The stars pulsed in rhythm.
Jin Mu stood atop the observation spire, watching the Virtual Universe shimmer with activity. Luo Feng had just completed his latest trial — a simulation of planetary defense against a Beast Horde. He had succeeded, barely, and Babata was already pushing him toward the next phase.
But Jin Mu's focus was elsewhere.
The Void Engine had activated a new protocol.
"Convergence Signal: Phase One."
He didn't know what it meant. The data was fragmented, encrypted in paradox code. But the implications were clear: something was gathering. A force. A pattern. A convergence.
He accessed the Echo Protocol archive — the hidden memory bank of failed reincarnations. Protocols #2 through #7 had all ended in collapse. #8 was still active. Somewhere in the Virtual Universe, another Paradox Wielder was walking the shadows.
And the Convergence Signal was calling them.
Jin Mu traced the signal's origin. It led to a forgotten sector — a simulation chamber buried beneath the Dojo's foundations. A place no trainee had ever entered. He bypassed the locks, bent probability, and stepped inside.
The chamber was dark.
Not empty — but dormant.
At its center stood a crystalline obelisk, pulsing faintly. Around it floated shards of memory — fragments of timelines, echoes of choices. Jin Mu approached, and the obelisk flared.
A voice spoke.
"Welcome, Zhen Mu."
He froze.
The voice was his own.
But older. Tired. Broken.
The obelisk projected a vision — a moment from Echo Protocol #1. Jin Mu saw himself standing before the Architect, offering her a choice: redemption or erasure. She had chosen corruption. And he had sacrificed himself to seal her away.
But the seal was breaking.
The Architect was rebuilding herself — not as a child, but as a system. A virus embedded in the Virtual Universe's core. And the Convergence Signal was her beacon.
She was calling the Echoes home.
Jin Mu staggered back, overwhelmed. The obelisk pulsed again, revealing a map — a constellation of hidden chambers, each housing a fragment of a Paradox Wielder. Protocol #8 was closest. Jin Mu locked onto its signal.
Then — a tremor.
The chamber shook.
The obelisk cracked.
And a figure stepped out.
Tall. Cloaked. Eyes like mirrors.
"Protocol Eight," Jin Mu said.
The figure nodded. "You're the original."
Jin Mu studied him. He looked… stable. Controlled. But his aura pulsed with entropy.
"You answered the signal," Jin Mu said.
"I didn't have a choice," the figure replied. "She's waking up."
Jin Mu clenched his fists. "We need to stop her."
The figure hesitated. "Or join her."
Jin Mu stepped forward. "We're not viruses. We're guardians."
The figure smiled — a sad, fractured smile.
"Then we'll die as myths."
The chamber collapsed.
Jin Mu and Protocol Eight escaped into the simulation shell, racing through collapsing data streams. The Architect's presence surged — not as a person, but as a force. She was rewriting the Virtual Universe's laws, embedding paradox into its core.
Jin Mu activated a counter-signal, anchoring the timeline to Luo Feng's path. The system resisted, but the glyph from the Beast God inheritance flared, stabilizing the code.
Protocol Eight watched silently.
"You still believe in him," he said.
Jin Mu nodded. "He's the story. We're the shield."
The figure vanished.
Jin Mu stood alone, the Convergence Signal pulsing in his neural core.
The war was no longer about survival.
It was about memory.
And the Architect was rewriting everything.