The serrated edges of the crimson core clicked into position as Tyler Levison adjusted his focus, shifting the dial back to the small, specialized silhouette.
A flash of unholy red light filled the space.
Tyler slumped onto the packed earth of the clearing, his eyes clamping shut as his hyper-developed, exposed grey brain entered an immediate state of rapid calculation. Within the dense layers of his heightened cognitive space, the memory of Professor Paradox manipulating the golden temporal rift began to replay, looping like a seamless, high-definition recording.
His intellect dissected the macro-spatial variables, mapping the exact geometric coordinates of the dimension warp. He immediately applied the mathematical formulas to the unique biology of his Galvan form, translating the temporal anchor into practical data.
The baseline human frame lacked the neural capacity to process the spatial resonance of a multiversal leap, but the Sinister-Savant operated under an entirely different ceiling. The calculation was clean.
He slowly opened his eyes, the cold light of advanced wisdom flickering within his small pupils. Standing up, he brushed a light layer of dust from his grey skin, a subtle, sharp smile touching his needle-teeth. "The mechanics of the transit... I've mapped the sequence."
With the technical parameters secured, it was time to establish a baseline for his own trajectory.
A sudden, sharp scratching sound broke the silence from the tall weeds nearby. Tyler's ears twitched, a heavy wave of biological revulsion causing his skin to ripple. A massive, grey-furred marsh rat scampered out from the brush, its yellow incisors glinting in the pale light.
The ultimate weaknesses of a Galvan—the unyielding instincts that made them recoil from basic terrestrial predators like domestic beasts and large rodents.
The rodent darted toward his position, but before it could close the distance, it caught the unnatural scent of the alien predator and scurried back into the thicket in a blind panic. Tyler bared his fangs in a grim, tight smile, ignoring the instinctual shudder as he reached for his high-tech utility suit, a sleek chrono-stabilizer disk resting firmly in his palm.
He dialed the spatial parameters into the disk's interface, tracking the telemetry. "The target frequency is locked on..."
"The Prime Carnitrix Sequence."
Tyler focused his intent, channeling the latent spatial energy within his mutated frame directly into the device's core. A brilliant purple luminescence bled from the disk, casting long, geometric shadows across the packed dirt of the clearing.
As the spatial rift began to fracture the air, he carefully regulated the throughput, mimicking the precise, fluid hand gestures Professor Paradox had used to stabilize the dimensional barrier. He dialed down the variance watt by watt.
A pristine, stable violet gateway manifested in the center of the clearing, its edges humming with a low, sub-audible vibration.
"Clean execution on the first attempt," Tyler muttered, looking over the stable threshold with genuine satisfaction. His physical stamina remained entirely steady, showing no signs of the severe drain he had anticipated. The baseline enhancement from the previous template progress must have expanded his overall energy capacity.
He took a measured step toward the violet event horizon, keeping his posture low. The gateway remained perfectly balanced, showing none of the erratic kinetic pull common in unmapped rifts. Tyler took a deep breath, carefully tilting his head past the threshold to verify the coordinates.
On the immediate other side of the veil, a decayed human shape with exposed bone and grey, snapping jaws lunged toward his face.
SNAP.
Tyler clicked his fingers, cutting the power supply to the disk. The violet gateway collapsed instantly, cutting off the sound of snapping teeth.
He leaned back against a tree, his chest heaving slightly as he wiped a bead of cold sweat from his brow. "A standard necrotic dead zone... almost lost an ear to a basic infected baseline. I need the specific timeline where the anomaly destroyed its own ecosystem, not a generic plague vector."
According to the old traveler's earlier brief, the rogue entity only monitored entities that were actively shifting between core realities to cause mass destabilization. A dead world that had already been devoured by its own internal device was the safest training ground available.
"Let's hope the core code hasn't completely collapsed the fabric of that sector yet," Tyler said, resting for a few moments before expanding his palms to call forth a second violet rift.
As the energy stabilized and the door parted, a familiar, tailored white lab coat materialized on the other side of the veil.
Professor Paradox stepped through the purple light, his expression shifting into a calm, satisfied smile as the rift settled behind him. "Tyler. I've been lingering on the perimeter of this coordinate, waiting for your specific resonance to break through the fabric. Your grasp of cross-dimensional engineering is quite remarkable."
"Hold on," Tyler retorted, his voice cool as he crossed his small arms. "I don't recall signing the ledger for your little vanguard."
"I am well aware of your reluctance to stand directly in the path of the primary core," Paradox explained patiently, his tone soft but steady. "I have no intention of dragging you onto a tier-zero battlefield against your will. I merely require your assistance with a structural bottleneck."
"What kind of bottleneck?"
"A calibration exercise against the absolute vanguard of the force I've pulled together," Paradox answered without a second's hesitation.
Tyler stared at the professor, his mind running the calculations. "You want me to run a diagnostic match against the captain of your multiversal team?"
"The collection of variants I've gathered is entirely unacquainted with the parameters of an infected watch," Paradox said, his expression turning solemn. "A controlled, high-intensity engagement against an alternate registry will allow the squad to map the specific behavioral tells of an error state. Once the data is secured, you are entirely free to return to your local sector."
Tyler's small eyes widened slightly as the underlying utility of the proposition took shape. The hesitation in his mind began to recede, replaced by a cold, calculating interest.
His primary driver for moving through different realities wasn't standard heroism; it was the acquisition of combat data to push his template synchronization to the absolute threshold. If Paradox was offering to deliver a top-tier opponent straight to a controlled environment, it saved him the risk of hunting down an unmapped anomaly on his own.
"If this is a pure data harvest," Tyler pressed, his voice dropping into a sharp, clinical register, "do we maintain a mirror parameter? No cosmic outliers? No localized disruptions like a casual nuclear output?"
"The purpose is tactical mapping," Paradox replied cleanly. "The protocol dictates a synchronized configuration. You will utilize identical registries."
The terms were ideal. A jagged smile parted Tyler's lips, his fangs grinding together with an unchained excitement.
With his current mastery of the lack of a traditional cooldown, he had absolute confidence in his ability to dismantle any standard combatant, regardless of their status across the multiverse. Raw power was easy to counter; optimized execution was where he held the board.
He paused, looking up at the old traveler with a sharp, searching glance. "This multiversal leader... which specific version of Ben am I looking at?"
The question was heavy with insight. Paradox's mouth twitched, a flicker of surprise passing through his tired eyes as he looked down at the tiny Galvan, as if observing someone who had already read the blueprint of the cosmos.
"The variant who holds the evolutionary function," Paradox revealed softly. "The one who carries the dual matrix and commands the threshold of the Ultimate forms."