In the deepest reaches of the Void—where light dared not venture and thought dissolved into silence—the Thirteen Echoes stirred.
They were not soldiers.
They were not assassins.
They were living programs of entropy—reflections of the Eclipse Mind's most terrifying truths. Each one was born from a failed timeline, a divergent history where Jin Long had already died… and in each, something darker had taken his place.
Now, the Eclipse Mind called them forth—not as hunters, but as executioners.
—
On the warship Celestial Wound, Jin Long stood at the command deck, his reflection fractured in the obsidian glass of the navigation sphere. Around him, his newfound allies—each powerful, each scarred by war—prepared for what they knew would be their first true campaign.
Yue Lan studied a shifting map projected in runes of light. "Three anomalies detected in the last twenty-four hours. Time fractures. The Void's bleeding into our realm faster than expected."
Jin Long nodded. "Then the Echoes are coming."
The blind chronomancer stepped forward. "We'll need to intercept them before they anchor. Once rooted, they warp space around them—turning entire regions into twisted simulations of their origin timelines."
He turned to the crew. "Divide into strike teams. If even one of the Echoes sets up a node, we lose that territory forever."
"But what about you?" Yue Lan asked.
"I'm going after the First Echo myself."
—
Elsewhere…
The First Echo—Kurojin—stepped through the remains of the Sky Monastery, dragging his black blade across the stone floor. He wore Jin Long's face, but his eyes were empty, soulless. In his timeline, he had chosen power over love, dominance over sacrifice. The Core had consumed him.
"I wonder," Kurojin whispered, staring into a shattered mirror, "if the real one remembers what he gave up."
Behind him, monks turned to stone, their life essence drained by his very presence. He didn't kill for sport. He killed to thin the veil between dimensions—to prepare the world for collapse.
But as he approached the altar of the ancient heavens, a rift opened.
And Jin Long stepped through.
—
The wind howled between them, two versions of the same soul.
Kurojin smirked. "So the imposter arrives."
"No. The original," Jin Long said, drawing his blade.
"You think this is about survival? It's evolution. We are the future—void-born, fear-forged."
"I don't want to be your future," Jin Long replied coldly. "I came to erase it."
They clashed.
Sparks burst into the air as light met darkness. Every strike was a paradox—Jin Long fighting a future version of himself that had chosen differently. Their blades were echoes of the same origin, but their hearts? Worlds apart.
Kurojin grinned mid-combat. "She died in my world, you know. Yue Lan. Because I hesitated. So I made sure it never happened again."
"You let go of love for power," Jin Long growled. "That's not strength. That's fear."
Jin Long unleashed a pulse from the Genesis Core, and the ground shook beneath them. Kurojin reeled, surprised.
The Core was adapting.
Learning.
Choosing.
—
With a final cry, Jin Long struck Kurojin's blade, shattering it into fragments of broken time. The Echo stumbled back, light burning through his chest.
"You… became more," Kurojin whispered. "How?"
"I remembered who I was."
The Echo disintegrated into static, his code unraveling into dust. And in that moment, Jin Long felt it—one of thirteen burdens lifted.
But many more remained.
As he turned back to the portal, Yue Lan's voice reached him through comms.
"One down," she said. "Twelve to go."
He looked to the stars.
"I'm coming for all of them."