Clash in the Broken Sky
The entire realm trembled.
Floating mountains cracked.
The sky's broken glass shifted.
Dust rose from the glowing ground as two forces faced each other:
Leo, holding a blade of silver light he didn't understand.
The Null Reaver, a glitch-born girl whose only purpose was to erase anything touched by Nothingness.
Max whispered, pale: "B-Bro… she's going to kill us…"
Lyra grabbed Max's shirt and pulled him back. "Stay behind me! Leo can buy us time!"
Leo didn't hear them.
His mind was focused.
His heartbeat echoed like slow thunder.
Something inside him… guided him.
He pointed the blade forward.
"Let's finish this."
The Null Reaver didn't blink.
Didn't breathe.
Didn't react emotionally.
She simply answered:
"Erasure: Begin."
She vanished.
Not by speed—
By glitch.
Her body broke into pixels for a moment, reappearing behind Leo like a broken video frame.
Lyra shouted, "RIGHT BEHIND YOU!"
Leo turned instantly, swinging the light-blade.
CLASH!
The blade collided with her arm.
But instead of cutting her, the attack simply phased through her body like light through smoke.
Leo froze.
"What—?"
The Reaver lifted her hand, touching the center of his chest.
A sharp, cold pain shot through Leo—not physical pain, but a deep vibration inside his soul.
Lyra screamed, "LEO! MOVE!"
Leo stumbled back, gasping.
He looked down at his chest.
A small, black symbol had appeared — a pixel-like square.
Max panicked. "WHAT IS THAT?! A countdown?? A curse?? A—"
Lyra's face sank. "No… that's an Erase Marker. If it reaches its final stage, Leo disappears. Not dies — disappears."
Leo wiped sweat off his forehead. "Great. Perfect. Another thing trying to wipe me from existence."
The Null Reaver stepped forward slowly, empty eyes glowing.
"Target weakening. Second strike: prepare."
Leo lifted his blade again. His hand trembled. Not from fear—
but from confusion.
Why couldn't he hit her?
Why did his blade go through her?
Lyra shouted:
"Leo! Null Reavers aren't physical! They're pieces of broken existence! You can't hit them with normal attacks!"
Leo frowned.
"This blade isn't normal."
But Lyra shook her head. "Your light is still unfinished! It's raw energy! You need to shape it!"
The Reaver pointed her palm.
A sphere of black energy formed — a void ball that bent the air around it.
Leo grit his teeth.
"I don't have time to learn!"
Lyra screamed, "THEN YOU DIE!"
The Reaver fired the ball.
Leo jumped—barely.
The sphere hit the floating ground behind him.
Everything exploded—
BOOM!
The floating land shattered, sending pieces raining into the sky. Max covered his head as dust flew everywhere.
Leo landed on his knee.
His blade flickered.
The fragment inside him pulsed painfully.
"Why… won't you answer me properly…?"
The Null Reaver's emotionless voice echoed:
"Second strike: complete. Proceeding with erasure."
She moved again—this time straight toward Max.
Max froze.
His legs refused to move.
"L-LEO! HELP!"
Leo's heart stopped.
"NO!"
The light inside him burst out instinctively.
Silver lines crawled across his arms, swirling like flowing rivers.
His blade re-formed with a loud SHRING—longer, sharper, steadier.
Leo dashed forward.
The world blurred.
He reached Max in a heartbeat, smashing the Reaver away with a direct hit.
This time—
She flew back.
Max fell on the ground in shock. "BRO—YOU HIT HER! YOU ACTUALLY HIT HER!"
Lyra stepped back, amazed. "Leo… you shaped the light. Even for a moment."
Leo looked at his glowing arm.
The silver veins slowly faded, but the blade stayed.
"Maybe… I'm starting to understand this."
The Reaver stood up silently, her head tilting like a broken puppet.
Her mask-like face cracked slightly.
"Adaptation detected. Updating erasure protocol."
Black symbols formed around her feet.
Lyra gasped.
"She's upgrading! Her next attack will be fatal!"
Max groaned, "Why does everything in this world upgrade?!"
Leo didn't waste time.
He sprinted forward.
This time, he didn't swing blindly.
He remembered instinct.
Memory that wasn't his.
Movements that felt like déjà vu.
He slashed from the left—
feint.
Then upward—
bait.
Then straight from the middle—
pure force.
The Reaver dodged every strike.
Until—
Leo's blade glowed brighter— and changed shape.
It turned into a sharp, thin spear of light.
Leo thrust it forward.
STAB.
The Reaver took the hit directly in the chest.
Her body cracked like broken glass.
Her black eyes widened for the first time.
"…Impossible."
Leo pushed harder.
"Stay away from my friend!"
CRACK!
Her body shattered into thousands of squares—
like a corrupted file breaking apart.
The fragments floated upward and vanished into the broken sky.
Silence.
The ground stopped shaking.
The realm steadied.
The air felt clean for the first time since they arrived.
Max sat on the ground, shaking. "So… she's gone?"
Lyra exhaled in disbelief. "Yes. Leo actually defeated a Null Reaver. That's… unheard of."
Leo dropped to one knee.
His blade faded into dust.
The symbol on his chest flickered—
then disappeared.
He smiled weakly. "Guess I'm not getting deleted today."
Max grabbed him in a tight hug. "I THOUGHT WE WERE DEAD, I THOUGHT I WAS GONE, I THOUGHT—"
Leo patted his back. "Max… can't… breathe…"
Lyra walked closer, expression serious.
"Leo. That power you used… it's not something a normal human can wield. Or any creature I've ever seen."
Leo looked up. "Then what is it?"
Lyra hesitated—
not wanting to scare him.
"The Hunters of Ruin chase people marked by a higher being."
Leo's throat tightened.
"The Unknown One?"
Lyra nodded.
"But there is something more terrifying… something even the Hunters fear."
Leo frowned. "What do you mean?"
Lyra pointed at the shattered sky.
"That Reaver wasn't here by accident. Something sent her when you arrived."
Leo stood up.
"Who?"
Lyra whispered:
"A ruler in the shadows. A being who controls broken realms. Someone older than the Hunters."
She swallowed hard.
"Someone who wants you dead before you awaken fully."
Max rubbed his head. "HOW MANY PEOPLE WANT TO KILL LEO?!"
Lyra didn't answer.
She was staring at Leo.
But not at him—
At what was behind him.
Her face turned pale.
"…No."
Leo slowly turned around.
A tall silhouette stood on the floating stone—
cloaked in darkness, wearing a mask of broken glass.
A cold voice drifted through the air.
"Found you."
Leo froze.
The figure stepped forward.
"I am Ruin Sovereign Arcanis.
And you, Leo…
carry something that does not belong to this world."
Lyra fell to her knees instantly, trembling.
Max whispered, "Oh no… this guy is WAY worse than the others."
Leo tightened his fists.
He didn't back down this time.
"What do you want from me?"
Arcanis smiled behind his cracked mask.
"I want the same thing everyone wants…"
He raised his hand.
"To claim the fragment inside you—
and erase the boy who should never have existed."