The moment the golden fabric of the temporal portal sealed shut behind Eiji and Aiko, leaving behind only a few lingering sparks of glowing chronal dust, a heavy, funereal silence descended upon the cellar of Babylon. It was as if Time itself had decided to stop its rhythmic pulsing. Daniel stood alone at the center of the chamber, his torches which had illuminated the ancient engravings for centuries beginning to flicker and die out one by one. This was not the work of a stray wind; rather, a black hole of pure energy had begun to siphon the light from the very air. The warmth of the gardens was replaced by a crushing, soul-deep frost. From behind a pillar dating back to the earliest eras of Uruk, the **Code Phantom**, inhabiting Akira's broken body, slithered into view. He moved with the weightless fluidity of a shadow that no longer belonged to the world of matter.
**Code Phantom** (Speaking with Akira's raspy, strained voice, layered with the hissing mockery of the ghost that echoed like a stone falling into a bottomless well): "You spoke with them for far too long, Daniel. Do you truly believe that a cold, silent piece of metal like the 'Staff of Uruk' or a few flowery, spiritual words about destiny and wisdom will alter the course of the inevitable 'Echo'? You are merely attempting to delay the end, while I... I am the one forging it."
**Daniel** (Remaining perfectly still with a staggering, dignified stability, his back turned to the enemy as if he were reading his every movement through the vibrations of the stone floor): "I knew you were watching us from behind the veil of the Void from the very moment your tainted feet stepped into this era. The whisper I let out when they departed was not born of fear for your power; it was a dirge for you. I felt fear 'for' you, for what will happen to your fragile entity when Eiji finally uncovers the absolute truth you are so desperately trying to bury beneath that black mask of yours."
The **Code Phantom** advanced with a slow, provocative gait, each step leaving a charred, blackened footprint on the ancient stone floor. The doubled mark on Akira's chest began to glow with a dense, obsidian light that devoured the remaining torchlight, transforming the majestic cellar into a shifting arena of dancing shadows and the muffled screams of trapped time.
**Code Phantom** (Standing directly behind Daniel, his voice dripping with lethal venom): "And what is this 'whisper' that has terrified the great sage of Babylon? Is it the fact that I do not merely target the eras to tear them apart, but that I target the 'First Consciousness'? That primordial light which will make of me a god above all laws—the creator of an infinite, glorious void?"
**Daniel** (Turning to face him at last, his eyes radiating a celestial blue light that pierced through his opponent's gloom): "The whisper was an ancient prophecy long forgotten by men: 'The son shall carry the sword of the beginning, but the father is the one who shall place the blade of the end.' You believe you are controlling Akira's body like a puppet, but in truth, you are merely setting the stage for your own destruction at his hand. Eiji is no longer fighting a stranger from other dimensions; he is now fighting the 'Destiny of his Bloodline' a destiny that will liberate him from your chains and turn you into nothing more than a fleeting memory in the river of time."
**Code Phantom** (Letting out a booming, mocking laugh that shook the foundations of the cellar and sent dust cascading from the ceiling): "His family's destiny is absolute extinction! I have devoured the immortality of the Pharaohs from the sands of Egypt, and now I shall absorb the 'Will of Sovereignty' from the great legends of Greece. By the time the 'Echo' realizes where I am in Olympia, his father's body will have eroded completely. Nothing will remain of Akira but a hollow shell inhabited by the ultimate entity... Me!"
**Daniel** (Raising his staff calmly in a warning gesture): "I have granted him the 'Staff of Uruk.' It is not merely a weapon of speed; it is a 'scalpel' of reality that grants him clarity of vision in the darkest of storms. Your deceptions and games will not serve you in Olympia, for Aiko now carries the 'Whisper of Eras' in her consciousness. She will be the eye that tears through your veil of lies and scatters your cards before you can even begin to play."
**Code Phantom** (Flaming with sudden rage, his right hand transforming into a long blade of void energy that hissed like a nest of vipers): "Then I shall turn the arenas and fields of Olympia into a vast graveyard for your hopes, Daniel. I will show them that the 'knowledge' you wrap around their minds can be turned into a noose to strangle them. The battle there will not be fought with swords and shields alone; it will be a war against illusion itself. I shall see if your boy dares to strike his father's face when he sees it in every corner of the world!"
With those final words, the **Code Phantom** vanished in a thick cloud of foul black smoke, leaving the walls of the cellar to crack and crumble under the weight of his detonating hatred.
On the other side of the temporal rift, the golden sky split open over a lush green hill overlooking the sprawling stadiums of Ancient Greece. Eiji landed with a heavy impact, his boots sinking into the soil as he tightened his grip on the **Staff of Uruk**, which was flashing with a continuous blue lightning that mimicked a frantic neural pulse. Beside him, Aiko stood with her eyes tightly shut, inhaling the air of the era saturated with the scent of olives, sweat, and ancient glory but her features were contorted in a grimace of pain.
**Aiko** (Speaking in a low voice, laced with deep-seated anxiety as she pressed her hand to her temple): "Eiji... get ready. I feel a strange, irregular vibration polluting the temporal fabric here. There is something 'fake' and terrifying hidden within this majestic crowd. Those people below... the athletes running, the spectators cheering... their heartbeats aren't human. They feel like a single, repeated echo, as if they are merely images woven from the matter of the Void in a grand, hollow play."
**Eiji** (Pressing the grip of his staff to split it into dual magical blades that sliced through the air with a sharp whistle): "It's the camouflage Daniel warned us about. The **Code Phantom** is no longer hiding in the dark; he has set a trap in broad daylight, in the heart of the Olympic Games. He is waiting for us behind the curtain of these crowds, watching us through a thousand eyes."
In that moment, emerging from the olive trees, a majestic man approached them. He wore the white toga of a Greek judge, and a mysterious, cold smile was etched onto his face a smile that hid secrets not belonging to any mortal man.
**The Judge** (Speaking with a formal, steady tone and a voice that possessed a faint metallic ring): "Welcome to the Trial of the Greats. You have arrived just in time; the competitions are about to commence. Tell me... are you here to participate in the pursuit of eternal glory, or have you come to witness the fall of heroes beneath the feet of Truth?"
**Eiji** (Fixing his gaze on the Judge's eyes, searching for a crack in his rhythm): "We aren't here for medals. We're here for the one who's pulling your strings. Where is he?"
**The Judge** (His smile widening as his form began to flicker like a dying flame): "The one you seek is the prize at the end of the race. But remember, in Olympia, the fastest man is the one who can outrun his own shadow. Follow the sound of the thunder, if you dare."