The fragment-realm had grown quieter after training.
The broken sky above them shimmered in slow waves of silver and pale violet, as if some invisible ocean had been turned upside down and stretched across the heavens. Floating islands drifted far apart in the distance, and the cracked crystal bridges connecting the larger ruins gave off a soft blue glow from deep inside their fractured veins. The wind had no true direction here. It moved in strange circular currents, brushing past their clothes and hair one moment, then disappearing completely the next.
Everyone was resting, but no one was truly relaxed.
Eren sat on a broken slab of silver stone, silently catching his breath while staring out into the endless mist below. Arelia stood a little farther away, one hand resting against a pillar of fractured crystal, her eyes closed as she slowly refined the flow of her aura after the harsh training session. Kael had collapsed dramatically onto his back and was muttering to himself about how every reunion with this group somehow became a near-death experience. Aerito stood near the edge of the platform with his arms crossed, his gaze fixed on the forming silver path in the distance, while Arna's mirrors floated lazily around her body, occasionally reflecting pieces of the broken sky in their smooth surfaces. Luka remained unusually quiet, seated at the edge of the platform with one knee raised, his eyes lowered as if still replaying his spar with Eren in his mind.
At the center of them all stood Vicky.
He had not moved much since the end of training.
His eyes were on the distant road of silver light, but his thoughts were somewhere deeper—inside the quiet architecture of his own existence, where the Rule of Code rested like an ancient law carved into the bones of reality itself.
Then the voice came again.
Cold.
Measured.
Absolute.
It did not enter through the ears. It bloomed directly within his mind.
"There is something you must know."
Vicky's expression did not change, though his attention sharpened instantly. Around him, no one reacted. The Rule of Code had spoken only to him.
Speak, Vicky answered inwardly.
There was a short pause, as if the entity within him were carefully selecting what truths it was permitted to reveal.
"The beings called Arna, Aerito, and Luka are not ordinary companions. They are connected to the Ancient Era. Their current states are incomplete."
Vicky's gaze shifted, just barely, toward the others.
Arna.
Aerito.
Luka.
Each of them carried something unusual. That much had been obvious for a long time. But the Rule of Code did not speak loosely. If it chose to classify them as incomplete, then that word carried weight.
"What do you mean?" Vicky asked.
"At their present level, they cannot permanently remain beside you through what is to come."
That made his eyes narrow.
Cannot?
The Rule replied instantly.
"Your path is moving beyond ordinary thresholds. The universes ahead, the fragments ahead, the wars ahead—those realms will reject incomplete beings. Their bodies, laws, and origins are not yet adapted enough to endure sustained proximity to your future state."
For the first time in several minutes, Vicky's face hardened.
Then there is a way to change that.
The Rule of Code remained silent for one breath.
Then:
"Yes."
Vicky's mind sharpened further. What way?
The answer came with the same detached certainty.
"You must fuse one of your cells into their bodies using an Ancient Era method."
For the first time, even Vicky was caught off guard.
His eyes flickered once.
A cell?
"Correct."
Vicky stood motionless, but inwardly his thoughts had become far more active. He knew the Rule of Code would not suggest such a thing carelessly. Yet the answer itself felt too simple for the scale of the problem.
Why would fusing my cell into them allow them to surpass their limits?
The Rule of Code answered without delay.
"Because your body is not like the bodies of other beings."
There was no pride in the statement. No worship. No exaggeration. It was spoken as one would state a law of gravity.
"Most living beings absorb mana, convert external force, refine natural law, or attach themselves to greater sources of power. Their growth depends on what they take in from outside themselves."
A faint pulse moved through Vicky's chest. He listened carefully.
"Your body is fundamentally different. Every single cell in your body is an independent source. Each cell creates its own self-sustaining energy. It does not merely store strength—it continuously generates it."
The truth of those words resonated strangely inside him. Perhaps because some part of him already knew. Some hidden buried instinct, older than his conscious memory, recognized the shape of that explanation.
"If your body were destroyed?" he asked.
The Rule replied in the same calm tone.
"It would reconstruct. Even if every part of your body were broken down into raw energy, your cells would still attempt to re-establish form. That is one of the reasons you survived the Catastrophe."
At that word, something in Vicky's mind stirred.
A broken image.
A sea of white fire.
A scream from somewhere immeasurably far away.
Then darkness again.
The Rule continued.
"Your existence is not sustained the way others are. You are…"
It stopped.
The silence that followed was unusual. Not empty, but cut short.
Vicky's eyes narrowed slightly. I am what?
The Rule of Code answered after a pause.
"I cannot tell you more."
Why?
"Restriction."
That answer irritated him more than it should have.
You were about to say something important.
"Yes."
And you stopped.
"Yes."
Vicky exhaled slowly through his nose. The Rule's limitations were becoming increasingly annoying. Yet he knew pressing harder would likely gain him nothing right now.
So he shifted focus back to what mattered.
If my cells are fused into them, what changes?
"They will gain access to a deeper internal engine. Their growth limit will rise. Their bodies will stabilize against greater laws. Their compatibility with your future path will increase."
And the risk?
The Rule answered at once.
"If done directly, their bodies will be destroyed."
This time Vicky's gaze sharpened like a drawn blade.
Explain.
"Your cells are too dominant. Too alive. Too absolute. If fused through ordinary means, the target body will fail before integration completes. Ancient Era technique is required to reduce rejection and guide assimilation."
That at least made sense.
He stood in silence for a moment longer.
Then he turned and walked back toward the others.
Kael was the first to notice. He sat up a little, immediately suspicious.
"That look on your face means something terrible or weird is about to happen."
Luka glanced up too. "Or both."
Aerito unfolded his arms. "Master?"
Arna's mirrors stilled slightly, sensing the shift before anyone else fully understood it.
Vicky stopped near the center of the platform and looked at all of them.
"The Rule of Code told me something," he said.
Now everyone was paying attention.
Even Kael stopped trying to be dramatic for a second.
"What?" Eren asked.
Vicky spoke plainly. "Arna, Aerito, and Luka are tied to the Ancient Era. In their current states, they won't be able to remain beside me through what comes next."
The atmosphere changed instantly.
Arelia's gaze hardened.
Eren straightened.
Kael blinked. "Wait. What does that mean, won't be able to remain?"
Arna remained still, but her eyes had already changed. Not with fear. With recognition.
Aerito's expression dimmed from relaxed confidence into something quieter.
Luka looked down for a moment and did not speak.
Vicky continued. "There is a way around it."
That made everyone focus more sharply.
"What way?" Arelia asked.
"The Rule says I have to fuse one of my cells into their bodies through an Ancient Era method."
Silence.
A very complete silence.
Kael stared at him for two full seconds.
Then pointed. "I'm sorry. Did you say cell?"
"Yes."
"My lord," Luka muttered under his breath, "that sounds exactly like the kind of sentence that changes a life in the worst way."
Kael stood up completely now. "No, actually, wait—hold on—why does this group always say bizarre things like they're normal? First cosmic laws, then ancient fragments, now body cells?"
Aerito let out a quiet breath, but his eyes stayed on Vicky. "Master… are you certain?"
"The Rule of Code is."
Arna's mirrors slowly resumed orbit, but more tightly than before. Her voice, when it came, was low and composed. "Then it's true."
Kael turned toward her. "That is not the reaction of someone hearing nonsense."
Arna looked at him. "Because it isn't nonsense."
Eren frowned. "You already knew something like this?"
Arna shook her head once. "Not in detail. But… some things fit."
Arelia folded her arms. "Then explain."
Vicky did it instead.
He told them what the Rule had said: that ordinary beings absorbed mana and external power, but his body was different. That every one of his cells created its own energy. That even if his body were broken down into energy, it would try to reconstruct itself. That this was part of why he had survived the Catastrophe. And that because of this, fusing even a single properly integrated cell into someone else could raise their limit and anchor them more deeply to his path.
By the time he finished, even Kael looked less confused and more disturbed.
"That is…" he said slowly, "…not remotely normal."
"No," Luka said. "It really isn't."
Then Vicky looked at Arna, Aerito, and Luka again.
"If this is necessary, I'll do it."
Before anyone else could speak, he thought of something else.
A practical thought.
An obvious one.
His gaze narrowed slightly. "If that's the case, then I should also fuse a cell into Arna and Aerito."
That made both of them react immediately.
Arna's eyes widened—not in fear, but in surprise that he had reached the conclusion so naturally.
Aerito gave a small helpless laugh.
Vicky looked between them. "What?"
This time Arna was the one who answered.
"You can't."
"Why not?"
"Because…" She hesitated, and for once there was something almost soft in her expression. "Because we already have one."
Kael's jaw dropped.
Eren's eyes narrowed sharply.
Arelia stared.
Luka slowly looked up.
Vicky himself was silent for half a second. "Already?"
Aerito nodded, his usual grin replaced by a calmer honesty. "Yes, Master."
Arna folded her hands in front of her. "That's one of the reasons we were able to remain near you at all. One of the reasons our existence didn't collapse despite everything that happened."
Vicky looked from one to the other. "You never said that."
Aerito's smile turned faint again. "There are many things we haven't said."
"That's becoming a pattern I dislike."
Kael pointed wildly between them. "No, wait, stop moving on from that! You two already have his cell inside you? Since when? How? Why is everyone here secretly made of forbidden backstory?"
Luka let out a tired breath. "That might be the most accurate thing you've ever said."
Arelia was still watching Arna and Aerito carefully. "So you were already modified."
Arna's answer was gentle but firm. "Not modified. Preserved."
That line settled over the group with more weight than anyone openly admitted.
Then Vicky's gaze moved to Luka.
Luka froze very slightly.
Of all of them, he had remained the most outwardly human in his reactions, the most sarcastic, the least wrapped in ancient mystery—at least on the surface. But now that the truth had been spoken, that distance was gone.
Vicky took one step toward him.
"Then Luka is the only one left."
Luka stood slowly.
The fragment-realm grew quieter around them.
For the first time in a long while, Luka looked genuinely uncertain.
"My lord…" he began, then stopped.
Vicky waited.
Luka lowered his head a little. "I am not worthy of that."
The sentence was simple, but it struck the space differently than any of Kael's noise or Aerito's joking or even Arna's calm revelations. Because Luka almost never spoke like that. He hid things with speed and sarcasm and deflection. To hear direct humility from him made the others realize just how serious this felt.
Vicky's answer came immediately.
"That doesn't matter."
Luka blinked once.
Vicky's eyes did not leave him. "You're staying with me until the end. So you don't get to refuse."
For a second Luka just stared.
Then he laughed once under his breath—short, disbelieving, almost helpless.
"That," he muttered, "was a terrifyingly nice thing to hear."
Kael rubbed his arms dramatically. "Why does that somehow sound emotional and threatening at the same time?"
"Because it came from him," Eren said flatly.
Luka looked down, then exhaled.
When he raised his head again, some of the uncertainty remained—but so did acceptance.
"…Alright," he said quietly. "Then I'll trust you."
Vicky gave a single nod.
Then he turned inward once more.
Rule of Code. Give me the Ancient Era technique.
This time the answer did not come as words alone.
A flood of structured information moved through his mind in layered forms—symbols, nerve paths, pressure points, sequences of energy rotation, organic harmonization routes, temporal buffering patterns, and something deeper than all of that: an old method designed not merely to combine flesh, but to negotiate coexistence between unequal lives.
For a brief moment, Vicky's vision blurred.
He saw ancient stone halls.
A circle carved from white-black crystal.
Hands stained with light.
A voice saying: "Do it carefully. Even one cell from him carries too much will."
Then the vision vanished.
The knowledge remained.
He opened his eyes again.
Arna studied him closely. "You received it."
"Yes."
Aerito looked curious. "Can you do it here?"
Vicky turned his gaze to the broad circular platform where they had trained earlier. "Yes. But no one interferes once I begin."
Kael immediately raised his hand. "Can I interfere verbally out of concern?"
"No."
"That feels oppressive."
"No one asked," Arelia said.
They moved back toward the center platform.
The cracked stone there still held marks from the earlier training: scorch lines from Aerito's flames, silver pressure cuts from Arelia's constructs, and thin fractures from repeated impacts. The sky above had darkened further, becoming a deep field of shifting violet and silver, while the distant path toward Universe 157 continued to brighten in silence.
Vicky stood in the middle of the platform.
Luka walked forward and stopped in front of him.
Around them, the others formed a loose circle.
Arna's expression was calm, but her mirrors had tightened their orbit again.
Aerito watched with unusual seriousness.
Eren stood perfectly still.
Arelia's eyes did not blink.
Kael looked like he wanted to say something every three seconds and was losing a personal war by keeping quiet.
Vicky raised one hand.
Ancient symbols began to form beneath Luka's feet.
Not the cold law-script of the Rule of Code.
Not Aerito's burning circles.
Something older.
Softer in appearance, but infinitely more complex.
The symbols spread outward in white-gold spirals and then bent inward again, creating multiple rotating layers like the cross-section of a living mechanism. Some lines looked like written law. Others resembled veins, roots, or constellations being folded into biological form. A second circle appeared around Vicky himself, then threads of light rose between the two circles like strings stretched across invisible dimensions.
Kael finally whispered, "Alright… that actually looks horrifying."
"No," Arna replied softly, eyes fixed forward. "It looks ancient."
Vicky pressed two fingers against his own wrist.
A tiny cut opened.
Only one drop of blood appeared—but within that drop, power folded upon power. It was not ordinary blood. Everyone watching felt it immediately. The pressure hidden inside that single crimson spark was enough to make the air distort around it.
Eren's eyes sharpened.
Arelia's aura moved instinctively in response.
Even Aerito inhaled more carefully.
Kael took one step back. "That's one drop?"
Luka looked at it and let out a breath through his nose. "Now I understand the risk part much better."
Vicky did not answer.
He let the drop float into the center of the layered formation.
Then he began the process.
The ancient technique unfolded with terrifying precision.
The first ring rotated clockwise.
The second counterclockwise.
The third did not rotate at all—instead it pulsed with rhythm like a heart.
The drop of blood split into smaller lights.
Then smaller still.
Until at last there remained something too fine for the eye to truly see, yet too powerful not to feel.
A single cell.
The moment it fully emerged, the entire platform trembled.
Kael's mouth fell open. "That tiny thing is the problem?!"
Aerito, still staring at it, answered quietly, "That tiny thing is a world."
Vicky extended his hand toward Luka.
The cell remained suspended between them, held in a cage of ancient patterned light.
"Don't resist," Vicky said.
Luka nodded once. "Understood."
The next phase began.
The circle under Luka flared.
Dozens of lines rose and wrapped around his body—not binding him, but mapping him. His veins, bones, nerves, aura channels, and internal energy routes all lit up in translucent outlines. It was as if the technique was introducing his entire existence to the cell before allowing contact.
For a moment everything seemed stable.
Then the cell moved closer.
And Luka's body reacted instantly.
A violent surge of pressure burst out from him.
He gasped and nearly dropped to one knee, but forced himself to stay standing.
Kael shouted, "Luka!"
"I'm fine," Luka growled, though it clearly hurt.
Vicky's gaze sharpened. The ancient patterns adjusted at once, redirecting the excess pressure, thinning the contact, slowing the descent.
The cell touched Luka's chest.
The whole formation blazed.
A shockwave burst across the platform, stopping only at the edge of the circular boundary. The others felt the impact slam into them anyway like a physical wall of force.
Luka's head snapped back.
A rough breath tore from him.
For an instant his entire outline turned white.
Then gold.
Then—
something else.
Something older.
Something buried.
The air around him changed.
It was subtle at first, then overwhelming.
An Ancient Era aura began to rise from inside Luka's body.
Not copied.
Not borrowed.
Awakened.
It emerged in heavy waves of dark silver and pale gold, layered with strange fragments of pressure that felt both regal and battle-worn, like the remains of a warrior who had crossed impossible ages and still refused to vanish. His hair lifted slightly in the surging current. Light spread across his skin in fine lines, not cracks, but dormant pathways igniting one by one.
Arna's mirrors froze completely.
Aerito's eyes widened.
Eren took a half-step forward without realizing it.
Arelia's expression sharpened into stunned focus.
Kael just pointed with both hands. "What is happening to him?!"
No one answered.
Because the feeling growing from Luka was not just power.
It was memory without image.
Identity without explanation.
A past pressing against the surface.
Luka's eyes snapped open.
For the briefest second, they were not the same.
Older.
Deeper.
Filled with something ancient enough to make the surrounding realm itself go still.
Then the aura surged once more.
To be continued…