The final anchor wasn't guarded by monsters.
There were no howling beasts, no blood-drenched arenas, no cataclysmic sky tearing at the earth.
It was… a door.
Standing in the middle of an empty, flat plain of glass-like stone, reflecting stars from a sky that didn't exist.
Kael approached it, slowly.
Greg muttered, "This place feels wrong."
Elena scanned the surroundings. "There's no mana here. No air, either. Technically… we shouldn't even exist right now."
Mira unsheathed both daggers, eyes narrow. "So why do we?"
Kael stopped before the door. His reflection didn't match him—it showed a stranger. A boy. A survivor. Someone before everything had changed.
A message appeared in glowing text across the doorframe:
> Only One Player May Enter. Final Anchor Challenge: Cheat vs Cheat. Opponent Selected: "Sovereign Reaper."
The others froze.
"Sovereign Reaper?" Elena echoed. "That's… not an NPC title."
Kael's voice was like steel. "It's a player."
---
Background: The First Collision
Before the System fully invaded Earth, a single test subject had been granted cheat-level privileges. Not Kael. Not anyone in the team.
Someone else.
A player who didn't adapt to the system… but embraced it.
That player's cheat? Soul Override — the ability to seize the power of defeated beings and reshape them into weapons, puppets, or extensions of self.
When the first Rift opened, Sovereign Reaper didn't fight to defend Earth.
He fought to conquer it.
---
Inside the Vault
The door opened only for Kael.
The others were blocked by invisible force.
Greg punched the field. "Damn it! You're going in alone?"
Kael nodded. "It has to be me."
Mira grabbed his arm. "Then don't just win. Come back."
Kael smiled. "Always."
He stepped through the gate.
---
Arena Loaded: Nexus Vault
A massive obsidian ring surrounded a floating core of fractured space. Code strings floated midair, twisting like DNA. Dozens of shattered timelines hovered like glass shards.
At the center stood a figure cloaked in black and red, with twin blades made of writhing souls.
[Sovereign Reaper – Lv. ???]
Trait: Soul Override
Special: Absolute Predation
Title: First Beta Anomaly
He didn't look surprised.
"Finally," the Reaper said. "You're late."
Kael studied him. "You started this."
"I embraced it. While you begged for meaning, I rewrote the rules."
Kael drew his blade. "Let's rewrite them again. Together."
The Reaper grinned. "You always did talk too much."
---
Battle Initiated: Cheat vs Cheat
The fight began with no warning.
The Reaper's soul-blades struck like serpents, looping through multiple dimensional echoes. Kael barely dodged—his movements slowed by the collapsing laws of the arena.
Kael activated Ego Fracture Sync.
Five alternate versions of himself blinked into existence.
One dodged. One parried. One cast. One drew runes. One ran.
From those echoes, Kael picked the perfect decision every time.
But the Reaper adapted.
He devoured one of the echoes and used it to predict Kael's pattern.
The battle became a blur—each strike faster than thought, every clash echoing like thunder in a world outside time.
---
Kael's Inner Thought:
> He's not just fast. He thinks like I do. He's like a future version of what I might've become… if I'd given up everyone else.
> But that's his weakness.
> He fights alone.
---
Kael feinted left, dropped low, and used Ashen Chains to bind the Reaper's shadow—not his body.
The Reaper snarled, slicing free, but Kael was already moving.
"Zone Override," Kael declared.
A new rule formed:
"Reflected pain echoes twice."
Now every wound Kael took rebounded onto the Reaper—twice.
The Reaper screamed, slashing wildly.
Kael took a blade to the side—blood sprayed—but the Reaper staggered from a phantom slash to the chest.
"This is the difference between us," Kael said, eyes blazing. "You fight for power. I fight for people."
The Reaper laughed, even as his soul-core fractured.
"And that's why you'll always carry the burden."
Kael stabbed forward—not into the Reaper's heart, but through his reflection.
The cheat cracked.
Boss Defeated. Final Anchor Broken.
---
The Vault Collapses
Kael caught his breath as the platform disintegrated. The Reaper's form dissolved into strings of light.
"Good move," the echo whispered. "Don't become me."
Kael was alone again.
But his hand burned with new energy.
The five anchor shards fused.
A voice rang out.
"Ascension Protocol: Unlocked."
---
Character Sheet Update: Kael Vaelorian
Cheat Evolved: Reality Cipher – Ascended
Can rewrite one law of reality per day (limited scope, cost scales with impact).
Corruption Status: Stabilized at 72%.
New Title: Anchorbreaker – One who destroyed the dimensional locks.
Genesis Prime Reaction: Unknown.
---