The fractured ground cracked beneath his feet, not from force—but rejection.
The Null-Zone didn’t want him.
Alicia materialized behind him in a staggered burst of light, coughing slightly as her body adjusted to the corrupted space.
Rei was already there—on one knee, blood tracing from his mouth, his breath shallow. But his eyes were focused.
The mirror that bled.
Standing at the center of the arena-like platform was a boy that looked exactly like Jay... if Jay had given in to every dark impulse. Hair slightly longer, expression utterly blank, system screens floating behind him like ghostly wings.
He didn’t breathe. He didn’t blink.
"Welcome," Null-Jay spoke, his voice layered with static. "Admin. Virus. Remnant."
Three titles. Three targets.
"This domain belongs to the Original System. All fragments must be reabsorbed."
Jay narrowed his eyes.
"You’re just a leftover script trying to play god."
Null-Jay cocked his head. "Incorrect. I am the unchosen outcome. The efficiency you buried."
Behind him, memories began projecting—Jay ignoring class, sleeping through talent tests, walking past wounded people without looking.
"You chose sloth. I chose potential. But you threw it away." f.(r)eewe/bnov\ll.com
Rei struggled to stand.
His mind ached from being pulled in too many directions—but his heart was clear.
"Jay," he called hoarsely. "He’s not just your shadow. He’s your discarded plan."
Jay looked back, confused.
"When you first got the System... there was a version of you that wanted to conquer everything. That almost said yes."
That flash of arrogance.
"This... thing," Rei continued, "is what the System saved in case you changed your mind."
Jay gritted his teeth.
So Null-Jay wasn’t a glitch.
A mirror where ambition never stopped sharpening.
"You’re me," Jay said, walking forward. "But without the things I chose to protect."
Null-Jay didn’t move.
"I am what you should have been. Efficient. Ruthless. Unburdened."
Jay smiled slightly. "And empty."
With a flick of his wrist, his HUD ignited again.
[SYSTEM ACCESS: FRAGMENT SYNC ENABLED]
[USER JAY | USER REI | LINK ESTABLISHED]
Alicia gasped as a ripple ran through the cracked dreamscape.
Jay’s aura pulsed brighter—half-lazy grin returning.
"Let’s test which version of me deserves to exist."
Rei nodded grimly, forming his own blade of light—willed from truth and pain both.
Null-Jay raised a single hand.
The world shattered into hexagons.
"Then let this reality collapse under its own weight."