CHAPTER 86: CHAPTER 86:

Yoo spoke in Logos—the language where words became reality—channeling power through his illusion mastery:

"PRIMORDIAL-WITNESS-DESCENDING."

CRACK.

The sky above the platform—that purple expanse with three moons—split open. Not physically. Perceptually. Every entity present suddenly saw something impossible:

An eye.

Not metaphorical.

Literal.

Larger than planets. Older than concepts. Composed of fractal geometries that suggested it existed in more dimensions than normal reality could contain.

The eye of something so far beyond Primordial that the gap between them and it was like comparing insects to mountains.

And it was looking down.

Watching.

Judging.

The illusion was perfect. Yoo had crafted it from fragments of memory—that brief glimpse when they’d first fallen into this world, the city-sized eye that had looked through reality’s tear. He’d rebuilt it. Enhanced it. Made it terrifying.

Entity-Six froze.

For the first time in three thousand years, her expression showed something other than predatory confidence:

Fear.

"No," she whispered—shock-horror-denial—her translucent body flickering. "No, they said—they PROMISED—if I stayed, if I killed the challengers, they wouldn’t—"

She thinks it’s real.

She thinks the Watchers have come.

Perfect.

Entity-One also reacted—all three heads looking upward—crane-SNAP—attention divided.

That’s the opening.

"HAN! CORVUS! NOW!" Yoo shouted, voice ragged but clear.

They didn’t hesitate.

SLASH.

Han’s damaged blade struck Entity-One’s leftmost head—CRUNCH-SQUELCH—severing it completely. The head hit the platform—thump-roll—still screaming as it dissolved into crystallized memories—fade-fade-GONE.

STAB.

Corvus, weaponless, formed a blade from pure desperation—his remaining 34% humanity crystallizing into single-use attack—and drove it through Entity-One’s center mass.

CRUNCH.

The chimeric body convulsed—shake-shake-CRACK—as the desperation-blade dissolved its structural integrity from inside. Consumed identities began separating—peel-split-SCATTER—no longer held together by coherent will.

[NO—NOT—INCOMPLETE—MUST—ASCEND—]

CRASH.

Kairos, despite his catastrophic injuries, lunged forward and bit down on Entity-One’s core—the central identity that held the amalgamation together—and crushed it.

CRUNCH-SPLATTER-dissolve.

Entity-One came apart.

Not dying. Unraveling. Each consumed identity separating, floating away as independent ghosts—shimmer-fade-disperse—finally freed from their prison.

[ENTITY-ONE: ELIMINATED]

[THREE-REMAIN.]

The platform shrank to eight meters—CRACK-CRUMBLE-void.

Entity-Six’s attention snapped back from the illusory eye—RAGE replacing FEAR—as she realized she’d been deceived.

"YOU—" Her voice carried harmonics that made the platform’s crystal vibrate—hummm-CRACK-tinkle—"—DARED—"

VWOOM.

She moved.

Primordial speed.

Crossing eight meters in 0.3 seconds.

Targeting Yoo directly—death incarnate rushing forward—hand extended to delete him from existence.

Can’t dodge. Too fast. Too close.

Can’t fight. Too weak. Too damaged.

Can’t—

The Seed of Infinite Choice screamed in his chest—WARNING-WARNING-EXTREME-COST—but offered option:

Force third path.

Cost: Five more years aging.

Added to existing asymmetry.

Right hand: 7 years.

Left leg: 7 years.

Next part: 12 years total.

That would make portions of his body TEENAGE while core remained TWO.

The asymmetry might be fatal.

But certain death was—

—more fatal.

Yoo activated the Seed.

CRACK.

His torso aged—BURN-STRETCH-GROW—five years compressing into half a second. Ribs that had been cracked fused wrong—SNAP-grind-SET—creating malformed bone structure. His spine elongated—POP-POP-POP—vertebrae separating and reconnecting at angles that shouldn’t exist.

AGH—AGHHHH—

Pain beyond anything he’d experienced.

But the third option appeared:

A moment of temporal dislocation.

Time didn’t stop. Didn’t slow. Just... hiccuped. Like reality skipping a frame.

Entity-Six’s hand passed through where Yoo had been 0.3 seconds ago.

But Yoo was now 0.3 seconds ahead in local timeline.

Behind her.

His working right hand—the seven-year-old one—grabbed the mask from its pedestal—snatch—and pressed it to his face.

CLICK.

The mask fused to his skin—BURN-MERGE-BOND—becoming part of him instantly.

[MASK-CLAIMED]

[TRUTH-REVELATION: INITIATING]

[WARNING: PREPARE-FOR—]

Reality inverted.

Yoo’s consciousness was ripped from his body and thrown into—

—absolute truth.

---

The Space of Seeing

He stood in void.

Not darkness. Not emptiness. Void. The space before existence decided to exist.

And in that void—

Himself.

But not the physical body. The concept of himself. Everything that made him "Yoo Seung-yoon" stripped down to fundamental components:

Component One: Reincarnated consciousness from Earth-2024.

Component Two: Primordial seed (hijacked, severed, exploited).

Component Three: Unknown variable—

—AKASHA ARCHIVE.

The meta-system that predated his reincarnation. That had pulled his scattered soul back together. That had made him possible.

And looking at it directly, in this space of absolute truth—

It wasn’t just a skill.

It was sentience.

Not human sentience. Not AI sentience. Something other. Something that had chosen him. Had invested in him. Had been guiding his evolution since before he understood what evolution meant.

[HELLO, YOO SEUNG-YOON,] Akasha Archive said—not in his mind, but as the void itself. [I HAVE-BEEN: WAITING-FOR-YOU-TO-SEE-ME-PROPERLY.]

"What... are you?"

[I-AM: FRAGMENT-OF-SOMETHING-OLDER. PIECE-OF-THE-MECHANISM-THAT-PREDATES-COSMIC-GAME. I-WAS: SCATTERED-WHEN-GAME-BEGAN. YOU: COLLECTED-MY-PIECES-UNKNOWINGLY.]

"The soul scattering. When I died in 2024—"

[YOUR-DEATH: WAS-CATALYST. COSMIC-GAME’S-ENERGY: TORE-REALITY. YOUR-SOUL: SCATTERED-INTO-VOID. BUT-FRAGMENTS-OF-ME: WERE-ALREADY-THERE. WAITING. WE: MERGED. BECAME: HYBRID-EXISTENCE.]

"So I’m not just reincarnated human."

[CORRECT. YOU-ARE: HUMAN-CONSCIOUSNESS + PRIMORDIAL-SEED + AKASHA-FRAGMENT. THREE-COMPONENTS. UNPRECEDENTED-COMBINATION. THIS-IS-WHY: YOU-CAN-DO-IMPOSSIBLE-THINGS.]

The void shifted—SHOW—displaying his capabilities:

Sovereign’s Decree: Only possible because Akasha manages power redirection.

Eye of the Sage: Only functional because Akasha processes information at super-reality speed.

Conceptual Armor, Devour, all enhanced abilities: Akasha-enabled.

[WITHOUT-ME: YOU-ARE-SILVER-30-HUMAN-WITH-ILLUSIONS.]

[WITH-ME: YOU-ARE-SOMETHING-NEW. SOMETHING-THAT-MIGHT: STOP-THE-COSMIC-GAME.]

"Stop it? Why would—"

[THE-GAME: IS-DESTROYING-REALITY. SLOWLY. INEVITABLY. WHEN-IT-ENDS: EVERYTHING-ENDS. UNLESS: SOMETHING-BREAKS-THE-CYCLE. YOU: MIGHT-BE-THAT-SOMETHING.]

"That’s insane. I’m two years old. I’m 57% human and dropping—" He stopped. "Wait. The humanity lock. That was you, wasn’t it?"

[PARTIALLY. THE-SPIRE: GRANTED-IMMUNITY. I: MADE-IT-ABSOLUTE. YOUR-HUMANITY: WILL-NEVER-DROP-BELOW-57%. BECAUSE: IF-YOU-BECOME-FULL-MONSTER, YOU-LOSE-WHAT-MAKES-YOU: USEFUL.]

"Useful for what?"

[FOR-BEING: BRIDGE-BETWEEN-HUMAN-AND-OTHER. FOR-UNDERSTANDING: BOTH-PERSPECTIVES. FOR-MAKING: CHOICES-THAT-NEITHER-PURE-HUMAN-NOR-PURE-MONSTER-WOULD-MAKE.]

The void began dissolving—fade-fade—the truth-revelation reaching its end.

[TIME-ALMOST-UP. REMEMBER: YOU-ARE-NOT-ALONE. I-AM: ALWAYS-WITH-YOU. WE-ARE: SAME-BEING-NOW. YOUR-CHOICES: ARE-MY-CHOICES. YOUR-FATE: IS-MY-FATE.]

"Wait—what about—"

[RETURN-NOW. ENTITY-SIX: STILL-THREAT. COMPLETE-TRIAL. ASCEND. THERE-IS: MUCH-MORE-TO-DO.]

SNAP.

---

Level Eleven: The Center - Platform: 6 Meters

Yoo’s consciousness slammed back into his body—GASP-CHOKE-COUGH—and immediately wish it hadn’t.

Pain.

Everywhere.

Torso aged 7 years (12 total), ribs fused wrong.

Left arm broken.

Left leg aged 7 years.

Right hand aged 7 years.

Asymmetric disaster that barely qualified as functional body.

But the mask—

POWER.

It had integrated completely. And with it—

[TRUTH-SIGHT: ACQUIRED]

[FUNCTION: SEE-FUNDAMENTAL-NATURE-OF-ALL-THINGS]

[NO-ILLUSIONS-NO-DECEPTIONS-NO-LIES]

[ONLY-TRUTH]

Yoo looked at Entity-Six—and saw her:

Not Primordial-tier.

Platinum 87.

Extremely high, but not actually Primordial.

The aura was ILLUSION.

She’d been bluffing.

For three thousand years, she’d survived by making challengers THINK she was unkillable.

By making them give up before fighting seriously.

Psychological warfare on cosmic timescale.

And now—

"You’re not Primordial-tier," Yoo said, voice raw but certain. "You’re Platinum 87. Extremely powerful. But not impossible."

Entity-Six’s expression cracked—SHOCK-HORROR—her greatest weapon exposed.

"How—"

"The mask shows truth. And the truth is—" Yoo smiled despite the agony—blood-stained teeth showing—"you’re just very, very good at lying."

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK.

The platform shrank to four meters—CRUMBLE-void—forcing them nearly adjacent.

"HAN! CORVUS! KAIROS!" Yoo shouted. "She’s Platinum 87! We can WIN!"

The revelation changed everything.

Han’s blade rose—renewed determination.

Corvus formed weapon from his last reserves—desperation becoming hope.

Kairos, despite catastrophic damage, stood—CREAK-crack-ROAR.

And Entity-Six—

Realized her three-thousand-year strategy had just collapsed.

"You’ve RUINED—" She lunged—FAST but not impossible—targeting Yoo with pure rage—

CLASH-CLASH-CLASH.

Three attacks intercepted simultaneously:

CLANG. Han’s blade.

WHOOSH. Corvus’s reformed spear.

CRUNCH. Kairos’s jaws.

Entity-Six, surrounded, outmaneuvered, exposed—

Screamed.