Crkkk—
The void beneath Null's feet shattered like brittle glass as he stepped forward. Not onto stone, not into light, but into the Remnant Realm—a fractured layer of reality between worlds, torn apart by Sovereigns in forgotten wars.
Here, time didn't tick. It bled.
A sky of rotting stars stretched overhead. The ground hissed with the whispers of a thousand dead gods, and floating shards of ancient kingdoms drifted endlessly—cities frozen in collapse, temples mid-explosion, armies locked in eternal death throes.
Null landed softly on a drifting platform of obsidian ash. His hollow eyes stared across the desolate landscape, his presence already disturbing the ambient spiritual residue.
"Soul Signature Confirmed."
"Local Authority Established: [Hollow Sovereign – Proto]."
"Activating Passive Devour."
A pulse rippled out from him like a breath of the abyss itself. The fractured land trembled.
Far off, across a jagged gorge of floating bones, something screamed.
He didn't flinch.
Something inside his chest—the Void Core—began to hum. His passive skill, Eternal Hunger, was waking up. As long as he stood, he would feed.
The world knew it.
From beneath the shadows, three entities rose—Remnant Warlords, husks of past titans who had failed to ascend. Twisted, bound in rusted armor and soul chains. They were all that remained of their forgotten glories.
But Null was different.
Where they had clung to power, he was power unchained.
The first charged—a brute with ten soul arms and a melted blade of living metal.
"I am Jugrath the Pale! I've devoured—"
Null moved. One blink.
His hand tore through Jugrath's chest, hollow mist devouring his core mid-sentence.
[Devour Successful. Skill Extracted: "Soul Armament – Phase Shifter (Lv.1)"]
The corpse crumbled before hitting the ash.
The second warlord hesitated. The third tried to flee. Null turned his gaze toward them—and the dimension itself rippled.
[Ability Unlocked: Reality Tear – Segment 1 Initiated.]
A black scar tore across the space before him. The fleeing Remnant vanished, cut out of existence like someone had erased a name from a book.
Null exhaled.
He was alone again.
The platform beneath him drifted forward through the realm.
Somewhere far ahead was the Sovereign Gate, the first true test of his evolving Hollow Self.
But Null wasn't worried.
He was the test.
And this realm?
Just another meal.