The Echo's blade came down.
Kael barely raised his arm in time. Sparks of code and light burst as he blocked it, skidding backward across the astral plane. The construct—the echo of himself—moved like a perfected version of his own instincts. Every move predicted. Every strike faster.
> "It knows everything I do…" Kael gritted his teeth.
> "No," Solaris's voice echoed faintly. "It knows everything you've refused to become."
The Echo vanished and reappeared behind him—Kael spun, but too slow. A slash opened across his back, searing data and pain.
> "This is a mirror battle," Solaris whispered through the void.
"To ascend, you must overcome what you fear to face in yourself."
---
Kael roared, driving raw code into his arms, unleashing a Phase Cut directly into the Echo's core.
A direct hit.
And yet—
The Echo absorbed the blow and redirected it, sending Kael spiraling through a sea of stars, crashing into the memory of a long-dead battlefield. Blood smeared the ground. Not real blood. Just echoes.
Kael's vision dimmed.
> "I can't beat it…"
> "Then you die here," Solaris said coldly.
---
Meanwhile – Outside the Realm
Something rippled in the null-time space Solaris had created.
She turned her head sharply.
> "No…" she whispered.
A fracture tore open in the sky—unauthorized, violent. A synthetic entity stepped through. Its body was smooth metal laced with glowing nerves, wrapped in cloaks of dark matter. Its face was a blank mirror.
> [Executor Synthetic Host: Type-Zeta001 Deployed]
[Mission: Assassinate Cosmic Echo Subject – Kael Veyar]
Solaris narrowed her eyes.
> "They sent a Host inside my field?"
"So they're that afraid already."
The Synthetic Host raised its hand, bypassing the training layers entirely. It dove straight toward the realm Kael was trapped in.
---
Inside the Astral Realm
Kael staggered to his knees.
His Echo raised its blade for a final strike.
Then suddenly—
A rupture.
The sky screamed, tearing as the Synthetic Host crashed into the realm, instantly destroying half the plane in its arrival. Kael was thrown backward.
The Echo paused… then turned and charged the Host.
For the first time, Kael saw fear in its movements.
> "Wait—it's not just after me," Kael breathed.
"It's here to erase both of us…"
---
The Echo and the Host clashed—blade versus wave pulse. But the Host's strikes were unfair. Reality bent where it walked. The training simulation fractured. Protocol logic twisted.
Solaris's voice cut through Kael's mind.
> "Listen carefully. I'm overriding the layer. I'm giving you a choice."
"Absorb the Echo. Fuse with your potential."
"Or try to run."
Kael's heartbeat slowed.
He looked at the Echo—his own perfection. And the Synthetic—soulless death.
He chose.
---
Kael stepped forward into the echo's path. The Echo didn't fight. It looked at him with recognition… and knelt.
Their bodies collided.
Light burst.
Kael screamed as his nerves lit with divine fire.
---
[Protocol Merge Complete: Echo Fusion Achieved]
> New Skill Unlocked: Edge of Reflection (Lv. 1)
Strike that mirrors an enemy's future attack, breaking their combat logic.
> Attribute Boost: Agility +120 | Precision +95 | Code Sync +34%
---
Kael rose, now glowing with internal fractal fire.
The Synthetic Host turned toward him.
And Kael vanished—reappearing behind it with a time-fractured slash, cutting deep through its core. The Host staggered.
Then Kael's new ability activated: the Edge of Reflection predicted the Host's counterstrike, and he reversed it—piercing through the Synthetic's skull before it could finish the motion.
The Host froze.
Shattered.
---
Back in the real world, Kael collapsed, breathing hard.
Solaris stood over him, arms folded.
> "You fused with your Echo," she said. "Faster than I expected."
"I've trained warlords who took years."
> "You said… I'm not natural," Kael panted.
"Now I believe you."
Solaris offered her hand.
> "Good. Because from this moment on, your enemies won't wait for you to catch up."
"They're accelerating. We move now."
---
[System Update: Phase 2 Activated – The Starborn Code War]
> Next Objective: Infiltrate the Grave Moon of Lys'Tera
Warning: Executor 01 has personally entered the hunt.