2026-07-31 08:22:28The conference hall fell silent.
Dozens of rifles pointed at Ethan.
Each weapon glowed with the same blue light as the Legacy Core.
Alexander slowly stepped in front of Ethan.
“If you want him…”
“You’ll have to go through us.”
The Collector standing at the front showed no emotion.
He simply replied,
“Resistance has been calculated.”
“Outcome unchanged.”
Lyra gripped her sword tighter.
“Still talking like machines.”
The Collector looked at her.
“Keeper Lyra.”
“Your survival probability should have been zero.”
She smirked.
“I’ve always been bad at following predictions.”
Without warning…
She disappeared.
Boom!
The marble floor shattered beneath her feet.
In less than a second…
She appeared directly in front of the lead Collector.
Her glowing sword sliced downward.
Clang!
The Collector blocked it with his rifle.
The impact sent a shockwave through the hall.
Glass exploded.
Tables flipped over.
Guests screamed as they ran for cover.
The Collector didn’t move an inch.
He calmly looked into Lyra’s eyes.
“Combat efficiency…”
“Ninety-eight percent.”
He pushed forward.
Boom!
Lyra was thrown backward.
She landed on one knee.
A crack appeared on her sword.
Ethan frowned.
“He overpowered her?”
Noah’s expression darkened.
“That’s impossible…”
“Unless…”
Professor Orion finished the sentence.
“…he isn’t human.”
The Collector slowly removed his gloves.
His hands were made of silver metal.
Not flesh.
Not skin.
Metal.
The room froze.
Alexander whispered,
“He’s a machine.”
The Collector shook his head.
“Correction.”
“I was human.”
“My designation is…”
“C-001.”
Lyra’s eyes widened.
“The First Collector…”
He nodded.
“Correct.”
Evelyn looked horrified.
“C-001…”
“Nathan wrote about him.”
Professor Orion looked at her.
“You’ve read those files?”
She nodded.
“Nathan called him…”
“…the first successful fusion.”
Ethan frowned.
“Fusion?”
Professor Orion answered.
“A human…”
“Merged with Legacy technology.”
The First Collector calmly continued.
“Biological deterioration…”
“Zero percent.”
“Pain response…”
“Disabled.”
“Mission…”
“Retrieve the Successor.”
He took one step forward.
Then another.
Each step left glowing footprints on the floor.
The silver mark beneath his eye became brighter.
Ethan’s system suddenly activated.
Warning!
Collector C-001
Threat Level: EX
Estimated Victory Probability:
3%.
Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
Only three percent.
That was the lowest chance the system had ever given him.
The First Collector raised his hand.
Every other Collector lowered their rifles.
“No interference.”
“I will retrieve him personally.”
The others obeyed instantly.
Lyra slowly stood.
Blood ran from the corner of her mouth.
She smiled.
“So…”
“You finally want a real fight.”
She pointed her sword at him again.
Blue flames surrounded the blade.
Noah looked at Ethan.
“Don’t help her.”
“What?”
“If you fight now…”
“You’ll lose.”
“The Successor isn’t strong enough yet.”
Ethan clenched his fists.
“I can’t just stand here.”
Before Noah could reply…
The First Collector vanished.
Boom!
He appeared in front of Lyra.
His fist shot forward.
Too fast to see.
Crash!
Lyra crossed her sword just in time.
The impact blasted her through three concrete pillars.
Dust filled the hall.
Alexander’s eyes widened.
“She’s…”
The dust cleared.
Lyra slowly stood.
Her breathing had become heavier.
A thin crack spread across her glowing sword.
The First Collector tilted his head.
“You have weakened.”
Lyra smiled.
“I’ve also gotten smarter.”
She suddenly stabbed her sword into the floor.
The blue energy spread across the entire hall.
Hundreds of glowing symbols appeared beneath every Collector.
The First Collector looked down.
“A sealing array?”
Lyra nodded.
“Exactly.”
Every symbol erupted with light.
Boom!
Blue chains shot from the floor.
They wrapped around every Collector.
One after another.
Their movements stopped.
Even C-001 was trapped.
Alexander smiled.
“She got them.”
Lyra didn’t smile.
Instead…
She shouted,
“Ethan!”
“Now!”
“Run!”
The First Collector slowly looked at Ethan.
Then…
Without moving a single muscle…
The chains around him began breaking.
Crack.
Crack.
Crack.
Lyra’s face turned pale.
“No…”
“That’s impossible.”
The First Collector calmly stepped forward.
The broken chains fell around his feet.
“I have already adapted…”
“…to Keeper techniques.”
He raised one finger.
Then pointed directly at Ethan.
“The retrieval…”
“…will now begin.”
At that exact moment…
Ethan’s silver system flashed brighter than ever before.
Emergency Evolution Available.
Legacy Core Energy Sufficient.
Unlock Successor Ability?
YES
NO
The glowing options appeared before Ethan.
Behind him…
The First Collector took another step.
Only twenty feet separated them.
And every second…
The distance grew smaller.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 109: Legacy Reawakened
The blue screen flickered.It was unstable.Unlike the flawless interface Ethan had relied on throughout his journey, this one was fractured.Tiny cracks spread across its edges as though the system itself had suffered tremendous damage.The familiar mechanical voice spoke again.It was weaker than Ethan remembered.Yet…He smiled.After everything that had happened…It still sounded like home.Legacy System…Emergency Restoration… 7% Complete…Warning… Core functions unavailable…Reason… Legacy sacrificed during the Final Convergence…Ethan’s heart pounded.“So…”“You survived.”The screen remained silent for a moment.Then…A new sentence appeared.Correction…This unit did not survive.This unit… was remembered.The words struck him harder than any attack ever could.Remembered.Not rebuilt.Not repaired.Remembered.The blue screen slowly continued.Human belief…Shared memories…Legacy fragments carried within countless lives…Emergency reconstruction successful.Ethan finally un
Chapter 108: The Sky Breaker
The crack spread across the blue sky.It didn’t happen all at once.Thin fractures crawled outward like veins across glass, stretching from one horizon to the other.Each new crack released a faint silver light.The peaceful meadow beneath Ethan’s feet trembled.Birds that had been singing moments before suddenly took flight.The gentle breeze vanished.An unnatural silence swallowed the world.Ren’s small hand instinctively reached for Ethan’s.His fingers were trembling.“They found us.”Ethan looked down.“Who?”Ren swallowed.“The ones who don’t want us remembered.”Another deafening roar echoed overhead.This time…It was closer.The sky shattered a little more.Chunks of blue light drifted downward before dissolving into countless glowing particles.Ethan had seen worlds collapse before.He had watched stars disappear.Yet…There was something uniquely terrifying about watching the sky itself come apart.Not because it looked destructive.Because it looked…Wrong.Like reality w
Chapter 107: The First Face
Every step echoed inside Ethan’s helmet.Crunch.Crunch.Crunch.The lunar dust compressed beneath his boots as he followed the countless footprints stretching toward the enormous black doorway.Mission Control remained connected through his communicator.“Ethan, your oxygen levels are stable.”“Heart rate elevated, but within acceptable limits.”Dr. Brooks’ calm voice filled the silence.Professor Orion spoke next.“Distance to the structure: four hundred meters.”“Proceed carefully.”“I will.”Ethan answered.He never took his eyes off the doorway.The closer he came…The larger it became.From orbit it had looked massive.Standing beneath it…It was overwhelming.It rose into the endless darkness above him like a mountain carved from midnight.Its surface reflected nothing.Not sunlight.Not stars.Not even Ethan himself.It was as though the doorway refused to acknowledge reality.Back on Earth…Sophia stood inside Mission Control.Her hands remained folded tightly together.She h
Chapter 106: The Man Who Walked Through Silence
By sunrise…Ethan had made his decision.He would go.Not because he trusted the beings beyond the black doorway.Not because he believed they meant no harm.But because he had seen something in the message that no one else seemed willing to acknowledge.They had asked.Twice.First…May we speak?Then…One may come.An enemy didn’t ask permission.An enemy simply invaded.Whatever waited beyond that door…It wanted to be heard.Whether that was a blessing or a trap…Only one way existed to find out.The launch facility came alive before dawn.Floodlights illuminated the enormous launch pad while engineers hurried around the silver shuttle.Unlike the bulky spacecraft used during the early years of space exploration…This one had been built after the Seven Days.Human technology had advanced dramatically with knowledge recovered from the Architects.Its engines were cleaner.Its shields stronger.Its navigation system could cross the distance between Earth and the Moon in less than th
Chapter 105: The Invitation
No one celebrated.Although the footprints had stopped appearing…Although the black doorway had remained closed…Not a single person inside Mission Control believed the danger had passed.If anything…The silence felt heavier.It was the silence of two strangers looking at one another across a great distance.Waiting.Wondering who would speak next.Dr. Elena Brooks stood beside the communications console, replaying Ethan’s transmission.“My name is Ethan.”“You asked if you could speak.”“You can.”She listened to it three more times before finally muting the speakers.“I’ve worked in aerospace for seventeen years.”She slowly shook her head.“I spent my entire career preparing for first contact.”She smiled weakly.“I never imagined it would begin with… permission.”Professor Orion nodded.“Neither did I.”Hours passed.The black doorway did not move.The Moon remained quiet.Scientists continued monitoring every satellite, every telescope, and every sensor aimed toward the far sid
Chapter 104: Beyond the Black Door
The three knocks echoed through Mission Control.Slow.Steady.Deliberate.Every person in the room froze.No one spoke.No one breathed.The sound wasn’t coming from the speakers anymore.It seemed to resonate through the walls themselves.Three knocks…Yet it felt as though something enormous had struck the fabric of reality.Then…Silence.Emergency lights flickered back to life.Rows of monitors rebooted one after another.Technicians hurried to their stations.“Power is returning!”“I’m reconnecting to the lunar station!”“Signal stabilizing!”Dr. Elena Brooks leaned over one of the consoles.“Get me visual confirmation.”The largest monitor flashed.Static filled the screen.Then the image cleared.Everyone stared.The giant black doorway still stood on the Moon’s far side.Exactly where it had been before.Silent.Motionless.Almost…Innocent.Kai slowly let out the breath he had been holding.“I hate doors.”Lyra looked at him.“You hate everything.”“I especially hate mysteri
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