No one noticed Eron Vale as he stood at the edge of the excavation zone.
In the shadows of the city's shattered skyline, the ancient gate pulsed like a wounded heart, its frame etched in alien runes, humming with suppressed violence. A Level-F Awakener like him wasn't even supposed to be near this kind of rift. Only elites from the Order of Reclaimers got clearance to explore Tier-4 gates. But Eron had nothing to lose.
"Unauthorized personnel will be executed," the warning drone barked from above.
Eron didn't flinch. He was already dying. A broken spine, two failing organs, and a system too weak to handle another Awakening attempt. But what the doctors didn't know was that his fate was sealed long before any injury—he was born unworthy.
He stepped into the Gate.
Everything blinked away.
The dungeon on the other side was silent—unnaturally so. Ash coated the ground like snow, and fractured statues lined the black stone path, all of them bearing a single word on their broken plinths:
"Witness."
The moment Eron took a step forward, the statues' eyes lit with red flame.
System Detected: Unquantified Soul Found.
Initializing Echo Protocol...
A rush of data seared into his skull. Visions—of ancient warriors, cybernetic monks, and god-killers. Then pain. Like his blood was being rewritten.
[WARNING] Biogenic compatibility: <2%. Implantation may result in death.
Override granted: Subject is a Null Host.
Echo Blade protocol unlocked. Neural interface booting...
A blade, forged of transparent code and memory, coalesced before him, floating inches from his chest.
"Accept the Echo Blade," a voice said—part machine, part human, ancient and echoing through time.
Eron gritted his teeth and reached out.
The moment his fingers wrapped around the hilt, agony bloomed through his spine. The system screamed.
Implanting Nano-Combat Core...Synchronizing with Awakened Neural Layer...Initiating Martial Archive Feed...
Visions of combat flooded his senses. He saw himself in other lifetimes—fighting demons with bare fists, slicing through mechs with blades of sound, moving faster than thought.
And then, silence.
Eron fell to his knees, breathing smoke. But something inside him had changed. He could feel it—the whispers of ten thousand warriors burned into his cells.
A statue stepped forward, animate now.
"Bearer of the Echo Blade," it said, bowing its stone head. "The last cycle has begun. Prepare yourself."
Outside, alarms flared across the world. The Tier-4 Gate had shifted into a Tier-0.
The highest rank. Catastrophic.
And from within, a single figure emerged—eyes glowing silver, blade humming with light from a thousand eras.
Eron Vale had returned.
But he was no longer a scavenger.
He was the world's last hope—or its final executioner.