Metaverse of Mechas

📘 Chapter 96

🪞Scene 1: Ira and the Mirror Blade

Ira stood in the middle of her dorm, drenched in sweat. The Mirror Blade lay on the floor, humming like a living thing. Last night, she'd stared into it—and for the first time, it stared back.

The reflection wasn't hers.

It was her, but... older. Worn. Scared. Holding a dying Zeron in her arms on a battlefield soaked in broken mechas and blood.

"No—no—no, that's not real," she whispered.

But when she reached for the blade, it seared her palm with a new glyph:

// Timeline 47C breached. // Beginning memory leak...

Suddenly, her mind was hit by a tsunami of images—her, Zeron, the war, the betrayal... and something they buried beneath the planet.

"We sealed it... together?" she gasped.

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Why don't I remember?"

👁️ Scene 2: Zake's Fractured Visitor

Zake sat alone, staring at a floating holosphere displaying enemy movement data. Since syncing with the Beta Protocol, his thoughts had become... more fragmented. Sharper. Too sharp.

Then the air cracked—literally cracked—as if glass had broken in his mind.

A boy stepped through.

He was his age. Same hair. Same face.

But his eyes were hollow. And his arm... robotic, rusted, and leaking Krono.

"Hey," the boy said, smiling painfully. "Name's... well, your name. But people called me 'Ash.' From Timeline 18Z."

"Timeline?" Zake stood slowly.

"Yeah, kid. You died in most timelines. This one? You're doing better."

Ash pulled a device from his side, handing it to Zake.

"Don't trust the guild. And... don't let her use the Seed."

"Her who?"

Ash just shook his head.

"Tell Zeron... I'm sorry I couldn't protect her."

He vanished in a blink.

Zake looked down at the device.

Seed Override Key // Activated

⚗️ Scene 3: Zui's Betrayal Realized

The man calling himself "Shade" had taken Zui through the ruins, showing her hidden labs, her mother's abandoned experiments, and the history of Project Aether Seed.

But something felt... wrong.

When they passed an old communication core, she hacked it mid-walk.

What she saw made her stomach drop:

A transmission log—from Shade—sent to an unknown frequency labeled "Helix Dominion // Offworld Relay."

"You're working for them," she said, stepping back.

"I never said I wasn't," Shade replied.

Suddenly his left eye shifted color—from human to pure black data-matrix.

"But I didn't lie either. I'm your only chance of finding your mother's vault."

Zui clenched her fists.

"Then lead the way. But one wrong step, and I fry your circuits."

Shade grinned. "Spoken like a true Bloomchild."

💥 Scene 4: Mecha Duel - Guild Under Fire

Back at the Mecha Guild, alarms blared.

The South Hangar had been attacked—not by aliens, but by internal bots with unauthorized driver signals.

Zeron and Nira rushed through the smoke and rubble.

A rogue unit, piloted by a cloaked figure, was dismantling guild bots effortlessly. The attacker's mecha was jagged, stitched together with scavenged alien and human tech.

Zeron activated Mythos Vortan's shield and stepped forward.

"Drop the cloak."

The pilot removed their helmet.

It was his old class rival, Kynar—the one who always called Zeron "the paper boy."

"They promised me more than this crumbling guild ever did," Kynar spat. "And now I'm going to show you true Krono fusion."

He activated a dual-core system, and his mecha exploded with Black and Red Krono—twisting into a monstrous beast of wires and fire.

"Bring it on," Zeron growled, his Violet Krono humming through Mythos.

Their battle scorched the entire southern perimeter.

🌌 Scene 5: The Emissary Descends

Far above Earth, a silver comet slowed down unnaturally—its trail pulsing with thoughts instead of flames.

Inside was the First Emissary of the Mindweavers—a shapeless being that wore the appearance of whomever it last consumed.

It looked like... Zeron.

Aboard its sentient vessel, it whispered:

"Initiating Phase Two. Injecting dreamburn layer into the Krono stream."

"Objective?"

"Confuse reality. Break memory. Soften resistance."

The Mindweavers were not coming to destroy the planet.

They were coming to reprogram it.

🔮 Preview – Chapter 97: Rise of the Hollow Core

Zake uses the Seed Override Key and discovers a terrible truth about his own origin.Ira's memory leak intensifies, revealing her past betrayal in a former life.Zui and Shade arrive at the Aether Vault—but it's guarded by a creature that should be extinct.Zeron defeats Kynar—but realizes someone else was controlling him all along.The Emissary descends… and hijacks a city's dreamscape.