Metaverse of Mechas

📘 Chapter 7

🚨 Scene 1: Escape From Skyport K-9

The skyline of Skyport K-9 was ablaze.

Flames poured from hangars. Drones exploded mid-air. The ground cracked beneath the weight of collapsing mechs.

And at the center of it all ran Zui Kai, barefoot, bruised, and crackling with unstable Krono energy.

She weaved through crates, dodging bullets from aerial sentries. Her breath came fast, her thoughts even faster.

"This isn't Krono anymore… it's something else."

Behind her, the Pale Widows—Oblivion Core's elite pursuit squad—charged with clawed bots and memory-wiping darts.

One Widow leapt from a loading crane, landing with a hiss.

"Project Lucid Spark… return to the hive."

Zui answered with a blast of white-gold energy.

The shockwave shredded the bot into stardust.

She didn't stop.

Her escape path led her to Dock 27.

There, hidden beneath a rusted tarp, sat her father's old mech—one that had never responded to anyone else.

She climbed in.

The dashboard lit up with a symbol she hadn't seen since she was a toddler.

"Welcome back, Spark."

🛠️ Scene 2: Zeron, Zero & Rin – Strange Alliance

Miles away, Zeron, his clone Zero, and Rin gathered inside a rusting temple hidden beneath Freylock's market district.

Projected before them: the map to the Astral Key, pulsing with energy.

Zeron pointed. "That location… beneath the old Krono Shrine?"

Rin nodded. "We'll have to pass through the Iron Shade Zone—a battlefield crawling with rogue tech cultists, malfunctioning bots, and trap cores."

Zero spoke up, his voice low. "I've been there. It's suicide."

Zeron turned. "Afraid?"

Zero smirked. "Afraid you'll get there before me."

Rin watched the two with narrowed eyes. Their identical faces, their mirrored movements—it unnerved her. But something was different in their aura.

Zeron felt… human.

Zero didn't blink enough.

🌑 Scene 3: Infiltration of the Iron Shade

They arrived at the edge of the Iron Shade.

It was a techno-forest of scrapped mechs, towers of melted wires, and craters filled with whispering dust. The air shimmered with radiation and ghost-code—fragments of mechs still "thinking" long after death.

"Stay close," Rin whispered. "These machines don't sleep."

They passed crumbling temples etched with alien glyphs—signs that the Krono system had been tampered with centuries ago, before even the Kai family's ancestors.

In the shadows, something moved.

A Titan-class berserker bot, missing half its face, dragged itself toward them.

It didn't recognize friend or foe.

Only heat signatures.

Zero lunged, slamming a shock module into its side.

Zeron launched into the air, kicking off wall fragments, landing with a charged punch to the bot's core.

It shuddered… then collapsed.

But not before it whispered in static:

"The Key must never awaken…"

They all froze.

That wasn't code. That was fear.

🔍 Scene 4: Unsealing the Astral Vault

Deep inside the ruins, they found it.

A sealed chamber shaped like an hourglass, covered in shifting plates. The door required three types of Krono signatures to open.

Yellow. Blue. And…

Purple.

Zeron stepped forward.

Nothing happened.

Zero tried—his Krono sparked blue, matching part of the lock.

Rin offered hers—faint yellow.

The lock accepted both.

But the final segment glowed faint violet… then flickered.

Zeron's chest tightened.

"I'm not ready yet."

"Then let me try," came a voice behind them.

They turned.

Zui, limping, covered in soot, but standing tall, her eyes burning with lucent energy.

She raised her palm.

The third segment accepted her spark.

Not purple.

Not yellow.

A blend. White-gold.

The door shuddered… then opened.

Inside was the Astral Key—not a weapon, but a floating orb of light, humming with voices and spinning data.

Zero whispered, "What… what is that?"

Rin's eyes widened.

"It's not just a key. It's a map to every Krono source in existence."

Whoever controls it… controls the future of all tech, all power, all life.

💀 Scene 5: Shadow Betrayal

As they stared in awe, a ripple of darkness surged through the room.

Suddenly, the walls closed.

From above, dozens of shadow mechs descended, cloaked in red-glow plating.

And from the shadows stepped a familiar face.

Commander Yurei — Zeron's former supervisor from the Mecha Guild.

"I told you he would lead us here," Yurei said coldly, his pistol trained on Zui. "Thank you, Zeron."

Zeron took a step back. "You're with Oblivion Core?"

"No," Yurei answered. "They're with me."

From his back, he drew a saber pulsing with corrupted Krono.

"I've waited years to awaken the Astral Key," he hissed. "And now, thanks to your lovely sister, it finally obeys."

Zui took a defiant step forward. "You'll have to kill me first."

Yurei smirked.

"Oh, that was always the plan."

🔮 Preview – Chapter 8: "Fractured Bloodlines"

Zeron and Zero must join forces to fight Yurei's corrupted army. Secrets about their creation come to light—and someone they trust is revealed to be a mole.

Zui's powers spiral out of control as the Astral Key links to her DNA, forcing her into a trance that may wipe out half the continent…