The Eternity Spire loomed like a titan's spine across the skyline of Cain's Dominion Realm, its gears pulsing with paradox energy. Inside the apex chamber, circular rings of golden script spiraled around a newly unlocked feature within the system interface:
> [Structure Online: Echo Chamber – Level 1] Description: Access memory-versions of former System Wielders, Glitchborn, and Echo Titans from fragmented timelines.
Cain stood before the echo console, flanked by Zeryon and two upgraded Dominion Guards—now equipped with quantum-linked armor.
> Zeryon: "Are you sure you want to open this, my Lord? Echoes carry the burden of all their regrets—and their wrath."
Cain nodded. "I need to know what came before me. What killed them. And what I must surpass."
He activated the chamber. Rings of refracted memories spun to life. The room dimmed as ghost-light flooded it. Time coiled. Reality stuttered.
And then...
> [Echo Summon: Glitchborn Executioner – 'Varion the Mindflame'] Timeline: Realmfracture Cycle 989-B
A tall, spectral man in obsidian robes and a flaming thought-crown appeared. His eyes burned with psychic lightning.
"Who dares disturb a dead god's dream?" Varion's voice echoed across past, present, and alternate.
Cain stepped forward. "I'm the Glitchborn Architect. System Dominion Class. Show me how you fought."
Varion sneered. "I tore twelve timelines in half and still failed. You will die as we did... unless you master the Echo Wars."
Without warning, the echo simulation triggered combat mode.
> [Echo Battle Initiated] Rules: Win by overpowering the Echo. No System interference. Glitch Signature Suppressed.
Cain barely dodged a mindspike. Varion's psychic flames ignited the chamber. Cain moved without the System—pure reflex and resolve. A backward leap, a mana-glitch slash, and a summoned weapon: the Dominion Edge.
He charged.
They clashed—steel against psionic fury.
Ten minutes. Twenty. Cain began to tire. But then he found the rhythm—Varion's logic followed cyclic patterns. Cain faked a collapse, then reversed his grip and thrust upward through the ghost's core.
> [Echo Stabilized: Memory Imprint Transferred]
Cain collapsed, gasping. Zeryon rushed to his side.
> [You have acquired: 'Mindflame Doctrine – Tier Ω'] A technique that ignites mana using conceptual will. Burn enemies' thoughts into static.
"Next," Cain whispered.
> [Echo Summon: Failed System Sovereign – 'Empress Viara of the Ash Epoch'] Timeline: Flame Dominion Collapse 770-A
She appeared in full regalia—ash-pale, beautiful, terrible. Chains of molten time wrapped her limbs. Her system badge flickered with errors.
"You want to be different?" she rasped. "Then see what happens when your System betrays you."
The chamber warped.
Suddenly, Cain was inside a collapsed dominion—Viara's ruined world. He watched himself die in dozens of echoes. The System in each betrayed its user in different ways: logic overload, entropy loops, realm decays.
Cain gritted his teeth.
> [Initiate Synchronization Challenge: Defy the Fate of Collapse]
He held his ground as reality unraveled around him. He roared—and from within, his Glitch Signature flared.
> Override Triggered: 'Architect's Refusal Protocol' – Origin Key Engaged
The ruined System core burst into light. Viara watched, stunned.
"You... resisted a Fate Loop?"
Cain replied: "I write my own timeline."
The Echo shuddered. She bowed.
> [Echo Stabilized. Memory Fragment Unlocked.] Acquired: 'Ash Epoch Crown – Passive Skill: Sovereign Resilience'
He awoke in the Echo Chamber.
Two echoes down. Dozens to go.
Cain realized something profound: These weren't just echoes. They were data-shades of the strongest who'd ever touched the System. And they all died. All failed.
The System wasn't just granting power. It was testing succession.
"Bring me the next Echo," Cain said. "I'll conquer all of them. If they couldn't survive their own dreams, then I'll build higher than even they imagined."
Zeryon gave a low chuckle. "Then you'll need to see him next."
Cain turned.
> [Echo Summon: 'Aetherion – the Original User'] Timeline: Origin-Prime [Redacted]
> Warning: Combat Risk Level: SSS+
Echo Stability: Minimal
Reality Anchors Recommended: 4+
The chamber shook. Glyphs fractured. Light bent. A god-king made of runes and galaxies stepped into the arena.
The Original User of the System.
His first words cut through all pretenses:
"You're late, successor. Let's see if you're worthy of the throne we never finished building."
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