The maw was endless.
Null stood at its edge, the corpse of the Reflecting Queen dissolving behind him, her soul trapped inside his void-core — but something in him felt... off.
[Devour Skill Active... Processing Target: Unknown Fossil God][Error. Skill failed. Entity is Primordial.]
His breath caught.
Failed.The first time.
He had devoured beasts, shadows, Sovereign fragments, even time-anchored souls. But this thing, this Maw beneath the Ruins, rejected him. Like it had once created the very Devour logic he was using.
[Skill Mutation Triggered.][Devour → Hollow Synapse: Recursive Hunger][New Passive: Cannot devour Primordial Entities directly. Now adapts traits.]
Null's arms spasmed.
Bones stretched. Veins turned into glowing black roots that twitched and hissed beneath his skin. The hunger in his core changed—sharpened—but became more selective.
"You're not meant to consume everything," whispered a voice from within the maw. "Some things consume you back."
A single eye opened in the abyss.
Not human. Not god. Not even alive.Just watching.
Suddenly, the mirror from earlier reappeared in Null's hand, twisted by the abyss's power. It no longer reflected anything—it absorbed light.
[Item Mutated: Soulglass of the Reflecting Queen → Hollow Shard: Eye of the Devoured]Effect: Records sovereign-level memories. May awaken alternate egos. May lie.
Null smirked.
The maw below laughed, a sound like bones grinding into powder.
"Come down, little usurper."
Null jumped in.
The fall didn't feel real.
He fell through timelines, across flickers of divine war. Each shard of light showed past Sovereigns breaking, falling, ripping each other apart in ways no history had recorded.
One image lingered—a young man with Null's face, wearing a jagged halo and holding the shattered corpse of a woman made of suns. His hands were soaked in what looked like burning time.
[Memory Lock Fragment Detected: Sovereign Echo — ???]
The light went black.
When he landed, it was on something… breathing.
Not ground. Not flesh. Something in-between.
And in front of him floated a girl.
Childlike. Eyes stitched shut. Halo of broken glass spinning around her like planets.
[New Entity Detected: ???][Title: Origin Memory. Class: Hollow Warden][Error. Unable to assess threat level.]
She spoke, not aloud, but directly into his cells.
"You don't know what you are, do you?"
Null raised his hand.
"I'm hungry."