Chapter 4 — The Heralds Descend
The world split open again.The rift towered over the horizon, so vast it made the mountains look small. Storms of violet lightning tore through the clouds, and the air itself seemed to wail in pain.
The survivors barely made it into the service tunnel before the first wave hit. The ground shook violently, metal beams groaning as concrete dust fell from the ceiling. The light panels flickered, one by one, until the world outside vanished behind a curtain of shadow and static.
Aiden crouched near the entrance, staring at the impossible scene through a gap in the collapsed rubble.Shapes—massive, winged silhouettes—moved beyond the rift, descending slowly through the torn sky. Their bodies glowed with cold, white fire, each step distorting space itself.
[System Alert: Herald-class Entities Detected.][Recommended Action: Evacuate immediately.]
The System's voice, for once, sounded almost panicked.
Jiro was shouting orders in the background. "All hands, reinforce the barricade! No light leaks! No noise!"
Lyra knelt beside a wounded soldier, wrapping bandages with trembling hands. "What are they, Aiden? Those things—"
He didn't answer immediately. His eyes were locked on the largest of them — a towering humanoid with a mask-like face of shifting runes. Its wings were not feathered but woven from fractured light and ash.
[Designation: Herald of Genesis.][Tier: Cataclysmic.][Power Class: ???]
He whispered, "They're not monsters. They're messengers."
Lyra's hands froze. "Messengers… of what?"
"The end," Aiden said quietly.
The Heralds didn't attack immediately. They stood in silence as the rift pulsed behind them, casting waves of distortion across the land. Wherever the light touched, the world changed—trees dissolved into crystal, rivers froze mid-flow, air turned to glass.
Then the first Herald raised its hand. The air bent.
A sphere of pure annihilation shot outward, striking the ground miles away. The explosion didn't sound like thunder; it sounded like reality shattering.
The tunnel trembled. Several people screamed.
"Jiro!" Aiden called. "We can't stay here. If they sweep this area, we're finished."
"I know," Jiro snapped. "But running out there means walking into their crossfire."
The captain glanced at him then, eyes sharp. "You said your skill can consume… things. Can it handle one of those?"
Aiden looked out again at the cosmic beings towering over the ruined horizon. Each of them radiated more power than entire cities. His heart pounded.
"I don't know," he admitted. "But we're out of options."
Jiro nodded once. "Then it's your call, Voidwalker."
Aiden winced at the new title, but he knew the truth of it. He was the only weapon they had that might matter.
He stepped outside.The air burned his lungs instantly, charged with unstable mana. The rift's light was brighter now—beautiful and horrifying. He could feel the Void inside him react, pulsing like a second heartbeat.
"Alright," he whispered. "Let's see how far this goes."
[Skill: Void Sovereign — Partial Unseal Requested.][Warning: Stability Risk — High.][Proceed?]
He gritted his teeth. "Proceed."
The world dimmed. The shadows thickened, stretching outward like living things.The ground beneath him cracked, black veins spreading in all directions as if the earth itself recoiled from his presence.
[Void Sovereign Unsealed — 12%.][Sub-Ability Manifested: Null Horizon.]
Aiden's pupils vanished entirely, replaced by a spiraling black sun. The Herald nearest him—smaller than the others but still colossal—turned its head slowly.
For the first time, it spoke.
"Unbound fragment. Why do you resist?"
The voice wasn't sound—it vibrated through his bones.
Aiden raised his hand. "Because it's my world, not yours."
The Herald moved. Reality tore in its wake. A single step carried it across a mile. Its hand came down like a meteor, but before it struck, Aiden unleashed Void Pulse.
The impact wasn't explosive—it was silent. The Herald's arm simply ceased to exist, erased from space.
It screamed—a sound like collapsing galaxies—and struck again. This time Aiden caught the blow with his bare hands. The air around them shattered, cracks spreading across the sky.
[Cognitive Stability: 65%.][Corruption: 11%.]
He forced the Void outward, wrapping the creature in darkness. "Consume."
The black wave surged, swallowing light, sound, and matter alike. The Herald fought back, its runes burning bright, but the void ate through them one by one until the entire entity dissolved into mist.
[Herald-class Entity Consumed.][EXP +8000.][Skill Core Obtained: Fragment of Creation.][Level Up — 4 → 6.]
Aiden fell to one knee, gasping. The world spun violently, and pain shot through his skull. He tasted blood.
The remaining Heralds turned in unison. For the first time, they looked at him. Not at the camp, not at the humans—but at him alone.
[Entity Recognition Established.][Void Signature Identified: The Lost Ascendant.][Error. Contradiction Detected.][System Correction Protocol: Initiated.]
The sky glitched. Literally glitched. Fragments of reality flickered like broken screens. The System's interface filled the air, unreadable code spiraling into the void above.
"Correction protocol?" Aiden whispered. "What the hell—"
Then came the light.
A pillar of pure System energy shot down from the heavens, striking directly where he stood. The world went white.
When the light faded, he wasn't in the same place.He stood in a vast expanse of glass and stars, floating above a sea of data streams. Symbols and algorithms formed constellations around him.
[Welcome to the System Core Interface.]
A humanoid figure appeared before him, featureless and shining with pure light.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
[Designation: System Warden.][Function: Maintenance of Cosmic Equilibrium.]
"You tried to erase me."
[Correction. The Void cannot coexist with the System. You are an anomaly — a paradox born from failure.]
"Failure of what?"
[The previous Cycle. The fall of Ascendants.]
Aiden stepped closer. "Then tell me what the Void really is."
[The absence of structure. The memory of uncreation. Before light, before code, there was the Void.]
The Warden's tone was calm, almost reverent.
[You were not meant to exist again.]
"Well, I'm here," Aiden said flatly. "And I'm not dying quietly."
[Resistance acknowledged.][New Directive: Observation instead of Eradication.]
The light around him flickered.
[Return to Material Layer.]
And then everything snapped back.
He woke lying in the dirt near the tunnel, smoke rising from the ruins of the battlefield. His entire body hurt. The Herald he'd destroyed was gone—completely gone—but the others had retreated into the rift.
Lyra knelt beside him, eyes wide. "Aiden! You—you disappeared!"
"How long?" he rasped.
"Three hours. We thought you were dead."
He sat up slowly, looking at the cracked sky. The rift was shrinking now, closing like a wound—but he could still feel the Heralds watching from the other side.
[System Update: Warden Observation Active.][Entity Aiden Cross — Status: Anomaly Class 01.]
He exhaled shakily. "Guess I'm on the radar now."
Jiro approached, covered in soot and blood. "You're out of your mind, you know that?"
"Probably."
"But you saved us. Again."
Aiden glanced at the corpses around them. "Not everyone."
"No one saves everyone," Jiro said quietly. "But you gave us another day."
Aiden looked at the horizon. The stars were still wrong—too bright, too alive. The Void whispered faintly, satisfied but hungry.
[Consume. Ascend. Remember.]
He ignored it. For now.
As night fell, they set up temporary shelters in the ruins of an old military checkpoint. The fires burned low, and silence settled over the survivors.
Lyra sat across from him, bandaging her arm. "So what happened out there? You vanished into light."
"I think…" Aiden paused, searching for the right words. "I think the System tried to delete me. Instead, it made a deal."
"Deal?"
"Observation. I'm too dangerous to kill, but too unstable to trust. So now I'm being watched."
She smirked faintly. "Guess you're famous now."
"Infamous."
They sat in silence for a while, the fire crackling between them. Finally, Lyra said softly, "Aiden… do you think we can win?"
He stared into the flames. "If the System and the Void both want this world gone… then maybe winning means rewriting the rules."
Her eyes widened. "Can you do that?"
"I don't know," he said. "But I'm going to find out."
That night, as the camp slept, Aiden walked beyond the firelight to the edge of the ruins. The stars reflected faintly in a pool of black water — or maybe it wasn't water at all.
He crouched and touched it. The reflection rippled—and another face stared back. His own, but darker, eyes like collapsing galaxies.
[We awaken together, Ascendant.][The Heralds were only the beginning.][Soon, the Architects will rise.]
"Then I'll be ready," he said quietly.
The reflection smiled. "Will you? Every use of the Void brings you closer to us."
Aiden stood. "Maybe. But I decide how far I fall."
The surface stilled. The whisper faded.
He turned back toward the camp, the first light of dawn cutting through the smoke.
[System Initialization: 88% Complete.][Phase Two: The Great Merge Approaches.]
And as the morning broke over a dying world, Aiden Cross—the Voidwalker, the Last Ascendant—walked toward whatever came next.