"Don't let this darkness win!" Axel yelled.His voice was swallowed by the thickening silence. The transparent light in the Purifier Nexus continued to dim, leaving behind a painful gloom. Before him, the faces of the Void Purifiers, which had been foreign before, now changed into his own face. Thousands of expressionless Axel Steeles stared at him with empty gray eyes."Axel, look at me! Don't look at them!" Zara shouted, shaking Axel's shoulder.Axel gasped, the black lines on his hands glowing wildly. "Chromia ... she's gone, Zara. She just broke apart.""I know, but we can't stop now!" Zara turned toward the tall figure that had restrained her earlier. "Stop this! We didn't mean to destroy your home!"Suddenly, a silent boom resonated from the center of the light structure. A clear wave swept through the entire room, erasing Axel's duplicate faces and replacing them with stable transparent energy. The figures retreated, making way for someone who had just emerged from the main pil

"Who exactly are you?" Axel Steele repeated his question. His voice trembled, but his gaze remained fixed on the silver knight figure before him.The figure remained silent. Its visor slowly closed, reflecting the red light that now dominated the empty space. "My name has been erased by time, Axel Steele. But you may call me The Witness. I am what remains when reality succumbs to silence.""You said there's something worse than being lost?" Zara Blaze stepped forward, her hand still holding Axel's. "What's worse than that?""Becoming part of the silence itself, yet remaining aware," The Witness answered. His voice sounded like the scraping of crystal. "Watching every melody you once loved turn into meaningless noise. That is what this Void Knot is doing.""Harmon, do you know him?" Axel turned to the Purifier Elder.Harmon appeared deeply shaken. His transparent body trembled violently, making his light unstable. "Only in the oldest myths, Gilded A

Liana looked at the Jakarta sky that was no longer blue, nor black. The sky had changed into a bright white canvas, but not blinding. A flat, dimension-less white, like empty paper ready to be crumpled. On the main monitor of the Gilded Nexus facility, the world resonance graph showed a terrifying straight line."Everything stopped," whispered Sarah, Liana's technical assistant. Her hands trembled on the keyboard, which now felt cold as ice. "Ms. Liana, all our spatial sensors are frozen. No data is coming in, but the Gilded system remains active.""This isn't a system freeze, Sarah," Liana replied. Her voice sounded stable, though her heart pounded. "This is a pause. Axel is doing something at the center.""A pause? But people outside are terrified! They see a giant hand in the sky!" Budi, head of security, shouted from the doorway. "The crowd in front of the gate is starting to become hysterical. They think the apocalypse has arrived!""Activate the glo

"Axel, the ship is melting! The floor is gone, Axel! Do something!"Zara Blaze's scream tore through the empty silence on the bridge. Axel Steele snapped out of his trance, watching the tips of his shoes begin to fade into fine white particles. Liana, or whatever entity resembled the woman, still floated before them with an outstretched hand, her face radiating a deadly calmness."She's not Liana, Axel! Don't let her touch you!" Zara lunged, trying to pull Axel away from the range of the white hand."But she's holding that heart, Zara. That heart is the pulse of Earth," Axel whispered. His voice sounded like old metal scraping."It's bait! Xylos, get us out of here! Now!" Zara turned toward the pilot's seat.Xylos didn't answer with words. His single remaining eye glared sharply at the control panel, which was now just a static shadow. "How can I fly if I can't even feel the levers in my hand? Everything is turning to smoke, Zara!""Use your Riftwalker instincts!" Zara shouted again.

"Let go of me," Axel hissed. His voice sounded like clashing shards of glass. He didn't dare turn around, but he could feel the golden aura radiating from the figure behind him, an aura that felt like an absolute, undeniable command."I only want to protect you from yourself, Axel," Liana whispered. Her voice was so soft, yet a note of metallic distortion hid beneath it. "The man inside that coffin, he is proof that your struggle will only end in futile silence.""He isn't me!" Axel yanked his shoulder, turning quickly while igniting the silver glow in his hand.The figure stood there. It wore a golden robe that seemed woven from static sunlight. Its face was Liana's face, but its eyes were empty, just holes of golden light radiating merciless authority."Zara, don't look at its eyes!" Axel shouted.Zara Blaze had already drawn her energy dagger, but her body was trembling violently. "Axel, it's broadcasting a frequency that's freezing her code. I can't move!""You are inside the womb