The simulation labeled "Echo Protocol: Luo Feng — Return of the Anchor" pulsed with unstable rhythm.
Jin Mu stood in the Virtual Universe's core, the glyph from the Beast God inheritance dimming in his palm. The Void Engine had accepted the restoration. Luo Feng's thread was active again.
But the system was fracturing.
Two myths now existed.
Two ascensions.
Two centers.
And the story could only hold one.
Jin Mu accessed the simulation logs. Luo Feng had re-entered the training grid, unaware of the fracture. Babata was guiding him as if nothing had changed. The Dojo of Limits still hailed Jin Mu as the prodigy. The Sector Lords were watching both.
The Architect appeared beside him.
"You did it," she said.
"I brought him back," Jin Mu replied.
She nodded. "But the story is unstable."
Jin Mu clenched his fists.
"I won't erase him."
The Architect studied him.
"Then you must merge."
Jin Mu froze.
"What does that mean?"
She handed him a shard — glowing, encrypted, pulsing with paradox code.
"This will initiate the Merge Trial," she said. "You and Luo Feng will enter a simulation. Only one will emerge as the myth. But the other… will remain as the memory."
Jin Mu hesitated.
"Will he remember?"
She shook her head.
"No. Only you will."
The glyph pulsed.
The Void Engine activated a new simulation.
It was labeled:
"Echo Protocol: Merge Trial — Myth vs Memory."
Jin Mu entered.
The simulation was a battlefield — not of war, but of identity. He stood on one side. Luo Feng on the other. The environment shifted between their memories, their choices, their sacrifices.
Luo Feng looked at him.
"You brought me back," he said.
Jin Mu nodded.
"I couldn't let the story forget you."
Luo Feng smiled.
"Then let's finish it together."
They fought.
Not with weapons.
With truth.
Each memory was a strike. Each sacrifice a shield. Each choice a wound. The simulation bent, twisted, collapsed.
Then — a voice.
The Watcher.
"One must remain. One must fade. Choose."
Jin Mu stepped forward.
"I choose him."
The simulation cracked.
Luo Feng staggered back.
"No," he said. "I choose you."
The Void Engine screamed.
The glyph shattered.
The simulation collapsed.
They landed in the Virtual Universe's outer shell, breathless.
But something was wrong.
Jin Mu looked around.
Luo Feng was gone.
Not erased.
Not displaced.
Merged.
Into him.
He felt the memories.
The choices.
The anchor.
He was now both.
The Architect appeared.
"You chose each other," she said.
Jin Mu nodded.
"But the story chose me."
She studied him.
"And what will you do now?"
Jin Mu looked at the stars.
"I'll carry him."
Then — a tremor.
A new simulation activated.
Not from the Void Engine.
Not from the Watcher.
From the merged thread.
It was labeled:
"Echo Protocol: Jin Mu — Final Ascension."
Jin Mu froze.
The end was near.
And the stars were watching.