The world shattered.
Not from impact, but from possibility.
The Watcher's strike didn't just aim to destroy Ezra's body—it aimed to erase his existence from every timeline, to rewrite the past so he had never been born.
> [Chrono Execution Initialized.]
[Reality Threads Severed: 4,781… 12,993… 56,111…]
Ezra was flung into a whirlpool of visions—
Himself as a child, a teenager, a soldier, a voidborn heir…
All of it crumbling.
"NO!"
> [Void Sovereign's Will: Instinctual Override Activated.]
[Emergency Trait Unlocked: Echoform.]
His soul fractured—but instead of being destroyed, it duplicated.
From the rupture exploded seven Ezras—each one from a different potential future.
Some wore armor forged in starfire.
Others were beasts made of void.
One had no body at all—just a storm contained within humanoid shape.
Together, they converged and countered the Watcher's blow.
BOOM!
The heavens buckled.
Lucien watched from below, shielding himself from the wave of collapsing time.
He whispered to himself:
"He did it… He accessed the Echoform. The god-tier trait of rebellion…"
---
Above – Midair
Ezra hovered, panting, as the Echoes slowly rejoined him, fusing back into his body one by one.
With each reabsorption, he grew stronger.
> [Stat Surge Detected: Strength +198 | Agility +207 | Willpower +325]
[New Title Gained: The Echoborne]
The Watcher adjusted. Its halos spun in reverse.
It was analyzing, recalculating.
Then, it raised both hands—
and from the rift above, it summoned a weapon:
A Timeblight Spear, made from crystallized cause and effect.
> [Chrono Protocol: Overwrite Mode Engaged.]
Ezra narrowed his eyes. "I hope you've got more than that, tin god."
He extended his hand—
and for the first time since awakening his Sovereign powers, he called upon the God-Tier Evolution System directly.
> [System Override Request Approved.]
[Skill Evolution In Progress…]
Voidstep → Voidstride (Epic)
Storm Pierce → Tempest Ruin (Epic)
Soulchain → Chrono Shatter (Legendary)
Lightning pulsed through his veins. The scythe at his back glowed with echoes of time, now bending to his will.
He didn't wait for the Watcher to move again.
He charged.
---
Below – Lucien's POV
Lucien watched in silence.
But deep within his coat, a crystal pulsed.
It was connected to a sealed chamber far away—beyond systems, beyond realms.
And inside that chamber…
a third force stirred.
> [Observer Signal Interrupted.]
[Backup Protocol: Architect Reboot Preparing…]
Lucien clenched his jaw.
"If Ezra wins this fight… the Architect will awaken. And then the real war begins."
---
Fractured Self
The sky was a canvas of shattered time—fractals of possibility colliding, bleeding colorless light.
Ezra's scythe clashed against the Timeblight Spear, creating shockwaves that disintegrated clouds, bent mountains, and froze rivers mid-flow.
> [Status: Dimensional Stability 21%]
[Warning: Multiverse Thread Integrity Critical.]
The Chrono Watcher moved with cold precision, every attack mathematically perfect, slicing through Ezra's defenses with inevitability rather than force.
But Ezra wasn't fighting alone anymore.
Behind him floated the final Echoform—the only one that hadn't rejoined him.
It had stayed behind. Watching. Learning.
And now…
It spoke.
"I've seen what you'll become. A tyrant. A god. A prisoner to evolution."
Ezra turned, confused. "What?"
The Echo's eyes—identical to his own—glowed with a brilliant stormlight. But its body pulsed with a calmness that Ezra didn't recognize in himself.
"I refuse to return to you. I am what you could be if you chose peace. Balance. If you walked away from power."
Ezra's hands tightened around his weapon. "I didn't ask for this."
"No," the Echo said. "But you embraced it. And now... I won't let you drag the multiverse down with you."
> [Split Alert: Echoform Detachment Recognized.]
[New Entity Created: Name – Ezra Prime: Variant Omega.]
[Alignment: Unknown.]
The Chrono Watcher paused, as if analyzing this unexpected split.
Two Ezras. Two fates.
One evolution.
---
Below – In the Distant World of Cael'Tharin
Far beyond the battlefield, in a sealed fortress lined with systemic runes and ancient cores, a woman opened her eyes.
Her hair was white flame, her irises golden circuits. She looked through a thousand monitors, all focused on Ezra.
She whispered to herself, "The Omega has separated. The timeline is diverging faster than we can contain."
Beside her, a shadowy figure stepped from a system portal.
"Should I kill the variant?" he asked.
"No," she replied. "Let it grow. For now… we watch."
> [Faction Unlocked: The Architects.]
[Motive: Unknown. Influence: Multiversal.]
---
Back in the Battle
The Watcher turned its spear toward Ezra Prime Omega.
> [Chrono Protocol Update: Omega Variant – Higher Risk Priority.]
[Erase Both.]
Ezra and his Echo exchanged a glance.
A storm raged in one.
Peace burned in the other.
And for the first time, they spoke in unison.
"Try it."
---
The Mirror of Might
The battlefield was no longer bound by gravity or time.
Each step Ezra took twisted reality.
Each blow from the Watcher unraveled another law of nature.
And in the center of it all—two versions of the same soul stood together, yet divided.
Ezra and Omega.
Their synchronization was effortless at first—
Like twin stars caught in each other's gravity.
Lightning and silence.
Rage and serenity.
Together, they forced the Chrono Watcher to retreat across layers of existence, into a space where nothing lived—
A void between realities, known only in whispers as:
> The Null Vane.
---
Inside the Null Vane
Here, there were no rules. No systems. No power levels.
Only will.
The Watcher's form began to glitch, its halos faltering. It was not built for this kind of place.
> [System Authority Failing.]
[Backup Reserves Depleting: 72%... 49%...]
Ezra seized the moment.
"Tempest Ruin!"
A barrage of storm-forged blades burst from his scythe, piercing the Watcher's form and detonating within its chrono-core. The entity spasmed, but did not fall.
Beside him, Omega reached into the air—pulling something unseen.
Not a weapon. Not a spell. A memory.
> [Omega Trait: Timebound Serenity – Activate.]
The memory took shape: Ezra's mother. Her laughter. A gentle hand on his hair. Peace before power.
And then… it became a weapon of light, glowing with the warmth of who he once was.
Omega struck.
The blade sliced clean through the Watcher's halos.
BOOM.
The Watcher collapsed, shattering into cascading spirals of time-dust.
> [System Broadcast: Chrono Watcher Eliminated.]
[Evolutionary Breach Stabilized. Temporarily.]
---
Silence
Ezra hovered in place, his breath ragged. Blood dripped from his palm. Lightning still coursed through his veins—but it was flickering now. Tired.
"You hesitated," Omega said. "You almost lost control again."
Ezra clenched his fists. "I did what I had to. You saw it."
"I saw a man who's still afraid to be weak."
Ezra turned sharply. "And I saw a coward who would've let that thing erase us both."
They stared at each other. Neither spoke for a long moment.
Then Omega began to fade.
> [Echoform Convergence Attempt: Failed.]
[Independent Entity Status – Confirmed.]
"You can't contain me anymore," Omega said. "And you shouldn't. I'm staying."
Ezra's eyes narrowed. "Where?"
Omega smiled, a sad one. "Out there. Somewhere you can't follow. For now."
And with that… he was gone.
---
Far Beyond – In the Ruins of the First System
A massive gate stirred.
It was shaped like a fractured crown—its sigils older than time itself.
And at its center, the reflection of Ezra stood—watching, waiting.
A whisper echoed:
> "The Sovereign has risen. Prepare the Chains of God."