Metaverse of Mechas

📘 Chapter 77

🌆 Scene 1: Mission in Ruins

Location: Sector-12, Outer Ruins – Cleanup Operation Site

Director Halberd leads a handpicked squad of elite mecha pilots into the ruins under the guise of recovering an ancient Krono generator. It's a highly publicized mission—media drones swarm the site. Zeron, still recovering, watches the broadcast with narrowed eyes.

Serin—who has secretly fed intel to a resistance channel—has ensured this mission is being closely observed.

As Halberd's squad opens the vault, they are ambushed.

But not by aliens.

By humans—former Echo Federation agents marked as "missing" for years.

Agent: "You never expected your old soldiers to remember, did you, Halberd?"

Chaos erupts.

And the world sees, in real-time, Halberd ordering his team to fire on the unarmed agents—before he realizes the feed is still live.

News Anchor (stunned): "Was that… an execution order?"

In one stroke, Halberd's reputation collapses.

🧬 Scene 2: Zake vs. Zake

Location: Krono Training Dome – South Echo District

Zake, now part of the elite youth team "Iron Nova," is alone in a simulation room when the alarm flashes red. He finds himself face-to-face with…

Himself.

A Valken-grown clone—with red-tinted eyes and a blackened Krono aura.

Clone Zake: "I'm the perfect version. You? You're the leftover emotion."

The fight is vicious. Zake's mecha, Boltfang, is nearly destroyed. But when he remembers Zui—her laugh, her dreams—his Krono spikes, forming a golden pulse shield.

Zake: "If you're perfect, then why do you feel so empty?!"

He defeats the clone—barely—but not before the clone whispers:

Clone Zake (dying): "We were all born from her…"

Zake is left stunned.

"From who…?"

🔐 Scene 3: Serin Captured

Serin attempts to escape with the nano-footage of Halberd's betrayal, but she is caught by a stealth squad from Nullion's loyalists—a group calling themselves The Krono Disciples.

She is taken to an underground lab.

Lead Disciple: "You hold memories you shouldn't. Let's erase them."

Bound to a memory extraction rig, Serin prepares for the worst. But inside her mind, a fail-safe activates—planted by Zeron months ago.

Zeron's voice (in her mind): "If they try to take you, they'll see only what I want them to see."

A psychic booby trap fries the extraction device. But Serin is still trapped, her physical body bound.

🌌 Scene 4: Zeron's Awakening, Part II

Zeron's training continues in the dreamscape. Each time he taps into the Purple Krono, he loses a piece of himself—his laughter, his warmth, his memories of small joys.

But he pushes forward, guided by the mysterious Fragmented Zui, who now appears older and wiser.

Zui: "You have to burn to become the fire."

Zeron reaches a new level of control—his Krono briefly forms a solid halo of purple runes around his body in the real world.

This surge lets him sense Serin's location.

He instantly suits up.

Zeron (cold): "I don't need perfect control to break in. I just need enough to break them."

⚠️ Scene 5: Preview – Chapter 78: Vault of the Forgotten

Zeron invades the underground lab and faces the Krono Disciples.Serin uncovers part of the original Zui's memory blueprint, revealing her connection to the Nullion program.Zake is summoned to a mysterious vault titled "Project Z Genesis."Halberd goes into hiding and begins assembling his own rogue force.A strange message from another planet arrives—someone out there knows Zeron's full name, and they've been waiting.