Cosmic Ruler

The entire cosmos shuddered.

It wasn't just the battlefield.

It wasn't just this world.

The entire structure of reality itself groaned under the weight of what had just happened.

Aiden had done the impossible.

He had struck an Executor.

He had forced an entity beyond causality to acknowledge his existence.

And in doing so—

He had awakened something greater.

"We see you now."

The voice did not come from above.

It did not come from around them.

It came from everywhere.

It came from the very foundation of existence itself.

The Architects had noticed.

And they were not pleased.

The Sky Splits—A Glimpse of the Beyond

—𝘊𝘙𝘈𝘊𝘒—

The fractures in the sky deepened.

But this time, it wasn't like before.

This time, the cracks bled.

Not blood.

Not energy.

Concepts.

They dripped from the rift like liquid ideas, dissolving into the air, warping everything they touched.

One drop landed on a mountain in the distance.

Instantly, the mountain became a river.

Another drop fell upon the battlefield.

The very ground forgot that it had ever existed.

And then—

—𝘍𝘞𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘚𝘏—!

A figure began to emerge.

Not an Executor.

Not a soldier.

But a presence.

One that should not exist.

One that had never needed to exist.

Yet here it was.

Because Aiden had forced its hand.

The First Architect's Shadow

It did not have a form.

It did not have a name.

But as it descended from the fractures, Aiden instinctively knew—

This was the will of the Architects themselves.

"A traveler has broken the pattern."

"Correction must be enforced."

The Executors stepped aside.

They did not resist.

They did not object.

Because whatever this was—it was beyond even them.

Aiden gritted his teeth.

The weight of its presence alone felt like an absolute law pressing down on his very existence.

He had faced gods.

He had faced beings of infinite power.

But this?

This was different.

This wasn't just power.

This was authority.

Reality itself was trying to force him back into compliance.

And for the first time—

Even his golden aura struggled to resist.

"We must go."

Nihlus's voice was sharp, edged with something Aiden had never heard before.

Fear.

Not fear of losing.

Not fear of death.

Fear of something far worse.

Fear of being erased completely.

"Aiden, move!"

Aiden's instincts screamed.

The First Architect's Shadow raised its hand.

—𝘚𝘛𝘖𝘗—

Everything froze.

Time.

Space.

Motion.

Even thought.

For a single moment—

Aiden felt himself disconnect.

Like a piece of a story that had been cut out of the page.

"Correction in progress."

The voice was absolute.

"You were not meant to be."

And then—

—𝘊𝘙𝘈𝘊𝘒—!

Aiden moved.

Not by will.

Not by choice.

But because something else had acted.

Because someone else had intervened.

The One Who Defies the Architects

—𝘍𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘔—!

A second force collided with the Architect's will.

A force just as absolute.

Just as impossible.

The weight on Aiden's soul vanished.

Reality rippled.

And then—

A voice rang out.

A voice that should not exist.

A voice that should have been erased long ago.

"Still meddling in affairs beyond your understanding, I see."

Aiden's breath hitched.

Because he knew that voice.

That impossible, defiant, ever-smirking voice.

He turned.

And there, standing between him and the First Architect's Shadow—

Was Nexus.

Aiden stared.

His mind refused to process what he was seeing.

Nexus.

Standing there, completely at ease.

Standing against the First Architect's Shadow.

Something no being should be able to do.

And yet, here he was.

"You…" Aiden finally found his voice. "How?"

Nexus smirked, his violet eyes glinting with amusement.

"Oh, you know me, Aiden. I don't like following rules."

The First Architect's Shadow did not speak.

It did not react.

But the air tightened around them.

Reality itself seemed to twist in discomfort, as if struggling to contain the presence of these two anomalies.

"You interfere."

The Architect's voice was not a sound.

It was a declaration.

An absolute truth woven into existence itself.

"You are not permitted."

Nexus laughed.

"Yeah? And what are you going to do about it?"

The very sky cracked apart at his words.

Aiden's instincts screamed.

The universe itself refused to accept Nexus's presence.

Because Nexus was doing something far worse than defying the Architects.

He was mocking them.

And they did not like that.

The Collision of Gods

—𝘊𝘙𝘈𝘊𝘒—!

The First Architect's Shadow moved.

Or rather—

It decided that Nexus was no longer here.

—𝘞𝘏𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘔—!

A pulse of pure correctional force erupted outward, the kind that would have erased even the most powerful entities from existence.

But Nexus—

He simply raised a hand.

—𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘔—!

The force shattered.

Like glass breaking against something beyond comprehension.

The air rippled, struggling to contain the contradiction Nexus had just introduced into reality.

Aiden felt it.

He saw it.

The First Architect's Shadow was powerful.

But Nexus?

He was something else entirely.

"Not so easy to erase me, huh?" Nexus grinned, stretching lazily. "You lot really never change. Always trying to play 'fixers' for a world that doesn't need fixing."

The Shadow stilled.

Then, slowly—

It began to change.

The formless entity sharpened, becoming more defined.

It was adapting.

No longer a vague presence—

But a figure.

A humanoid shape, cloaked in concepts and absolutes.

And when it finally spoke again—

There was no declaration.

No grand statement of power.

Just a single word.

"Nexus."

It knew him.

Aiden's heart pounded.

The Architects didn't just see Nexus as an anomaly.

They remembered him.

Which meant—

This wasn't the first time Nexus had gone against them.

"It seems they haven't forgotten me," Nexus mused, tilting his head.

"That's fine. I haven't forgotten them either."

Then, without warning—

He turned toward Aiden.

"Hey, kid."

Aiden blinked. "…What?"

"Hold on tight."

Aiden barely had time to react before Nexus snapped his fingers.

—𝘞𝘏𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘚𝘏—!

Reality collapsed.

The battlefield, the sky, the Architect's presence—

Everything shattered in an instant.

Beyond the Rift—The Escape from Fate

When Aiden opened his eyes, he was somewhere else.

No battlefield.

No shadow of the Architects looming over them.

Just an endless, shifting void.

Colors twisted, stars burned and died in the span of seconds, and existence itself felt… unwritten.

Aiden staggered.

He had been thrown into some kind of liminal space.

A space between realities.

And standing beside him, completely unfazed—

Was Nexus.

"Welcome to the Nowhere," he said casually, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Not bad for an escape route, huh?"

Aiden didn't answer.

Because his mind was racing.

What the hell had just happened?

Who the hell was Nexus really?

And most importantly—

"You've fought the Architects before."

Nexus grinned.

"Yeah."

Aiden clenched his fists.

"Then start talking."

Nexus exhaled, shaking his head with a smirk.

"Fine, fine. Since you're so eager to know…"

Then, in a voice that sent shivers down Aiden's spine, he said:

"Let me tell you about the first time I broke their reality."