Everything went dark.
Not blackout dark.
Not night-sky dark.
But void dark.
Like the world had been peeled away.
Aze stood in a weightless space of floating glass shards, each one showing flickering images of UA, of students running, of Rinne reaching toward the spot where he vanished.
A voice echoed through the emptiness.
"Archivist…"
Aze frowned.
"Yeah, yeah. I heard you the first time."
The skeletal hand moved again, emerging fully from the crack that floated behind him. The rest of the body followed: a tall, thin figure woven out of black bone and glitching fragments of erased universes.
Its skull had no eyes.
Just empty sockets filled with swirling code.
Aze exhaled.
"So. A Collector."
The creature's head twitched.
"Designated anomaly. You are not permitted to interact with any stabilized timeline. Return to The Archive."
Aze gave a lazy shrug.
"Yeah, sorry. I'm on vacation."
A jagged screech ripped through the void.
The Collector raised one long arm.
"Refusal noted. Beginning retrieval."
Aze cracked his knuckles.
"All right then. Let's get this over with."
The creature lunged.
Aze didn't move.
He simply willed one of his Slots to activate.
A pulse of power rippled through the void.
The Collector froze mid-motion, its body glitching in place.
Aze rested a hand on his hip.
"You really should've tried talking first."
The creature screamed.
Reality in the void warped, cracks forming around them.
The Collector forcibly broke free of the freeze and swung a second arm at him, razor-sharp.
Aze calmly caught it.
Held it.
Crushed it.
The skeletal limb shattered into pixel dust.
"You're in my way," Aze said.
The Collector staggered back.
"Impossible… unauthorized strength… anomaly unstable…"
Aze stepped forward.
His coat rippled with glowing blue runes.
"You think I'm unstable?" he said. "Buddy, I am the calmest thing in my entire multiverse."
He flicked his finger.
A shockwave tore through the void.
The Collector slammed into a floating glass shard, cracking it like a mirror struck by a hammer.
Aze didn't let up.
He grabbed the creature by the skull.
"Tell your boss something for me," he whispered.
Silence.
Then—
"Stop. Chasing. Me."
He crushed the skull like chalk.
The Collector's body convulsed, collapsed, and dissolved into countless tiny symbols that faded into nothing.
The void around him began to collapse.
"Aaaand that's my cue."
Aze turned toward the rip in space.
Another shock ran through his spine.
Someone was pulling him.
Hard.
Back toward the real world.
Good.
He needed to check on Rinne.
He reached for the crack—
—but just as he touched it, another voice whispered behind him.
Soft.
Cold.
Amused.
"You can't run forever, little Archivist."
Aze froze.
He turned slowly.
Another figure stood in the collapsing void.
Not skeletal.
Not glitching.
But whole.
A man with pale skin.
Silver eyes.
And a smile too calm for comfort.
Aze's chest tightened.
"Oh no," he muttered. "Not you."
The figure tilted his head.
"You're becoming a problem," he said gently. "A very interesting problem."
Aze's voice dropped to a whisper.
"The Redactor."
The man smiled wider.
"We'll speak again."
The void shattered.
Aze felt himself thrown through the crack—back to reality—
—back to UA—
—back to danger—
And right into the explosion that waited for him on the other side.
Author's Note
Aze has officially encountered the Redactor for the first time — and now UA is about to face the fallout of the void battle.
Want Chapter 5 next?