Silence consumed the Sovereign Citadel.
Not because of fear.
Not because of uncertainty.
Because every powerful being present had heard the warning.
Even if they couldn't see it.
Harold could.
You were never the first.
The words lingered in his vision.
Unmoving.
Unchanging.
Inside—
The Titans were silent.
For the first time since their awakening.
The Monkey King didn't laugh.
The Devourer didn't speak.
Even Unity remained still.
The Counter-Sovereign finally whispered,
"…Records exist beyond our access."
Harold's eyes narrowed.
Beyond our access.
That shouldn't have been possible.
The system had always been the source.
The foundation.
The beginning.
Now—
It was admitting there had been something before it.
The First Sovereign noticed immediately.
"…You saw something."
Harold looked at him.
"…Maybe."
The old man's expression darkened.
"Then it's true."
Lucien stepped forward.
"…You know about this?"
The First Sovereign remained silent briefly.
Then nodded.
"…A legend."
The entire Citadel listened.
Because legends did not concern Sovereigns.
Unless they were dangerous.
"The Boundary was not built to keep things out."
Silence.
Storm blinked.
"…What?"
Frost frowned.
"…That contradicts everything."
The First Sovereign nodded slowly.
"Because history was altered."
The atmosphere changed instantly.
"The Boundary was built…"
A pause.
"…to keep something in."
The world seemed to stop.
Inside—
The Devourer stirred.
"…Impossible."
The First Sovereign continued.
"Before Titans."
"Before Sovereigns."
"Before humanity awakened."
"There existed a single being."
No one spoke.
Because the old man's voice carried something unusual.
Fear.
"He united every path."
"Every evolution."
"Every possibility."
The silver-eyed Sovereign looked directly at Harold.
"And then he disappeared."
The warning in Harold's vision pulsed.
Dormant Records Synchronizing…
Fragments flashed before his eyes.
A throne.
A broken sky.
A battlefield larger than worlds.
Something standing alone.
And countless entities kneeling.
The images vanished instantly.
Harold's breathing remained steady.
But his eyes sharpened.
Because the figure he had seen—
Looked familiar.
Too familiar.
Storm immediately noticed.
"…Harold?"
The First Sovereign saw it too.
"…What did you see?"
Before Harold could answer—
The sky exploded.
BOOOOOOOOOOM.
The entire Citadel shook violently.
Emergency barriers activated instantly.
Several towers cracked.
Sovereigns rose into the air.
Lucien's expression hardened.
"…The Boundary."
A projection appeared above the city.
Everyone looked up.
And froze.
The crack had doubled in size.
No.
Tripled.
The darkness beyond it churned endlessly.
And more figures were appearing.
One.
Three.
Ten.
Hundreds.
Shapes moved within the void.
Watching.
Waiting.
The original entity stepped forward again.
Its smile remained unchanged.
"Interesting."
Its gaze ignored everyone else.
Ignored the Sovereigns.
Ignored the Citadel.
Ignored the world.
Only Harold mattered.
Then—
Something impossible happened.
The entity bowed.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Every Sovereign froze.
Storm nearly choked.
"…IT JUST BOWED!"
The First Sovereign's face lost all color.
Because he understood what that meant.
The beings behind the Boundary weren't hunters.
They weren't invaders.
They weren't conquerors.
The entity finally spoke.
"Welcome back."
The words echoed across existence itself.
And behind it—
The hundreds of entities in the darkness bowed as well.
One after another.
Like subjects greeting a returning king.
Inside Harold—
The system erupted.
SEALED RECORDS UNLOCKED.
PRIMARY DESIGNATION DETECTED.
ORIGINAL SOVEREIGN IDENTIFIED.
Harold's eyes widened slightly.
Because a final line appeared.
A name.
Not Harold.
Not any name he had ever known.
A name buried before history itself.
Designation: Aethern.
And somewhere deep within his soul—
Something ancient began to awaken.