The battlefield did not calm after the first clash.
It held its breath.
Cracked streets hovered half-lifted into the air. Gravity bent in overlapping directions. Adrax's shadows crawled back into place. Luxion's light recalibrated itself. Aizeno stood untouched, hands behind his back, watching everything like a solved equation.
Old Gen fighters regrouped instinctively.
This was no longer a test of strength.
It was lineage.
Null stood still at the center of the chaos, chest rising and falling unevenly. His aura flickered—unstable, layered, unfinished.
Then something changed.
Not violently.
Not explosively.
Quietly.
D U noticed it first.
His eyes widened—not in fear, but recognition.
"…No way."
Hyung turned sharply. "What?"
D U didn't answer. He just stared at Null.
Null's shadow no longer matched his movements.
It stood taller.
Broader.
Sharper.
Like a second figure overlapping him.
The air around Null compressed inward—not like Adrax's pressure, not like Luxion's control.
This was different.
This was authority.
Adrax's gaze snapped fully onto Null.
"…That resonance."
Luxion's smile faded for the first time.
Aizeno's eyes narrowed slightly.
Null clenched his fists.
Something unlocked.
Not a memory.
Not a fragment.
A pattern.
His mind aligned with something ancient, precise, and terrifyingly familiar.
A presence surged behind his thoughts—vast, disciplined, absolute.
COPY: OLD PRIME — STAGE 4
The ground beneath Null did not crack.
It kneeled.
Every floating object slammed flat to the surface. Gravity stabilized—then bowed outward in a perfect radius around him.
Null's aura transformed.
No longer chaotic darkness.
No longer raw resistance.
It became structured—layered bands of force rotating around him like invisible crowns.
His eyes sharpened.
Clear.
Focused.
Cold.
Hyung felt it immediately.
"…This feeling."
Rhel Cain froze.
Gray's breath caught.
Blaze's flames extinguished themselves instinctively.
Vyra's hands trembled.
Kage stepped back a single pace.
The Old Generation knew this pressure.
They had fought under it once.
D U broke into a wide grin—equal parts pride and disbelief.
"Well I'll be damned," he said loudly."He actually pulled it off."
Null raised his head.
His stance changed—not defensive, not aggressive.
Commanding.
D U pointed at him, laughing once.
"That posture," he said. "That control."
Then his expression turned serious.
"…That's not imitation."
Everyone looked at him.
D U continued, voice carrying across the battlefield:
"That's Old Prime, Stage Four. Full combat authority. Perfect regulation. No wasted output."
He glanced toward Adrax, Luxion, and finally Aizeno.
"And only one man ever used it like that."
Silence followed.
Rhel Cain spoke, barely audible.
"…The King."
The name rippled through the Old Gen like a shockwave.
Null's aura stabilized completely.
The shadow behind him sharpened—no longer a blur, but the outline of a towering figure wearing a broken crown.
Adrax's voice dropped.
"So the bloodline endures."
Luxion exhaled slowly.
"…Impossible. The King fell."
Aizeno stared directly at Null now.
No smile.
No calm.
Only calculation.
Null spoke, voice steady, layered with something deeper beneath it:
"I don't know everything yet."
He took one step forward.
The battlefield shifted to accommodate him.
"But I know this power."
Another step.
"And I know it's mine."
D U folded his arms, nodding with satisfaction.
"Kid," he said, almost proudly,"you're not just copying your father."
Hyung turned to him sharply. "Father?"
D U smirked.
"You still don't get it?" he said."Only one person in history could reach Old Prime Stage Four without burning their own existence."
He looked at Null again.
"And only his son could inherit the pattern."
The Old Generation finally understood.
Not a vessel.
Not a fragment.
Not an experiment.
Null was royalty.
The Old King's son.
Adrax shifted, shadows tightening.
Luxion raised his guard fully.
Aizeno spoke at last, voice low and sharp:
"…So the crown chose you after all."
Null met his gaze without fear.
"I didn't choose the crown," he said.
His aura flared—controlled, absolute.
"But I'll decide what it means."
The war had changed.
This was no longer Throned Ones versus remnants.
This was the return of a legacy.
And the world felt it.