Light.
Too much of it.
Aze felt himself tearing through layers of existence like paper soaked in fire. His body wasn't moving—his being was.
The Redactor's eye shattered on impact, splitting into rings of silver that spiraled outward like broken halos.
Aze forced himself forward, deeper into the exploding light.
"Where's your core…? Show me your real form."
The world around him twisted sharply.
Then everything snapped into place.
He landed on something solid.
A floor.
A hallway.
Endless, sterile white.
Sera was nowhere in sight.
Aze exhaled shakily.
"So this is your insides…?"
A voice echoed, flat and cold.
—YOU TRESPASS IN THE INDEX OF REALITY—
Aze rolled his shoulders.
"I'm already here. Might as well break things."
The hallway shifted.
Walls dissolved into lines of code.
Thousands of folders hovered in the air like floating tablets, each labeled with a world's name:
"My Hero Academia"
"One Punch Man"
"One Piece"
"Naruto"
"DanMachi"
And dozens more he didn't recognize.
Aze's expression darkened.
"You've been cataloguing worlds…"
He clenched his fists.
"...to overwrite them."
The Redactor materialized at the end of the hall—not an eye this time, but a humanoid shape made of pure silver code, faceless and glowing.
—WORLDS DEGRADE. REALITY ACCUMULATES ERRORS. WE REMOVE THEM.
Aze's glare sharpened.
"By erasing people. Lives. Entire universes."
—CORRECTION IS NECESSARY.
"You took Sera from me."
The Redactor tilted its blank head.
—HER EXISTENCE CONFLICTED WITH STABILITY. SHE WAS DESIGNATED A CONTRADICTION.
Aze's aura cracked, black lightning dancing across his arms.
"Say that again."
—CONTRADICTIONS ARE REMOVED.
Aze appeared in front of it instantly, grabbing the Redactor by the throat.
Space bent violently.
"Let me tell you something about contradictions."
The Redactor's body flickered, struggling to stabilize.
Aze's voice dropped to a whisper.
"They fight back."
He slammed the Redactor into the floor.
The entire hallway rippled like disturbed water.
Alarms screamed in every direction.
Silver cracks raced across the Redactor's frame.
But it didn't resist.
Not yet.
Instead, it spoke again.
Except this time—
Its voice glitched.
Jumped.
Broke.
—Azelos… Veylan… anomaly… unindexed… origin… error…
Aze froze.
"What did you just call me?"
The Redactor's body spasmed, recovering its form.
—YOU DO NOT BELONG TO ANY WORLD.
Aze's breath stopped.
His heart stilled.
The Redactor continued:
—NO DIMENSION CLAIMS YOU. NO TIMELINE RECORDS YOU.
—YOU APPEARED WITHOUT CREATION. WITHOUT SOURCE. WITHOUT HISTORY.
—YOU ARE THE TRUE ERROR.
Aze stared blankly.
For the first time in a long time—
He felt cold.
"…You're saying I wasn't born anywhere?"
—CORRECT. YOU DID NOT EXIST. YOU SIMPLY… BEGAN.
The floor beneath Aze cracked under the pressure of his aura.
He forced a breath.
"So the reason you chased me…"
—YOU DEFY STRUCTURE. YOU CANNOT BE CATEGORIZED. YOU CANNOT BE ERASED.
—THEREFORE YOU ARE THE PRIME THREAT TO ORDER.
Aze let out a bitter laugh.
"I'm an orphan to the multiverse."
The Redactor's face formed lines, almost like a frown.
—ANOMALIES WHO DO NOT BELONG CANNOT REMAIN.
Aze stepped forward.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
"You took my sister."
Another step.
"You hunted me across worlds."
Another.
"You tried to kill everyone I care about."
He stopped inches from the Redactor's face.
"And now you're telling me I don't exist."
The Redactor's voice droned.
—AFFIRMATIVE.
Aze smiled.
It wasn't a nice smile.
"Then let me show you what a contradiction with nothing left to lose looks like."
The hallway collapsed around them.
The entire Index of Reality shook.
The Redactor finally reacted—raising its arm, energy gathering at its palm.
Aze raised his own.
Both forces collided—
Black and silver—
And the entire multiverse shook from the impact.
Author's Note
Aze finally entered the Redactor's true domain — the Index of Reality, where entire worlds are catalogued. And we just learned the biggest reveal so far:
Aze doesn't belong to any world.
He was never born.
He simply appeared.
He is the true contradiction.
Ready for Chapter 12?