In the depths of his thousandth death—or was it his millionth?—Eren felt the void pulse with an unfamiliar energy. Unlike the harsh, mechanical glare of the Nexus Core, this presence felt organic, twisted. Wrong. Through the fractured pieces of his consciousness, through endless cycles of death and rebirth, something stirred in the darkness like a serpent uncoiling.
[System Alert: Unauthorized entity approaching user space. Caution advised.]
The figure that materialized before him wore his face like an ill-fitting mask. This other Eren stood with an unnatural grace, reality bending around him like light through cracked glass. Shadows writhed in his eyes, carrying an otherworldly luminescence that spoke of places better left unexplored.
"I can't..." Eren's voice cracked, each word a shard of broken glass in his throat. He curled deeper into himself, trying to escape the weight of that gaze. "I can't do this anymore. Let it end. Just let it all end."
The figure's lips twisted into something that might have been a smile on a human face. "Pathetic." The word carried centuries of contempt. "Is this really what I'm bound to?"
[System Alert: Unauthorized persona detected. Analyzing... Authorization granted. Persona integrated into user experience.]
"What does it matter?" Eren whispered into the void. "Nothing matters anymore."
The other Eren moved with liquid grace, crouching before him. Cold fingers gripped Eren's chin, forcing his gaze upward. "You want to know why you keep failing? Why you're lying here, drowning in your own weakness?"
"Because I'm not strong enough—"
"Silence." The word carried enough force to shatter mountains. "You're not weak. You're afraid. The difference matters." Those shadow-filled eyes bore into him. "Let me tell you about real strength. This world doesn't divide into winners and losers. It divides into those who surrender and those who refuse to break."
"I've given everything," Eren managed, each word a battle against the void crushing his lungs.
The other Eren's laugh was the sound of glass breaking. "Everything? What about Father, hmm? What about dear sister Iris?" Each name fell like a hammer blow. "Have you forgotten how they screamed?"
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Eren flinched, memories rising unbidden—blood on palace floors, betrayal in familiar eyes. The other Eren pressed closer, his voice dropping to a venomous whisper. "If you won't use this power properly, I'll take it. I'll use this body to finish what we started. And trust me—" his grip tightened until pain bloomed along Eren's jaw, "—you won't approve of my methods."
"You can't—"
"I can. I will. I'm you, after all. The you that remembers what we truly are." Those shadow-filled eyes flared with malevolent purpose. "So choose. Rise and fight, or I take control. And when I do..." A smile like broken glass. "I won't be as... merciful... as you've been."
Something stirred in Eren's chest—not courage, not defiance. Pure, primal fear of what this other self might do with his hands, his power. "I... I don't..."
"Too slow." The other Eren's form flickered like bad reception, and suddenly Eren felt it—foreign thoughts slithering through his mind, trying to take root. "Feel that? That's just the beginning. Now choose."
[System Alert: WARNING - Unauthorized temporal interference detected. Forceful disconnection imminent.]
The other Eren's form jerked violently, his expression twisting from cruel amusement to fury in an instant. "No... not yet—"
"What's happening?" Eren's voice shook, terror making him forget his despair.
"This isn't over," the other Eren snarled as his form began to dissolve into shadow. "I'll be watching. And next time—" His voice fractured into a thousand whispers speaking in unison, "—I won't give you a choice."
[System Alert: Unauthorized entity forcefully ejected. user stabilizing.]
The void chamber shattered like a broken mirror, reality falling away in razor-sharp shards. Eren remained huddled on the ground, trembling not from weakness now, but from bone-deep terror. His mind felt clearer, but only because fear had burned away everything else. The memory of that other self's presence lingered like poison in his veins, the feeling of something trying to hollow him out and wear him like a suit...
[System Alert: New skill detected. "Echo of Ascension" has been added to your skillset.]
He forced himself to his knees, then unsteadily to his feet. Not because he was ready—he wasn't. Not because he was strong—he wasn't that either. He stood because he could feel those dark eyes watching, waiting. Because somewhere in the deepest corners of his mind, he knew with crushing certainty that his other self's threat hadn't been empty.
The void around him shuddered, its cracks sealing themselves like wounds healing in reverse. The Nexus Core's energy pulsed at the edges of his consciousness—testing, probing, a constant reminder of what lurked in the depths of his own soul. Every breath felt like swallowing glass as the "Echo of Ascension" burned in his chest like swallowed stars, its promised power tasting of ash and ruin.
"Please," he whispered into the oppressive silence, words barely audible. "Stay away." But even as he spoke, he could feel that dark presence lingering in the corners of his mind, waiting for him to falter again. Waiting for the moment when the choice would no longer be his to make.