Nevaeh was on the ground, watching Null and the Devourer. In the distance, atop a mountain, Alcanor observed in silence, arms crossed, as reality itself creaked around him.
The Devourer tried to free his arm, but Null's grip was absolute, like a vice tightening around existence itself. Where they clashed, the air split and space trembled.
The Devourer's arm began to glitch, fragmenting into broken polygons, as if the world could no longer process its shape. His flesh corrected itself, but in doing so, it disintegrated like corrupted code, erasing itself from the system. Desperate, the monster tore off his own arm, retreating while howling in static.
Nevaeh: What… what's happening? How can Null be so strong now?
Alcanor (from the peak): System virus. With a single touch, he can expand his corruption, make anything begin to fail, disintegrate, or completely cease to exist. He could even erase something from history itself. (smiles) Null, I wasn't wrong when I named you my executor.
Among the rubble, Azrael crawled, grunting as he pulled the ice spike from his stomach.
Azrael: Damn it… if that thing had hit me one more time, even being immortal, I'd have died. (laughs painfully) And the worst part is I have no energy left to regenerate.
He pressed his hand over the wound, forcing it to heal with what little power remained, and staggered off in search of Nevaeh.
Meanwhile, the Devourer roared and lunged at Null. But when his fist struck, the blow inverted. The Devourer himself received the force of his attack, his body folding under an impossible impact. He stumbled, recovered, and tried to unleash a freezing breath, but the breath failed, corrupted, and then ceased to exist.
Null: 「†є₮⟟₱ε⟟₮υᖇ₳ ɮɅʝ₳.」 (Low temperature.)
As those words were spoken, the world collapsed. Glaciers melted like overwritten data, frost vanished, and eternal cold never existed.
The frozen hell was no longer frozen. The Devourer fell to his knees, weakened, gasping. His source —temperature— had been erased from the system.
Nevaeh (in awe): Incredible…
She extinguished the flames that had surrounded her body, no longer needed. As she walked, she found Azrael; they met each other's eyes, and she embraced him tightly.
Nevaeh: Azrael! I'm so glad to see you.
Azrael (smiles weakly): I'm glad too, little one.
But the Devourer's roar made them turn. The monster launched himself again, but the attack was once more inverted. The Devourer was thrown kilometers away, his body disintegrating in pieces. Desperate, he tried to recreate the concept of low temperature, rebuilding the ice, rewriting the cold.
Then, Null took a step.And everything changed.With each step, a radius of a hundred kilometers distorted. The ground glitched, the horizon folded, and multiple Nulls walked in infinite directions, as if time and space had been decomposed into a thousand overlapping layers.
The Devourer launched thousands of icy spikes, but Null simply disappeared and reappeared, each time closer, at a speed reality could not render. The scene broke into fragments, textures flickered, and sounds lost meaning. In a blink, Null was already in front of him.
Null: 「Ɱ⟟₦₳₥₳₮₳ ɄⱤ₳₥Ʌ₵₳.」 (Devourer of the Glacial Void.)
The name corrupted the Devourer himself. His form distorted, his body pixelated, his voice shattered into bits of pain. Reality tried to keep him existing, but failed. And thus, the Devourer was erased from existence.
Null: 「ⱤɆ₴Ʌ₮ ₀ₘₚˢⱧ₳.」 (Uninstallation complete.)
Null advanced, and with every step, existence shattered like glass under pressure.
Azrael and Nevaeh arrived, but before they could approach, Alcanor appeared before them, blocking their path.
Alcanor: Don't come any closer. He's no longer Null. He's a pure anomaly. If he saw you, he wouldn't recognize you. He'd see you as malicious code to be uninstalled.
Nevaeh: (worried) But…
Azrael: Don't worry. (looking at Null) I understand. Though… it's hard to accept that he might die. (sighs) And I almost never care about others… but this time… it's different.
Alcanor: (laughs softly) Don't worry. I'll take care of it.
Azrael: (smiles tiredly) I suppose for you, nothing is impossible.
Azrael took Nevaeh's hand, pulling her back a little as they watched in silence.
Alcanor approached Null. The corruption around them was total, yet it did not touch him. Null looked at him, but saw no being, only the absence of code.
Alcanor: I see. You don't recognize me. I suppose that now, to you, I'm something like… an undetectable virus.
Null moved. An impossible displacement. Reality unraveled into a storm of glitch and fragmented light. But Alcanor raised one finger and stopped it. Neither corruption nor chaos affected him.
Alcanor: This is simple. I just have to act as system maintenance.
A barrier of white light surrounded Null. Inside, glitches multiplied, digital roars burst, but little by little, everything returned to normal. Codes rewrote themselves. Time recomposed. The texture of the world became solid again. The corruption dissolved like smoke.
Alcanor: (looking at Null) That will do. (laughs) But that power… it's already part of you. I hope you learn to control it someday. That day, everything will be much more interesting.
He vanished.
Null fell to the ground, unconscious. His body returned to normal.
Azrael approached, lifted him onto his shoulder.
Azrael: I have to admit, you're powerful. (laughs mockingly) Even if you still can't control yourself.
Nevaeh: (smiles tiredly) You never change.