The skies above Cain's Dominion Realm were no longer purely blue. They shimmered like fractal glass—every fragment reflecting a different possibility, a different timeline. The glitch signature had reached critical saturation across the realm. Trees hummed with code pulses, the rivers bled translucent mana, and storm clouds occasionally spoke in reversed binary.
Inside the System Lab, Cain stood at the helm of his cross-reality dashboard. Zeryon knelt in a meditative stance nearby, his armor flickering with traces of ambient dimension energy.
Suddenly, the entire realm trembled. Not from an invasion, but from an acknowledgment.
> [Multiversal Alert: Glitch Signature Detected by External Regulatory Authority] Incoming Contact: Faction – The Obsidian Accord Status: Hostile Observation
Cain narrowed his eyes.
> "System, identify: Who or what is the Obsidian Accord?"
> [The Obsidian Accord is a multiversal pact formed by Sovereigns, Anti-Deities, and Exiled Chrono-Paragons to eliminate systemic anomalies capable of collapsing realm boundaries.]
> Current Directive: Neutralize Entity Tagged as 'Glitchborn Architect.'
"Charming," Cain muttered. "They finally noticed."
Without warning, a vortex ripped open in the space above the Dominion Tower. The rift was silent but carried immense gravity—as if it yanked at the concept of 'now' itself.
From it dropped a coffin. No—a paradox box: a hexagonal prism made of obsidian, anti-light, and interlocked timelines, sealed in recursive equations that constantly wrote and erased themselves.
It cracked open.
A humanoid figure emerged. Clad in robes stitched from timelines and shadow, its face constantly changed: baby, man, god, corpse—looping.
> [Chrono-Wraith: Envoy Class – 'Momentless One'] Faction: Obsidian Accord Objective: Glitchborn Termination via Causal Severance
Cain didn't wait. He summoned Zeryon and his elite fused units. The Wraith raised one hand.
Time stopped.
Birds paused midflight. Wind froze in mid-whirl. Mana suspended like paint spilled in zero gravity.
Except Cain.
> [Glitch Signature Overwrites Temporal Lock.]
He moved forward, blades drawn. Zeryon snapped into motion behind him.
> Zeryon: "His core's a singularity wrapped in a failed universe. This won't be easy."
They attacked. The moment their weapons made contact, a new window flashed open:
> [System Lab Emergency Upgrade Path: Unlocked Due to Temporal Threat] Blueprint Accessed: Eternity Spire – Level 1 Description: A reality-anchor structure capable of isolating and rewriting temporal flow within Dominion Zones.
Cain grinned.
> "Construct it. Now."
Behind him, the land shifted. The System responded to his will. Mountains shattered and reformed into monolithic architecture. The Eternity Spire erupted from the ground like a cathedral birthed from time itself, glowing with a clockwork aura and glitch-threaded veins.
Reality rebooted.
The Wraith flinched. Time resumed. Cain's blade met its chest, carving through six iterations of its form before finding one that bled.
> [Chrono-Wraith HP: 41%] Warning: Subject initiating Phase Reversal
The Wraith split into three past versions of itself, each attacking with delayed logic blades that struck before being swung.
Cain activated the Spire's core:
> [Eternity Spire Online. Timeline Lock: Enabled. Causal Branching: Refused.]
In a moment of divine authority, he severed the possibilities. The past clones unraveled, flickering into nonexistence.
Cain stepped forward, pressing his hand against the Wraith's shifting face.
> "Tell your Accord this realm's not up for auction. It's under Dominion."
He overloaded his Glitch Signature, firing a burst of glitchlight directly through the Chrono-Wraith's paradox engine.
The creature exploded in a pulse of reversed time and silence. All that remained was a black cube marked with the Obsidian Accord's sigil: a star crushed in a clenched fist.
---
Back inside the System Lab, Cain examined the cube. A hidden message pulsed from its surface:
> "You have chosen ascent. We shall choose resistance. The next envoy brings a realmquake."
He turned to the Eternity Spire interface. More structures had become visible now:
Chrono Vault (Locks or reruns key events)
Echo Chamber (Summon memory-versions of fallen heroes)
Multiversal Terminal (Contact other Glitchborn?)
Cain smiled. "Good. Let them all come. I'll build higher than any of them dreamed."