"T-There's… no way…" Zay choked out, his voice trembling, his words almost inaudible beneath the sound of his own heartbeat thundering in his ears. "You didn't… you couldn't have—"
His legs almost gave out beneath him.
He couldn't breathe.
He couldn't understand.
His gaze locked onto Renzo again—and this time, it wasn't confusion behind his eyes. It was devastation. Betrayal. A wound no blade could ever cause.
This was one of the people he fought for.
Bled for.
Died for.
Again and again—across every reset, every reality, every hellish cycle.
He remembered comforting Renzo when he cried in the rain. Teaching him how to channel aura. Shielding him from blame when things went wrong in other lives. He remembered standing in front of him when others wanted blood—and offering his own instead.
And now, here he was. Standing with them. With the blades.
Zay's breath hitched. His heart ached so violently it felt like it might split open. His chest tightened as if the air itself had turned on him.
"I loved you, you son of a bitch…" he whispered.
He bit down hard, too hard. More blood spilled from his lower lip, thick and warm, sliding down his chin and dripping to the floor.
The guards didn't care.
They moved like wolves, circling now—ten feet, then five.
Still, Zay couldn't look away from Renzo.
His brother.
His eyes welled up, but he refused to let the tears fall. Not yet. Not in front of them.
But inside, he was breaking. Fracturing to pieces. As he felt his heart ripping out of his chest, he looked again at Renzo. He saw his lips moving and read them. His eyes widened before his aura coiled violently within the room, a storm of violet energy pulsing off his skin as he slammed his fist into the window behind him.
Glass shattered with a deafening crack. Rain exploded inward, blown by the howling wind, drenching the floor and whipping through the room. Zay clenched his teeth, his chest rising with a sharp exhale.
And then—he jumped.
The cold air hit him like a wave as he crashed through the remnants of the glass and plummeted toward the wet stone below. Aura surged around his legs, cushioning the impact just enough for him to hit the ground running.
He sprinted through the narrow, twisting alleyways of Ruvy, his boots splashing through puddles as violet trails of aura flickered behind him like ghostly flames. The rain blurred everything—his vision, the glowing lights of the city, even the sound of his own heartbeat.
Behind him, a thunderous crash echoed—ten guards leapt from the shattered window, landing hard on the slick cobblestone street below. They roared after him like wolves on the scent of blood, their weapons drawn and flashing beneath the stormy sky.
Zay veered left, then right—then doubled back before cutting down a narrower path. He vaulted over scattered crates, ran up a slanted wall, flipped over a broken barrel, and landed like a shadow with barely a sound. But the guards were relentless, matching his pace, closing the gap.
"HEY!" a voice called ahead—a city watchman raised his hand, trying to block Zay's path.
Zay didn't stop. His eyes narrowed, and as he passed the man, he dropped his weight low, swept a leg out, and sent him crashing backward—directly into the line of pursuing guards. The interruption gave Zay precious seconds.
"MOVE!" one of the guards barked, shoving the dazed watchman aside as they stormed past. The rain only fell harder now, sheets of it pouring down and soaking everything, masking the sound of footfalls and making every step a risk on the slippery stone.
Zay's breaths came fast and ragged. His chest burned. His muscles screamed.
Then—he saw it. A narrow balcony above, and just beside it, a rusted ladder bolted into the stone wall.
He skidded to a stop beside a large metal dumpster and without hesitation, leapt onto its lid. The metal groaned beneath his weight. He crouched, coiled his legs, then launched upward. Fingers grazed the cold steel rungs of the ladder.
He grabbed hold—barely.
The ladder swayed violently under his weight as he dangled in the air, rain running down his arms, his gloves slipping slightly. Gritting his teeth, he pulled himself up, rung by rung, heart thundering in his ears.
Below, the guards reached the alley.
Two of them—massive, armored, radiating with pink and teal aura—dropped to one knee, cupping their hands. A smaller, agile guard with forest green aura already blazing around his legs sprinted forward.
The moment he reached them, they launched him.
Zay looked down just as the airborne guard rocketed upward, wind screaming past him, his hand aimed for the ladder.
Zay cursed under his breath and climbed faster, boots slamming against the metal, each pull more desperate than the last.
A loud clang of metal on metal rang out below—followed by a grunt of effort. Zay didn't need to look back.
Someone was on the ladder.
And they were climbing fast.
Zay reached the rooftop and didn't stop.
His boots hit the slick stone surface and immediately pushed off again, sprinting across the rain-soaked tiles as the wind howled around him. His violet aura flared behind him like a comet trail, burning through the storm.
The rooftop sloped downward—Zay leaned into it, using the momentum to vault over a broken pipe, then kicked off a rusted chimney to clear a gap between buildings.
Behind him—thud.
The smaller guard landed. Hard.
Zay didn't look back. He darted right, hurdling a line of metal vents, then vaulted a low wall, landing in a roll before bursting into another sprint. But the guard was gaining.
A blur of green aura surged beside him.
'Shit—he's fast'.
The guard's fist flew toward Zay's ribs. At the last second, Zay ducked and twisted, the punch grazing just above his shoulder. He skid to a near halt, boots scraping across wet stone.
Zay pivoted and drove a spinning kick straight into the guard's chest. His boot clinked against the metal plating as the impact rattled the air, sending the smaller man sliding backward, his boots grinding sparks against the rooftop.
Zay didn't wait at all, he turned and exploded forward again, vaulting over a low gap and landing on a narrower rooftop with barely two feet of space to run. Behind him, the guard recovered—growled—and followed.
Zay leapt.
He soared through the air, twisting mid-flight as his aura whipped violently around him. Rain pelted his face. Time felt as if it slowed just enough to catch the sharp metal edge of a hanging sign on the next building.
He grabbed it, swung low, and launched himself onto the next roof—tumbling into a roll that brought him up running.
More guards were shouting below now. Lights flared from down the alleyways. Steel clanged. Zay could hear their boots slapping through the puddles, climbing up from multiple directions.
He turned another corner.
The green-aura guard leapt again.
Zay slammed his elbow backward mid-sprint—caught him in the jaw mid-air. The man flipped in the rain, crashed onto the tiles with a heavy grunt.
Zay didn't check if he got up.
He just ran.
Vaulting air vents, diving under cables radiating aura, slipping over slick rooftops with inhuman reflexes. His breath came in quick, short bursts. His eyes scanned every rooftop ahead, looking for an opening—an escape.
Then he saw it.
A massive bell tower—old, covered in vines, its windows shattered.
Zay narrowed his eyes.
He ran faster.
Zay charged into the bell tower shoulder-first, aura bursting through his arm with a violet crack as the door snapped open under the force. The room inside was bare—just stone walls, a narrow spiral, and a metal ladder bolted into the wall, leading into the dark.
Without any hesitation, he grabbed it and began to climb.
Rung after rung, his breath became rough, his soaked gloves slick against the cold metal. Wind screamed through cracks in the tower. Lightning flashed. Thunder rolled.
And then—he saw it.
A shattered window midway up.
Cracked, narrow, with jagged glass still clinging to the sides—but big enough to squeeze through.
'That's it.'
Zay reached for it, aura tightening around his legs and shoulders as he swung his body sideways off the ladder. His boots scraped against stone as he wedged himself into the frame.
Wind and rain blasted him in the face.
Far below, the guards were closing in, their footsteps echoing against the tower's inner walls.
"Too damn close…"
With one last breath, he slid out the window.
The wind caught his cape immediately, tearing it clean off. It spun like a dark phantom in the storm, fluttering downward—until it slammed right into the green-aura guard climbing just behind him.
The man cursed and stumbled, his vision blocked.
Zay was already moving.
He didn't even think—he jumped.
The wall loomed just beneath him—too far, too slick—but he caught the edge with just three fingers. Pain shot through his hand. His shoulder jerked. Blood rushed to his ears as he dangled for a second, then snarled through clenched teeth.
"Come on…!"
With a powerful surge of aura through his arms, he pulled himself up, rolling over the edge of the wall just as another bolt of lightning lit up the skies behind him.
Breathing hard, soaking wet, he looked down.
A line of thick bushes, dense and wild, stretched out below the wall.
No flat landing. No graceful escape but it was an escape.
Zay took a single step back… then ran.
"I don't have a choice... fuck!!" Zay said loudly as he jumped again.
Air whipped around him as the city wall vanished behind him—and this time, he didn't grab anything.
He crashed into the brush with a violent crack, thorns and branches tearing at his skin as he rolled through mud and stone, landing in a pool of cold rainwater with a gasp.
His ribs burned. His hand screamed. His body felt like it had been thrown through a storm.
But he was gone.
For a moment, there was only the sound of rainfall hitting leaves. Distant shouts. A guard's voice calling out his direction. Then—
The air bent.
Colors, impossible colors, began bleeding into the world.
It started in the sky.
First, a thin line of red—then a fracture of blue. Then orange, gold, and lightning white tore through the clouds like divine veins, streaking in every direction. The wind stopped. The rain slowed. The world paused like it had been caught between seconds.
Zay blinked up at it, coughing, dazed, and barely breathing.
That's when the dragon formed.
A monstrous silhouette of light, flame, and aura curled high above in the sky—not a real creature, but an image stitched together by the overwhelming chaos of aura.
Its wings spread wide enough to shadow the entire eastern ridge of the capital.
Its roar was silent, but every living thing heard it in their chest.
Guards who had pursued him to the wall stopped. A few stumbled back. Others simply stared upward with wide, hollow eyes.
Then came the words. Whispered. Laughed. Spoken. All in unison.
"A Shattered Sequence."
None of them had spoken to each other. Some weren't even near others. Yet every voice echoed the same resigned tone, like a curse spoken too many times to feel fear anymore.
One guard dropped his weapon and sank to his knees.
Another removed his helmet and lit a cigarette with shaking hands.
Zay tried to rise from the mud—but then the earth beneath him cracked like ice under fire.
Zay shut his eyes as the blinding light crashed into him, his body vanishing in an instant.
For a few seconds, there was only silence—until the familiar chime of the Resonance Lens echoed in the void.
[Arbiter: Welcome to a Shattered Sequence.]
You have entered a realm known as a Shattered Sequence.
All damage received will be increased by 11%.
All Resonance Echos will be temporarily disabled for the first 120 hours.
All Contracts currently held will be forcefully cancelled for the first 120 hours.
All Passives will be temporarily disabled for the first 12 hours.
Midnight: Danger Passive will be disabled for the entirety of the Shattered Sequence.
The Shattered Sequence registers as an unofficial Third Sequence with its difficulty enhanced.
Aura Regeneration will be increased by 30%.
Resonance Echo Scrolls can be found within this Shattered Sequence.
Passives can be found within this Shattered Sequence.
Wounds will close and heal completely 1% quicker.
Physical strength will be temporarily increased for the first 2 hours.
Survival Chance in Current Condition: ???
Good luck, Arbiter.