Metaverse of Mechas

📘 Chapter 2

The crowd's cheers dimmed to static in Zeron's ears.

He was kneeling on cracked, scorched metal—blood dripping from his fingers, breath short, vision swimming. Around him, the remains of the alien Dragon twitched in sparks and glowing blue fragments. Its cracked core oozed out alien fluids like toxic honey.

But Zeron's attention wasn't on the crowd or the money he'd earned.

It was on the glow.

A faint, pulsing violet shimmer on the back of his hand.

He turned it over, expecting it to vanish.

It didn't.

It throbbed slowly, like a heartbeat. Warm… ancient… familiar—and yet utterly alien.

"Do you seek power?"

Zeron flinched. The voice hadn't come from outside.

It came from within.

His pulse spiked. He looked around.

Nothing. Just people yelling, drinking, some betting slips being exchanged, others whispering in awe of "Z-427."

"You have drawn blood. Now the gate begins to unlock."

"Do you seek vengeance… or truth?"

The whisper wasn't human. It sounded like a thousand wires twisting into words.

"Who... who are you?" Zeron whispered under his breath.

"Not who. What."

"I am the Will of the Core."

Two hours later, Zeron sat in his apartment's balcony, a wet bandage on his arm, the winnings—200 KC—secured in his account chip.

He could finally pay off Ralph.

He could keep Zui and Zake in school for another two months.

But the victory felt... hollow.

The glow had faded, but something remained. A presence. Something that occasionally flickered in the edge of his mind, like a fragment of forgotten code booting up.

He heard Zui's voice behind him. "You're bleeding again!"

She grabbed his arm with worried eyes. "Did you get into a fight?"

Zeron hesitated. "…Just an accident. Work stuff."

"You should quit," she said firmly. "That job doesn't care about you."

"I can't," he said softly. "Not yet."

She stared at him like she knew he was lying.

But didn't press.

Instead, she hugged him. "You're the best brother in the world."

The next morning, Zeron walked down the alley behind the neon market district.

Ralph Dox waited there, arms crossed, four goons with muscle-grade augments standing behind him. His steel jaw twitched when he saw the chip in Zeron's hand.

"Well, well. Didn't think you had it in you."

"I'm done," Zeron said. "Here. All of it."

He tossed the chip forward.

Ralph caught it mid-air. Scanned it.

"You're clean," he said. "For now."

But as Zeron turned to leave, one of the goons cracked his knuckles. "Boss, let's just finish him off. No loose ends."

Ralph's smirk returned. "Tempting."

Zeron froze. His fists clenched.

"They are weak."

"You have bled. You have awakened."

"Command me."

Zeron felt a shiver rise through his spine.

"What did you say?" he muttered.

One of the goons lunged. A metal pipe in hand.

Zeron ducked. Not consciously.

Instinct.

He grabbed the attacker's wrist mid-swing and twisted. The sound of bone snapping echoed through the alley. The man screamed.

Another charged with a blade.

Zeron stepped forward—two precise movements—and sent the man flying into the dumpster.

Ralph blinked.

Zeron's eyes flickered purple for a second.

"You… have Krono?" Ralph stammered.

Zeron didn't answer.

He just stared at him, unblinking.

Ralph stepped back. "This isn't over, Zero-boy."

But he didn't stay to fight.

None of them did.

That night, Zeron opened the cube.

The old rusted core his father had left behind.

He placed it on the workbench. Focused.

"Show me the truth," he whispered.

The core flickered.

For the first time in years.

And then, from the cube, a projection burst to life—holographic and ancient.

A schematic of a mech. Unlike any he had ever seen.

Sleek. Curved. Elegant. Deadly.

Its heart? A core of pure violet energy.

Beneath it was a label:

"Project ÆRA—Version 01. Sealed."

"You have touched the root."

"The seed remembers."

Zeron's breath caught.

This wasn't just a mech.

It was his father's last legacy.

And it had waited for him.

🌌 Elsewhere...

In the cold vacuum above Veltronia's outer orbit, a black ship moved without noise or light. Inside it, cloaked figures stood around a circular table where a single holographic feed showed Zeron's face.

"He's awakened," one said.

"A Violet signal. Impossible," said another.

"Suppressed for years. Sealed in childhood, likely by the parents."

"We must act."

"No," came a distorted voice—one that echoed with ancient command. "Let him grow. Let him taste freedom. Then we will take it from him."

A long pause.

And then:

"Begin Operation: Cradle Break."

🧪 Meanwhile…

At Voxen Guild's main command tower, a young woman sat at her desk, watching surveillance footage of the arena fight on a cracked tablet.

It was Isha, Zeron's class rival from school, now a rising technician in weapons development.

She rewound the moment the purple flicker flashed from his body.

Paused.

Zoomed.

Her eyes narrowed.

"Zeron… what are you hiding?"

🏙 Back in the lower districts…

Zeron stood on the rooftop of his building, wind whipping his jacket. The cube-core floated in front of him, glowing slightly. Below, the lights of Veltronia twinkled like distant stars.

"Do you wish to unlock your first layer?"

Zeron took a breath.

"...Yes."

The cube pulsed. Light spilled out.

Circles of ancient symbols spiraled around him. The ground trembled.

A beam of violet shot skyward for just an instant—then vanished.

Inside his mind, a system booted up.

—[PROTO-MECH LINK INITIATED]

—[MECHA A.I. ONLINE]

—[CRONOS RATE: 0.2%]

—[LOCK STATUS: 6/7 SEALED]

—Welcome, Pilot Zeron.

Zeron collapsed to one knee.

And smiled.

For the first time, he was no longer nothing.

🔮 Preview – Chapter 3: "The Whispering Core"

As Zeron struggles to control the strange voice now living in his mind, he is recruited—by force—into a secret underground squad that hunts rogue alien cores. But something's wrong. One of the aliens they capture… speaks his name.