Shunogai

Shukan turns back around, reminiscing of his time at the camp. "Did that hunk of armor even tell us where to go? I don't remember where it is, since the last time was well..." Shukan puts his hand on his chin and starts thinking." …6 years ago? "He takes his hand off his chin and starts scratching his head. "Anyways, how come you're so quiet, Yurei? "

Ignoring Shukan, Yurei skips joyfully on the ground, without a care in the world. "Yurei...? "Shukan stops talking and takes a dagger out, spinning it before putting it back inside his holsters. "This will be entertaining, just got to keep telling myself that." He thinks of things to do once he gets to the Fallen nexus, but he bores himself quickly. "This won't work." He looks up into the sky before drooping his head to the ground with a saddened look. "It hasn't even been an hour yet I'm so… bored. "

Looking at Shukan talking to himself, Yurei stops skipping. "Uh, are you okay Shukan?" she said in a confused look.

Shukan looks at Yurei. "Does it look like it Frosty? This is a bad idea- "Shukan was cut off before he could say anymore. "No, it's not. It gives us a chance to explore the Fallen Nexus again, and besides, it'll be fine. Just some monsters." Yurei exclaimed trying to lighten Shukans mood as he wasn't usually so downtrodden.

Shukan looks straight ahead, sighing as he scratches his neck. "It's just not the Fallen Nexus, what I'm mostly worried about is just how the hell are we supposed to get past the trivia knights?"

"The guards?" Yurei asked.

"Er, yea? The last time I checked, they ask you some stupid question that they don't even know." Shukan grunted as he straightened his posture. "I bet they'll say some nonsense like 'one of us always lies and the other always tells the truth, but we forgot who's who.'' how do you expect me to know that off of what you just told me?" Shukan sighs, clearly needing something to do.

Yurei looks inside her bag, scuffling around to find something to eat but to her surprise, there was nothing. "Shukan, do you have any food? I'm kind of hungry."

Shukan starts walking backwards as he turns his head, looking dumbfounded. "What? You don't have any food?" he says, clenching his fists as he turns back around. "I mean I'm pretty sure I don't." Yurei muttered, looking to the side. "Give me the bag so I can look." Shukan said.

Yurei gave him her bag which, felt empty. "There's nothing in here, damn." Shukan mutters while looking through Yurei's bag, in which he found no food. "There are only weapons in here frosty. Were you so jolly that you forgot to pack food for us two?"

Shukan hands the her bag back an with annoyed gesture. "I knew this was a bad idea. Now we have no food, and its almost dark."

"Stop being such a crybaby. We can find food on the way there; I'm pretty sure this world still has some resources that aren't void touched." Yurei said, trying to comfort Shukan. " We can set up camp for the night over there." She points ahead. Snow glows silver under the night sky brimming with stars and planets, it seems untouched, like it should be kept that way.

"Fine, but don't be mad if I leave before you wake up." Shukan said while looking at the place Yurei recommended.

"I know you won't leave me. Anyways we need to contact Chronos and Aetheron before we go to sleep for the day." Yurei exclaimed in a low voice. "How are we going to contact them? Or did they give you something I don't know about?" Shukan questioned.

"That's exactly what they did," Yurei pulls a something out of her ice arm. "This shard, is called a Resonator." She raises the glowing pristine shard to eye level, reflecting off Shukan yellow eyes, almost taunting him with the look of it. "What the hell is a 'Resonator'? I mean it looks gorgeous but what is it?"

"Do you even know what Exirn is?" Yurei said in a mocking tone. "Care to enlighten me?" Shukan intrigued, asked..

"Exirn is an energy type made solely for the use of the God creator and the lesser creators, and then we have energy types made for those not of creator origin. An example of that will be Zeyth, an energy type that manifests during extreme combat; Another will be Auln, a condensed form of energy that resonates with abilities, like Shunogai ones," Yurei pauses for a second, pondering what she should say next. " Never mind, I ranted too much. Anyways the Resonator is a contact device that Aetheron helped me make using Auln."

"You kind of lost me after you started explaining what Zeyth was; but anyway how can you contact them with…that?" Shukan murmured, trying to avoid another explanation. " Also make it quick, or else I'll take the shard and do it myself."

"Fine. Here's how you do it," Yurei makes a gesture on the crystal, forming an icon of something." What I just did was exert energy from my veins into the crystal. You'll need at least two people's energy registered on this crystal to talk to them," she hands the crystal to Shukan with a gentle look. "Which is why Aetherons energy is on here, can you feel it? "

"Huh, I can feel it, never knew you and Aetheron were close like that. "Shukan smirks handing the Resonator back to Yurei." Anyways, I packed blankets, I'm feeling tired so I might go to sleep, I'll get some firewood. Make sure to take a picture of the place so I can look at it before we destroy how good it looks."

One hour later, Shukan is gathering wood a fire, until he spots a bush full of Purple glowing berries that look absolutely delectable. "Woah. Those things look cool as hell. I'm pretty sure it's not void touched…right?" He moves closer to the berries, almost as if the bush is calling him." I'll just take a little. Curiosity killed the cat huh? Well, I'm not a cat. "He takes a handful of the glowing purple berries, stashing some in his coat pockets before eating some. "Man these things taste good." He hears a twig snap, and he immediately grabs his daggers. " Who's there?" Silence. The air shifted. He glanced at the berries, then back at the darkness. A shadow, barely perceptible, flickered in the corner of his vision. Shukan exhaled, shaking his head. "I'm so tired…I must be imagining things."

Back at the camp where Yurei is, a strange warmth covers the snow. "This is weird. I feel like the snow is warm. I'll worry about that later. "she looks into the sky with the stars of fluctuating colors looming over the forest as if their watching. "Where's Shukan?"

The faint glow of the snowy silver terrain sweeps across Shukans eyes as he arrives back at the camp." Hey, I'm back. I found some wood, it's wet though." He drops the wood on the ground some meters away from Yurei, wiping his hands." Okay, What about that Resonator? I've been wanting to use it."

"Well knowing you, it's not like you can wait for anything," Yurei turns around digging in her bag for the shard." Where is it…?" Yurei says in a low tone voice, while getting up to look for the shard. "Sit down temper queen. It's in your arm, did you forget? "Shukan says while grabbing Yurei's arm pulling her back down.

"Oh. Well, Er- "She cuts herself off as she droops her head in embarrassment. "Ok, here." She mutters while pulling the Resonator out of her glowing ice arm." Just focus your energy in here, and it should start glowing." She says before she gets up to start a fire with the wood Shukan brought back.

A Golden gleam of light sparked across Shukans eyes as he poured his energy into the shard. "Is it supposed to be this glowy?" Shukan exclaims worriedly while looking at Yurei.

The Resonator pulsed violently, its glow intensifying beyond what either of them expected. Shukan narrowed his eyes, watching as cracks of golden energy flickered across the shard's surface.

"Oi, Frosty, I think I broke it."

Yurei, who had just finished stacking the firewood, turned around with a raised brow. Her eyes immediately locked onto the overcharged Resonator in Shukan's hands.

"What the hell did you do?" she snapped, rushing toward him.

"I did what you told me, poured my energy into it," Shukan shot back. "Didn't know it was gonna explode in my damn hands."

Yurei reached out and snatched the Resonator from him, holding it up to inspect it. The glow pulsed erratically now, shifting between white and gold, as if something was struggling inside of it.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then, the shard flared again.

And the voices came.

"—the Nexus is not stable"

The first voice was faint, distorted, but unmistakable. Chronos.

"—pull back for now. It's reacting to something—wait, no—"

Then, Aetheron's voice cut in, much clearer but sharper than usual.

"Yurei, Shukan—whatever you're doing, STOP. The Resonator's link just spiked and—"

A deafening CRACK erupted from the shard. The ground beneath them trembled, sending loose snow cascading down from the nearby ridges. Shukan immediately leapt to his feet, daggers half-drawn as the air around them grew unnaturally still.

Yurei's grip on the Resonator tightened, her breath visible in the cold air.

"Uh. That's… not normal," she muttered.

No response from the Resonator.

Just silence.

And then—

A sound.

Not from the shard. Not from the link to Chronos and Aetheron.

But from somewhere nearby.

It was faint—a slow, dragging shift against the frozen ground.

Both of them turned toward the sound at the same time.

"Shukan."

Yurei's voice was quieter now, her hand subtly raised toward her ice-arm.

Shukan didn't respond.

Because he could see it too.

A shape.

Not Void-touched. Not an ordinary beast.

Just standing there. Watching. Waiting.

And something about it felt wrong.

The stillness stretched on, pressing against them like an unseen weight. The shape in the distance didn't move, didn't speak—but it was there.

Watching.

Yurei shifted slightly, her ice-arm glowing with a faint pulse. "That… isn't Void, right?"

Shukan didn't answer immediately. He could feel something—not a presence, not a killing intent, but a pressure. Like whatever stood there didn't belong in this world, yet refused to leave.

"Frosty, keep your hand off that shard for a second."

"Why—"

"Just do it."

Yurei hesitated but lowered the Resonator slightly, cutting off her flow of energy to it. The glow dimmed, the humming noise fading into the dead air.

The figure reacted immediately.

It twitched. A subtle, unnatural jerk—like something waking up.

Then, it stepped forward.

A single, slow movement—but wrong.

Like it wasn't walking through space, but forcing itself into existence with each step.

Shukan's fingers curled around the hilt of his dagger. "Yeah, okay. That's enough for me—"

A sharp pulse erupted from the Resonator.

The golden glow flared wildly, the link to Chronos and Aetheron snapping back online in a wave of unstable energy.

"—back away NOW—!"

Chronos' voice came through in a harsh, distorted command.

Then, Aetheron—his usual tone completely absent.

"That thing isn't supposed to be there."

The figure stopped.

For a moment, silence.

Then, it spoke.

A voice that didn't sound like a voice. More like an echo of something that had already been said, playing back from somewhere beyond reality.

"…not supposed to be here…?"

Yurei took a slow step back. Her instincts screamed at her to move, to run, to fight— but her body felt like it was frozen in place.

Shukan gritted his teeth. The air around them bent, the space around the figure glitching, distorting—as if it wasn't fully formed.

"Shukan—Yurei—" Chronos' voice cut in, harsh and urgent. "Listen carefully. You need to leave. Now. That thing—"

The figure twitched again.

The air shattered.

A crack ripped through space, like glass breaking—and suddenly, everything moved at once.

The figure lunged.

The second the figure lunged, space cracked apart like glass.

It didn't move normally—it wasn't running, wasn't teleporting. It was flickering. One second, it was ten feet away—the next, it was right in front of them.

Shukan barely had time to react before his instincts screamed. He twisted to the side—but the thing's hand had already reached where his throat had been a fraction of a second ago.

Too fast. Too unnatural.

"Tch—what the hell?!"

Yurei didn't wait for an explanation. Her ice-arm pulsed violently, frost bursting outward as she formed a jagged spear in an instant—then she swung.

The spear should have impaled the figure instantly.

Instead—

The attack went straight through it.

Like she had just stabbed into a mirage.

"—it's not real—" Chronos' voice snapped through the Resonator, but it was too late.

The figure's head jerked unnaturally, its entire body warping like a corrupted image. It didn't dodge. It didn't block.

It just phased.

Then it countered.

The space behind Yurei ripped open.

A shadowy limb, identical to the figure's, emerged from the distortion—striking toward her exposed side.

But before it could land—

Jikan ignited.

Golden streaks rippled across Shukan's vision. His dagger moved before he could even think—a slice through air, through time itself.

The shadowy limb froze mid-motion.

Then, with a sharp distortion—it was gone.

But the figure itself didn't react. It simply twitched, as if it was… adjusting.

Yurei stumbled back, eyes wide. "What the hell was that?!"

"It's adapting." Chronos' voice came through the Resonator sharper this time.

"That thing—whatever it is—it doesn't follow normal space. It exists across different versions of reality at once."

Shukan gritted his teeth. "The hell does that mean for us?"

"It means you can't fight it normally. It's not dodging your attacks—it's choosing which version of itself exists at this moment."

This thing wasn't just fast—it was rewriting itself in real-time.

The figure shifted again. The distortion around it grew stronger, more unstable.

Then—it spoke.

Or rather—something spoke through it.

"—the knife that cuts time"

"—the frost that refuses to break"

"—you should not be here"

Then it moved again.

Faster this time. So fast that reality itself struggled to keep up.

The figure flickered—no, multiplied.

At first, there was just one. Now, ten. A hundred. A thousand.

Not copies. Possibilities.

Each one of them existed simultaneously overlapping, shifting, choosing which one was "real" in each moment.

"Nope," Shukan muttered, flipping his dagger. "Not dealing with this."

The air cracked.

Ten figures attacked at once.

Shukan moved instinctively. His dagger lashed out—but his blade passed through them like mist.

Yurei tried to freeze the space around her, but her ice shattered before it could even form.

The thing was adapting.

Too fast.

"—Shukan! Yurei! We're coming now!"

Chronos' voice cut through the Resonator.

"Don't let it touch you-"

The moment the words left the Resonator,

one of the figures reached Shukan.

It didn't punch. It didn't slash.

It simply placed its hand on his chest.

And everything in Shukans vision twisted.

The world snapped apart.

He was standing on a battlefield—no, thousands of battlefields at once.

He saw himself. Fighting this thing and losing. Fighting this thing and winning. Not fighting at all, just standing in a void. Then, Not existing at all.

Jikan reacted.

A golden pulse exploded from his body— forcing reality back into place. He staggered back into the real world, gasping. Yurei was beside him, her entire ice-arm glowing a violent, unstable blue. She looked at him, eyes wide. "It… almost erased you."

In the distance, two massive energy signatures exploded. Chronos and Aetheron arrived.

Time bent. Light shattered.

Chronos stepped through first, his form glitching as he forced himself into this broken reality.

"That's enough of that."

Time locked down for a split second—but it wasn't enough. The figure ADAPTED. It chose a version of itself that existed outside of time. And then—it spoke again. "—you cannot bind what has no beginning." Aetheron arrived next, descending in a violent burst of pink light.

His wings ignited like supernovas, radiant energy scorching the air. "Oh, HELL no." He hurled a singularity of pure light toward the figure.

The moment Aetheron's attack landed, the world bent. The light swallowed the figure whole, a radiant shockwave ripping across the frozen wasteland. For a second, it seemed like it was over.

Then—

The light cracked.

Like something was inside it. Waiting.

Aetheron's expression dropped. "No way—"

The figure shifted, twitching violently as its form glitched back into existence. It didn't stagger. It didn't recoil. It simply stood there.

Its hollow voice echoed.

"—thank you—"

Yurei's breath caught. It wasn't damaged. It had evolved. Again.

Shukan clenched his fists. "That's it. I'm done." He turned to the others. "We're leaving. Now."

Chronos didn't argue. He had already begun moving. Golden lines of energy pulsed from his hands, threads of reality unraveling as he activated Law Rewrite.

"Don't interfere," he commanded. His voice was sharp, controlled, but something in his posture was tense.

Yurei frowned. "What are you doing?"

"Trying something." Chronos' golden energy flared, embedding itself into the very foundation of reality. Laws were shifting.

"Rewrite: Existence Boundaries – Lock This Entity to a Single Point in Time."

A surge of golden energy erupted outward, weaving itself around the figure like an unbreakable cage.

The world swirled.

For a moment, the figure stopped moving.

Then—

It twitched.

Shukans stomach dropped. "Oh, hell no—"

The energy around the figure shattered.

The thing blinked out of the golden threads, reappearing outside of them—untouched.

Chronos' eyes widened. His expression barely changed, but Shukan had known him long enough to see it.

Law Rewrite… didn't work.

"Move," Chronos ordered, already turning.

Shukan didn't need to be told twice.

Aetheron blurred ahead, wings bursting with celestial energy as he prepared a barrier to cover their retreat. Yurei launched herself after him, her ice-arm surging with energy, creating a frozen path for them to follow.

Shukan turned back for half a second—just enough to see the figure watching them.

It didn't chase. It didn't need to. It was letting them go. And that terrified him more than anything. They weren't escaping. It was letting them leave. But why?

Shukan forced himself to look away, sprinting after the others. Whatever it was, this fight was over.