The battle on Earth-Aurora had shifted the balance of the multiverse.
Kael's core, now stabilized within Elara, had successfully recovered another echo—but the Firstbreaker had tasted his presence. Worse, the Architect's seed code, though weakened, had not stopped spreading. Realms were falling faster now. One by one, timelines destabilized into chaos.
Inside the Spiral Nexus, holographic projections mapped the destruction. Earth-Vanta, Realm Ichor, and Chrono-Loop Delta were either lost or locked in entropy spirals.
"We've never faced two multiversal threats at once," Korr muttered, watching the flickering display.
"Because they were never meant to coexist," Lira replied. "The Architect built order. The Firstbreaker exists to undo it. But now they're both alive again—and they both want Kael."
Astra paced. "If either of them gets a complete version of Kael, they can use his Drift Signature to rewrite the multiverse in their own image."
"So what's stopping them?" Elara asked.
"You," Lira said. "Or more accurately, what's inside you."
Kael's core had become a keystone. Every echo retrieved added strength, rebuilding him fragment by fragment. But Elara was feeling the weight. The more she linked with Kael, the more their thoughts intertwined. Sometimes, she couldn't tell if her memories were hers—or his.
"I can handle it," she said, brushing off the concern.
But the truth was, her dreams were getting darker.
Visions of an impossible war. A realm she didn't recognize—blasted and ruined, yet familiar. And a voice whispering from beyond time: "Choose your end, Elara. Architect or Breaker. There is no third path."
The council reconvened. A new development had emerged.
"The echoes are converging," the Chrono-Sage said. "Not just destabilizing. They're moving toward a single point—Fracturefront."
The name made everyone stiffen.
Fracturefront was a forbidden timeline—where the first rift between realities had opened millennia ago. It was sealed after the Rift Wars, cut off to prevent incursion.
Now it pulsed with new life.
"Both forces want it," Elara said. "It's a gateway. If Kael's full consciousness reaches it, either the Architect or the Firstbreaker could use it to remake everything."
Lira nodded. "Then we beat them there. We bring every echo. We complete Kael before either of them can."
The team mobilized. Nexus warships activated. Drift-beacons across realms flared to life. Portal drives spun, calculating convergence vectors.
Time was short. And Fracturefront was waking.
Kael's fragmented mind echoed in Elara's thoughts.
"This is where it ends… or begins again."