Mandakini staggered out of the tear, one hand pressed against her ribs, blood seeping through fractured energy-wounds. The tear sealed behind her with a thunderous snap—
the sound of a universe slamming its doors shut.
The chamber fell into breathless stillness.
Even Agastya, the calmest among them, tightened his stance.
Viraj had already drawn his weapon.
Kashyap instinctively stepped forward—
though he wasn't sure if he wanted to help her
or demand answers.
Mandakini's eyes flicked across the room, reading every face in a single glance.
Then her gaze locked onto Kashyap.
Not with hostility.
With something closer to…recognition.
As if she had seen him in a thousand timelines.
"We don't have time," she said, her voice sharp despite the pain.
"They've breached the mid-layer.They'll be here in minutes."
Agastya stepped forward.
"Who's after you?A Continuum faction? A paradox unit?"
Mandakini shook her head.
"No.
Worse."
The lights overhead flickered.
A low,subsonic vibration rolled through the floor—like the growl of an unseen beast.
Viraj cursed under his breath.
"I know that frequency.Oh, hell— tell me it's not—"
Mandakini cut him off:
"The Nullborn."
Everything stopped.
Agastya's expression hardened in an instant.
Vasundhara's breath trembled.
Viraj's weapon lowered a fraction—
not out of carelessness,
but dread.
Kashyap frowned.
"Who are the Nullborn?"
Everyone turned to him.
Vasundhara answered, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Creatures that should never have existed. Hunters born from collapsed universes… made of the dead timelines themselves."
Agastya added:
"They are not living. They are consequences.
Reality's revenge."
Mandakini looked at Kashyap with a grim, urgent intensity.
"And they can track only one thing—
paradox energy."
Kashyap's chest tightened.
"You mean… they're tracking you."
Mandakini's jaw clenched.
"No. They're tracking us."
Before Kashyap could question it, the chamber quaked violently.
A metallic roar shook the air—
like a predator scraping its claws against the walls of reality.
Viraj shouted, "Brace— INCOMING!"
---
THE ASSAULT BEGINS
The ceiling above them ruptured.
Not physically—
but dimensionally.
The fabric of space peeled open like burning cloth.
Shapes forced their way through:
Tall, skeletal, humanoid silhouettes made of swirling black energy.
Faces blank.
Eyes hollow.
Bodies crackling with static timelines that had been erased from existence.
The Nullborn.
Every step they took left behind footprints of glitching spacetime.
Mandakini hissed under her breath,
"Don't let them touch you— they erase what you are."
Kashyap didn't wait.
Instinct surged through him—
the strange heat he always felt during battles,
the instinct he never understood.
His body moved before his mind decided.
He launched himself at the nearest Nullborn.
But his fist passed through it—
like punching through smoke made of electricity.
A searing shockwave exploded back at him.
He was thrown across the chamber,skidding across the floor.
"Kashyap!" Mandakini shouted.
But before she could reach him, three Nullborn surged toward her.
She raised both hands, and glowing geometric runes spiraled around her arms.
She slashed through the air—
A crescent wave of raw paradox energy detonated outward, slicing through two Nullborn like fragile glass.
The third lunged.
Mandakini blocked with her forearm—
the impact sent a crack of energy across the room.
Viraj fired his chrono-blasters—
the shots didn't pierce the Nullborn,
but slowed them,stuttering their movement.
Agastya slammed his staff into the ground.
A dome of stabilizing energy formed,pushing back several attackers.
Vasundhara guided floating sigils in the air, sealing fractures that threatened to swallow the chamber.
And Kashyap—
Kashyap rose to his feet, head ringing, but eyes blazing.
One Nullborn raced toward him, its arm transforming into a blade of distorted space.
It slashed down.
Kashyap blocked with his bare hand.
The room froze.
Everyone turned.
Even the Nullborn halted for a fraction of a second.
Because Kashyap's hand wasn't vaporized.
Not erased.
Not corrupted.
His palm glowed—
the same geometric light Mandakini used.
Mandakini's eyes widened.
Exactly the same light.
"Kashyap…" she whispered.
"That energy—
it's paradox.
Like mine."
Viraj's voice cracked.
"That's not possible—only she—"
Agastya interrupted quietly.
"No. He was always the missing variable."
Kashyap didn't hear them.
He was too focused.
He gripped the Nullborn's blade-arm—
and the creature screeched as cracks of reversed time spread across its body.
Kashyap twisted—
and shattered the Nullborn into a burst of collapsing fragments.
The chamber went silent.
Mandakini stared at him like the universe had just revealed a secret she feared.
Kashyap turned to her, breathing heavily.
"Why do I have your power?"
Mandakini stepped closer, eyes locked on his.
"Because I told you…"
she said quietly.
She reached up and touched the glowing mark forming on his palm.
"…they're not just coming for me."
Her voice softened.
"They're coming for us."