"Wake up."
The voice was a low vibration against his ear. When Ron's eyes finally snapped open, he found himself adrift in an endless, suffocating ink. There was nothing—no floor, no sky—save for a solitary figure standing a few paces away, back turned.
"Where am I?" Ron murmured, his voice sounding thin and hollow.
Memory hit him like a physical blow. Kevin. The struggle, the cold realization of his own end. I was killed.
He looked back at the figure. The man spoke in a tongue that felt like a half-remembered childhood song, familiar yet unintelligible. When the stranger turned his head slightly, Ron's breath hitched. He was looking at his own profile.
"Wake up, Ron," his double said, his voice gaining a terrifying edge. "Something far more important than this is waiting for you."
"WAKE UP!"
Ron's eyes bolted open again, but this time, he wasn't in the void. He was in a wooden box, the air thick with the smell of lacquer and damp earth. Am I... alive? He reached up, his fingers brushing the satin lining of a coffin lid. The memory shifted—it wasn't just Kevin; it was the final, brutal stand against William.
I'm in a grave.
Instead of panicking, he focused. Using his ability, he phased through the wood and the heavy soil, emerging into the cool night air. He stood over the fresh mound of dirt, his chest heaving. He looked at the headstone beside his own: Rad.
"Rad, I'll make it right," he whispered to the silence. "Your sacrifice for Sami, for Hero Town, and for me... it won't be in vain. I'll kill them all."
He vanished.
Shrouded in invisibility, Ron moved through the city like a phantom. He stood in the corner of a hospital room, watching Finian's silent grief. He watched Carter, whose usual spark had been extinguished by mourning. Finally, he went home.
He stood outside the window, watching Ava. Her eyes were red and swollen, her movements mechanical as she tried to tidy a house that felt too quiet. She stopped in the center of the room, her gaze fixed on their wedding photo before drifting toward the sky.
Ron's heart ached with a physical sharpness. He felt her flinch, her eyes suddenly darting to the exact spot where he stood.
"Ron?" she whispered to the empty air.
He didn't wait. He couldn't. He teleported to the World of Dark Souls, collapsing under the ruins of a shattered house. He sat in the dirt, clenching his fists until his knuckles turned white.
"If I stay away, they'll be safe," he choked out. "From now on, Ron is dead."
Elsewhere
"Something isn't right… How could this happen?" Aurora said.
"What happened?" Amelia asked.
"The doorway to a certain dimension was opened. And someone entered it," Aurora replied.
"Who went in?" Amelia asked.
Aurora narrowed her eyes. "The real question is… how they went in. To the dimension called Infinite Lights."
Amelia's eyes widened.
"Let me check." Aurora said.
"I want to go as well." Amelia said.
"No." Aurora said.
"Why?" Amelia said.
"You will get in the way. Someone who can broke in to that dimension is not someone to be taken lightly" Aurora said.
Amelia nodded.
"I will be back," Aurora said, vanishing instantly.
She appeared at the entrance of the dimension, Infinite Lights—a realm formed from conceptual light itself, where countless conceptual beings existed.
The moment she stepped inside, she felt it.
Pure evil.
Aurora walked forward calmly, her guard raised. The sight before her was horrifying. Countless bodies lay scattered across the endless luminous plane. Some were missing limbs. Some had no heads. Others were torn cleanly in half.
She knelt beside one corpse and examined it carefully.
Her conclusion was immediate.
These beings weren't killed by weapons.
They were destroyed by raw, overwhelming strength.
Then she heard a voice.
A familiar voice.
"Don't die so easily. I haven't even used one percent of my normal strength."
Aurora's eyes narrowed. She walked toward the source.
Soon, she saw him.
A man stood with his back to her, holding a conceptual being by the throat like it weighed nothing.
Ron? She thought. Because who she saw looked like Ron from behind.
"Now," He said calmly, "tell me where is the key to Crack of Scenarios."
The being spat on his face.
He wiped it away slowly… and smiled.
"I see."
He clenched his right fist.
Then he drove it forward.
The instant his fist connected with the being's chest—
The entire universe shook.
Shockwaves tore across existence itself.
Aurora's eyes widened.
He didn't even use a fraction of his true strength… If he had, the entire universe might have collapsed.
His hand pierced clean through the being's chest. Its lower body separated and fell away into nothingness.
He sighed and opened his
"No need to hide," he said.
Aurora stepped forward, revealing herself.
"You sensed me?" she asked.
"I knew you would come," Dr. Thomas replied.
"How?"
"Because I was the one who sent the information to you."
Aurora frowned. "Why?"
Dr. Thomas finally spoke, his voice calm and absolute.
"The universe is vast. Even I—and even the Watcher himself—do not know everything. But you… the Controller of Time. You might know where the key is."
Aurora laughed softly, "Crack of Scenarios isn't some normal dimension that beings like you and me could access."
Dr. Thomas smiled, "Only you, couldn't access it. On my part, I already done it but in my old house."
Aurora narrowed her eyes, "What are you talking about?"
"You certainly would have heard about the strange house in Hero Town, which has a way to enter in to the Crack of Scenarios." Dr. Thomas said.
"Yes, the house belongs to Sami and Rad." Aurora replied.
Dr. Thomas laughed, "Wrong." He said.
Aurora's gaze was locked on Dr. Thomas.
"That house belongs to me." Dr. Thomas said.
Aurora's eyes widened, "You are lying." She said shock in her voice was clear.
"Believe what you want. But the reality is I am the original owner of that house." Dr. Thomas said.
"If that house was yours once, why did you leave it? Tell me, from there you can access Crack of Scenarios." Aurora said.
"That house is still mine and forever will be and whatever the reason of me leaving that house is, that's none of your business." Dr. Thomas said.
Aurora laughed.
Dr. Thomas is a smart man, he never underestimates his enemies.
"Well," she said, "To be honest, I've been searching for you as well."
Dr. Thomas didn't turn.
Aurora's eyes hardened.
"So that I could kill you myself."
Dr. Thomas laughed.
A hollow, empty laugh.
"Is something funny?" Aurora asked coldly.
Dr. Thomas turned slightly and asked strange question.
"Do you have a successor?"
Aurora frowned. "That's none of your business."
Dr. Thomas finally turned, fully.
His right eye was surrounded by a red aura.
"You should be prepared," he said quietly, "to face the consequences of standing before me."
His right eye began glowing purple.
Suddenly—
Something moved.
It was instantaneous.
Reality itself began reversing.
Time was being forced backward.
Aurora immediately summoned her staff and spun it before her in rapid circles.
An unseen force struck the staff.
The staff absorbed the attack—
—and instantly turned to dust.
Aurora's eyes widened.
What… was that?
Before she could react—
Dr. Thomas appeared behind her.
He moved his kick toward her head.
Aurora barely dodged, but a thin cut appeared across her face.
She retreated rapidly, dodging his relentless attacks.
I cannot win in direct combat… she realized. I have to use that.
She reached into space and pulled out a brush.
The entire world turned white.
Like blank paper.
Dr. Thomas's eyes widened slightly.
Is she going to use that? He thought.
Aurora moved the brush with perfect elegance, writing something into existence itself.
Dr. Thomas smiled.
"Do you really think," he said calmly, "I would allow that?"
Aurora's eyes widened.
"You underestimate me." Dr. Thomas said.
Suddenly—
The entire Infinite Lights dimension shattered.
Like glass fell from height and shattered into pieces.
The conceptual realm collapsed completely.
Across existence, the entire macrocosm trembled for a full minute.
Aurora fell back into her own dimension.
Her body was covered in blood.
Her brush was broken in half.
She was barely conscious.
What… was that…?
She thought, before her vision faded into darkness. Amelia rushed at her.
Far beyond, in the vacuum of outer space—
Dr. Thomas stood alone, hands in his pockets.
Completely unharmed.
"I didn't get the information I wanted," he said calmly.
He looked out across existence.
"What a waste of opportunity." Dr. Thomas said