At the deepest heart of the structure, where energy fluctuated in geometric waves, Grey and All For One faced the core. This core materialized as a colossal sphere of pitch-black metal, levitating a few meters above the ground. Its surface was far from smooth, composed instead of thousands of shifting polygonal facets that constantly slid and reordered themselves like a technological Rubik's cube. Through the seams of these moving plates, an unstable, glitching bluish light filtered out, offering a faint, blurred silhouette of the mysterious individual trapped at the center of this matrix.
They had been unable to directly access whatever was inside, as the sphere's outer shell remained desperately airtight. To try and awaken the stranger from a distance and shatter the anomaly, they had to improvise.
Grey began by projecting his own energy to create a resonance frequency capable of vibrating the external structure, hoping the wave would pierce the barrier to stimulate the sleeper's senses. For his part, All For One sought to saturate and hack the energy flows feeding the cocoon's terminals to short-circuit his stasis state. Seeing that nothing was moving, Grey and All For One joined forces in a raw, targeted pulse against the surface of the wall. Although the core did not shatter, these repeated attempts were ultimately detected as a major intrusion. The world's security mechanism kicked in, triggering a true cataclysm.
Under the effect of this overload, the sphere suddenly disintegrated, releasing the individual, who collapsed heavily onto the floor.
He lay there tangled in his own limbs, a fragile silhouette shivering violently against the cold stone. Stripped of the core's protection, his skin appeared sickeningly translucent, like pale parchment stretched too thin, revealing a web of glowing, glitching silver veins pulsing beneath the surface. Strands of stark white hair clung to his sweat-slicked forehead, and as he gasped for air, his eyes flickered wide—devoid of pupils, filled only with a swirling, unstable static that mirrored the dying code of his prison. He looked devastatingly young, his features delicate and sharp, yet worn down by what must have been centuries of solitary confinement. He clutched desperately at his chest, his fingers curling like claws over a tattered, ancient tunic that looked as though it belonged to a forgotten era. There was a tragic, childlike innocence to his confusion that made the impending horror of his fate all the more agonizing to witness.
At that exact moment, a holographic countdown abruptly appeared above their heads, relentlessly displaying: 01:00.
The stranger stood up slowly, staggering, trying to understand where he was and what was happening. But the security system gave him no time. As the seconds ticked away at breakneck speed, reality began to crumble.
The moment the countdown dropped below the 30-second mark, the individual's body began to disintegrate right before the horrified eyes of Grey and All For One. The disintegration started with his fingertips, which dissolved into a fine, ash-like digital dust that floated upward, defying gravity. The smell of ozone and burning copper filled the air, thick and suffocating. Grey flinched, his throat tightening as a cold sweat broke out across his neck; for all his power, the sheer helplessness radiating from the boy struck a raw, agonizing chord within him. Even All For One, usually a master of cold detachment, narrowed his eyes, his pupils shrinking as he watched the silver veins beneath the youth's skin rupture into micro-bursts of blinding white static.
Panic-stricken, the man began to shriek, begging for their help in a tearing voice, desperate not to die. His fading hands reached out toward them, grasping at nothing but empty air as his forearms began to flake away like burning paper.
Witnessing this scene of horror and understanding that the entire world was about to be erased, Grey and All For One spun around. For Grey, a heavy, suffocating dread clawed at his chest; it wasn't just the primal fear of his own annihilation, but the sickening weight of guilt. They had tried to save this boy, yet their interference had actively triggered his agonizing erasure. The youth's desperate screams echoed in his mind, fueling a frantic, desperate urge to outrun the failure. Beside him, All For One's mind raced with cold, furious calculation. For a man who lived to conquer and control, the utter lack of leverage over this digital apocalypse was infuriating. He refused to let his ambition end here, erased like a meaningless glitch in someone else's simulation. Survival was the only logic that mattered now.
They sprinted madly toward the gaping hole they had originally arrived through, with less than 10 seconds left on the clock. When the countdown finally hit 0, the man vanished completely into a blinding flash of white light, muttering one last ironic, tragic line:
"What did I ever do to deserve this...?"
This mysterious and destructive force, originally concentrated at the heart of the underground sphere from London, had set itself in motion. All For One and Grey dashed at full speed through the corridors of the collapsing fortress. Behind them, the white wake pursued them relentlessly, devouring every room, every stone. Having no choice but to flee upward to escape this increasingly harrowing maze, they scrambled up the trunk at top speed, feeling the breath of destruction hot on their heels.
It was while frantically scaling the hole to reach the surface that All For One, analyzing the trajectory of the danger, shouted to Grey to provide a crucial clarification: "It's not just a wave! The disintegration is taking the form of a perfect sphere that grows without stopping, centered exactly on that individual!"
The exact moment they finally burst out of the hole to reach the surface, the ground began to shake violently beneath their feet. With a deafening crash, the entire castle began to collapse in on itself, revealing the upper portion of the gigantic white sphere piercing the ground, swallowing everything in its path.
Without a second thought, they immediately veered off to run toward the nearby forest, desperately trying to escape the anomaly. But glancing over his shoulder, Grey noticed with dread that the white sphere wasn't just following them: it was growing larger and larger, expanding to a phenomenal volume with every passing second. It was now an absolute race for survival.
Around them, the digital cataclysm carried out its grim purging process. The entire world dissolved as the white glare approached; the two fugitives knew they were in a desperate, impossible bind. It was an absolute nightmare.
The destruction did not merely break stone and tear earth; it rewrote the very laws of physics. The ancient trees of the forest didn't topple; instead, they shattered into wireframe skeletons before pixelating into nothingness. The sky above fractured like a broken liquid-crystal display, bleeding vertical streaks of neon errors into the advancing white void. The air grew terrifyingly thin, vibrating with a high-pitched, metallic hum that threatened to burst their eardrums.
In the middle of the courtyard and at the edge of the woods, iron knights, panicked barons, and the King himself began to glitch. The moment the edge of the sphere grazed them, they vanished instantly into nothingness, reduced to raw data fragments. Their agonizing screams were cut dead in their throats, abruptly silenced by total erasure. One moment a knight was wailing in terror, his heavy armor clanking frantically; the next, a silent, blinding line of code swept through him, leaving only a hollow, ringing silence where a life had been just a microsecond before.
Just as the blinding curve of the sphere was about to touch and sweep them away in turn, a luminescent portal suddenly opened before them, cutting through the void right in the middle of their stride. It was at this precise second that Grey heard a familiar voice calling him through the rift. Without wasting a moment, he threw himself toward the light, followed closely by All For One, who was completely oblivious to what was happening. Together, they leaped through the portal just before the white wake closed the trap on them.
They landed brutally on the other side, the impact shaking the ground where they fell. When Grey finally raised his head, he saw a breathless little girl standing before him, both arms stretched forward, nearly grazing the ground. A questioning look formed on the young man's face as the name Eri escaped his lips.
Right beside the little girl stood a young woman. Seeing her, a smug smile appeared on Grey's lips. Adapting to a simpler posture, sitting comfortably on the ground, he cast a sly, mocking glance toward All For One: "I think we're back."
These words left All For One deeply pensive at the completely unpredictable turn of events. Grey, for his part, relaxed completely and turned his gaze to the young woman to express his gratitude: "I owe you my thanks, Hana."
The young woman met his gaze but shook her head gently, a calmer smile replacing her smug expression. "Don't thank me, Grey," Hana replied sincerely. "I did practically nothing. Eri is the one who suddenly felt your presence in the midst of all that chaos. She's the one who opened that portal to bring you back."
At these words, Grey's gaze turned back to the little girl, who was still unsteady and trying to catch her breath after such an effort. Deep gratitude, tinged with admiration, replaced the last traces of tension on his face. All For One, meanwhile, observed the scene in silence, engraving every detail of this unexpected miracle into his memory.
Slowly standing back up to steady themselves on their feet, dusting off their clothes which were still buzzing with the static electricity of destruction, Grey quietly approached the little girl. He tenderly placed a hand on Eri's head, gently stroking her hair to reassure and thank her. "Thank you, Eri," he said in a soft voice, heavy with emotion. "You got us out of a real mess."
After thanking Eri, Grey's face relaxed for a moment before taking on a much more serious expression. He turned to Hana, ready to get straight to the point: "Hana, I need a full report. Tell me what happened here since we disappeared."
Instead of answering immediately, Hana glanced at the little girl, who was visibly fighting against exhaustion. She raised her voice and called for Kaori, who was quick to appear. "Kaori, please take Eri with you. She needs to rest after what she just did," Hana requested in a gentle but firm tone.
Once the little girl was taken care of, Hana turned back to the duo, gesturing toward the corridor with a nod: "Follow me. We'll have more peace to talk."
She led them into a subterranean hallway that felt oppressive and sterile compared to the chaotic world they had just escaped. The walls were constructed of seamless, cold-pressed gray steel, lit only by recessed overhead strips that pulsed with a dim, rhythmic blue hue. There were no windows, no decorations—only the low, omnipresent thrum of hidden machinery vibrating through the metal floor beneath their boots. It felt less like a sanctuary and more like a high-security bunker built to withstand the end of the world, casting long, dramatic shadows ahead of them as they walked.
Seeing her turn on her heel without the slightest hesitation, All For One quickened his pace to catch up with Grey. Leaning in slightly, he muttered in a low voice, unable to hide his utter bewilderment: "Is this a joke? No one here seems remotely shocked by my presence... They aren't even putting their guard up. How is this possible?"
At those words, Grey let out a faint sigh and shot back without even looking at him: "Don't flatter yourself. Something far more important than you is preoccupying them right now, that's all."
All For One frowned, his ego stung, and allowed a certain skepticism to show. "More important? And what could possibly be worse than me in this world?" he asked in a provocative tone.
Grey replied in a perfectly indifferent, almost detached tone: "The author of this world, perhaps."
This retort caught All For One completely off guard. He stopped dead, frozen for a moment by the weight of that insinuation, before shaking his head and quickening his step to catch up with Grey.
Meanwhile, Grey silently observed Hana's silhouette walking ahead of them. Something was off. In his head, a single thought kept looping: she looked different, more solemn, almost changed compared to usual. At the exact moment he was about to open his mouth to question her about her attitude, Hana broke the silence without even turning around:
"Three weeks."
Grey and All For One stopped halfway, completely perplexed. They looked at each other, wondering what on earth those two words dropped out of nowhere could mean. The answer wasn't long in coming. Hana continued down the corridor, her voice echoing coldly against the steel walls as she stated, "It has been three weeks since you disappeared."
For the two fugitives, the shock was immediate and brutal. They froze in their tracks, their faces locked in sheer astonishment.
The chilling reality of their situation began to sink in. The alternate dimension hadn't just been a different space; its temporal frequency was entirely decoupled from their own. While they had been navigating the collapsing architecture of that digital matrix, time back home had been surging forward. A mere three days of desperate survival for them had translated to twenty-one days of complete silence in the real world.
The realization was sickening. Three entire weeks of history had unfolded without them. They were completely blind to how the geopolitical landscape, their allies, and their enemies had shifted in their absence. Grey's mind raced as he stared at the cold, unyielding steel of the corridor, the weight of the missing weeks settling heavily on his shoulders.
He exchanged a grim, unspoken glance with All For One. The villain's usual calculating smirk had utterly vanished, replaced by the dark, cold realization that they were now steps behind in a world that hadn't stopped spinning.