmth of camaraderie deep within him, clashing with the surreal nightmare claiming their reality.

"There’s more at stake than just us, Lyra! This is beyond anything we can combat with weapons."

The Architect, the First Pattern, loomed over them, its looming voice resonating deep within their very essence.

"You were warned. The Pattern is unraveling. Sovereign Reclaimer Guild. You are all fractures in the same dying weave."

"Can we fix it?" Aeris cried, desperation radiating from her; her blue eyes tempered with resolve. "Can we mend it?"

The Architect seemed to pause its eyes unseeing yet all-knowing bore into Ning’s soul.

"We can begin again. From silence. From ash."

"What?" Lyra echoed incredulously. "You mean to destroy everything?!"

"Not everything," Ning interjected. Tension wound tightly in the air, and he fought against the rising terror. "Don’t you understand? This isn’t just about fighting through this moment; it’s about understanding what lies within the rift."

"You seem awfully composed," Tao Cheng spoke from his place on the ground, anger simmering beneath fear. "What do you know?!"

"I’m terrified, just like all of you!" Ning shot back, frustration mingling with fear. "But we can’t use force here. Think! This isn’t merely an enemy; it’s an embodiment of something much greater than we are!"

A low rumble of agreement echoed from behind, but the battlefield shifted. The platform quaked again, a warning reverberating through the air.

"From the open Rift, something descends," the Architect intoned, and its arm extended toward the heavens as if beckoning.

And then it appeared.

A city not floating nor simply alighting on the platform but rather falling as if severed from another realm, tumbling towards them with an insatiable force.

The ancient stones glimmered, captured by their own secrets as the shadows of their walls emerged against the encroaching light from the rift.

Ning felt his heart plummet as dread filled every crevice of his being. "Brace yourselves!"

"RUN!" Lyra shouted, the panic bubbling over as she turned on her heel.

But before they could make a break for it, an electric surge shot through the air roots of pure energy, coiling around them, freezing them in place.

With a deafening crash, the city descended, swallowing both reality and hope. Everything faded to black...