Ascension Protocol: Rise Beyond Limits

The forest around Ethan buzzed with an unnatural silence. No wind. No movement. No presence. Only stillness—oppressive, deliberate.

He stood at the boundary between the Twilight Veil and the realm beyond—The Eclipsed Nexus, a mental domain created not by physical coordinates, but by the fragmented remains of a Celestial's psyche. This place wasn't supposed to exist. Even the Protocol remained silent, as if unsure how to classify what Ethan had just stepped into.

[Alert: Unknown dimension. Unmapped cognitive terrain. Caution advised.]

The warning was redundant. He could already feel it. Unlike any other dungeon, world, or trial he'd encountered, this place wasn't made of mana or matter. It was consciousness solidified, thought and trauma made real.

He took a cautious step forward. The ground beneath him wasn't earth but glass-like memory, rippling with every thought he had. Faces from his past shimmered beneath the surface—his mother's smile, Kael's bloodied grin, even Reika's silent gaze during their last conversation.

"Focus," he muttered, pushing the images away.

[Mental Fortitude: Tier IV activated. Cognitive anchoring initiated.]

The air thickened. The deeper he walked, the more the veil around his own mind began to thin. Doubts. Regrets. Even long-suppressed rage began to surface, trying to rewrite his memories.

A ghostly voice whispered behind him.

"You failed them all."

He turned. No one. Just echoes—his own guilt weaponized against him.

Suddenly, the world shifted.

The blackness turned into a shattered cathedral, suspended in a starless void. At the center stood a throne carved from obsidian neural tissue. Sitting upon it was a figure, head bowed, body wreathed in shadows that pulsed like neurons firing in agony.

[Subject Identified: Unknown Entity. Mental Class: God-Tier Fragmentation.][Threat Level: ∞ — Cognitive Hostile.]

"Welcome," the figure rasped, voice layered with dozens of conflicting tones, male and female, child and elder. "I've been waiting… Ethan Drake."

"How do you know my name?" he demanded, his hand instinctively reaching for the hilt of his spectral blade.

The being stood, and the shadows peeled off its face like scabs. Ethan gasped.

It was himself—a distorted, older version, eyes hollowed by madness, veins filled with dark mana.

"I am what you will become… if you continue to climb," the doppelgänger said with a grin. "This is not a place of challenge. It's a warning. And an invitation."

[Mind Duel Initiated: Ethereal Reflection Protocol Triggered.][Win Condition: Suppress your future self. Lose Condition: Become him.]

Ethan's hand tightened. The doppelgänger unsheathed his blade—an upgraded version of Ethan's own, laced with corruption, burning with Void-tier energy.

The two clashed.

Every swing was mirrored, every thought anticipated. Ethan found himself struggling not just against the enemy's skill, but his own instincts being weaponized. The entity wasn't copying him—it was him, evolved to a darker path.

[Alert: Mental Overload 62%... Cognitive Dissonance detected. Suggesting Memory Anchor.]

Ethan focused on a core memory—his mother's last words before the collapse of Earth's sanctuary zone.

"Don't let the pain make you forget who you are."

The light within his chest pulsed. The Ascension Core roared, stabilizing.

[Protocol Upgrade Unlocked: "Cognitive Severance"][You may now selectively erase mirrored traits from your opponent.]

With a roar, Ethan altered his stance, using an unorthodox combination he hadn't fully mastered. It broke the synchronicity. His double faltered.

He pressed the attack, severing shared pathways. Every strike now stole a part of the corrupted self's power.

The shadows screamed.

With a final blow, Ethan impaled the double through the heart. But instead of dying, the doppelgänger laughed.

"You think you've won? This wasn't the trial. This was the door."

The cathedral shattered. Reality inverted.

Ethan was falling—through layers of minds. Each one not his, but echoes of others trapped within the Nexus.

He landed in a room made of gears and ticking clocks. A child sat at the center, crying.

[Echo #14: Lost Timeseer Child][Intervention Required.]

The Protocol buzzed urgently.

"If you want to escape the Nexus, you must stabilize the echoes. Or they will consume you."

Ethan took a breath. This wasn't a dungeon—it was a collective mental prison, a psychic graveyard where every fragment of lost souls demanded resolution. And now, he was their anchor.

Somewhere outside, in the real world…

Kael awoke from meditation, gasping.

"He's in the Nexus," he whispered.

Reika, sharpening her blade, glanced over. "You're sure?"

"He triggered the Protocol's forbidden layer."

Reika stood. "Then we go after him."

Kael hesitated. "That place… no one comes back."

Reika's eyes glinted. "He's not 'no one.' He's Ethan Drake."

Back in the Nexus, Ethan knelt beside the crying child, unsure of what would come next—but one thing was clear: this was no longer about strength, levels, or artifacts. It was about healing.

And if he failed?

He would not just die—he would be forgotten.