The battlefield remained frozen in the wake of Null's awakening.
Old Prime — Stage Four did not roar or rage.It settled.
Like a law being reinstated.
Dust drifted downward and never touched Null. The air around him maintained a perfect, disciplined stillness, as though the world itself had remembered how to behave.
D U exhaled slowly, the grin fading from his face.
"So," he said, voice quieter now, "it's time you heard the truth."
Null turned toward him.
Hyung watched closely, already sensing that whatever came next would not be light.
D U stepped forward, hands in his pockets, posture relaxed—but his eyes were sharp, reflective.
"Your father wasn't born a king," D U began."He hated that word."
Null's aura flickered faintly, not in instability, but attention.
D U continued.
"He was born in a dead sector. No banners. No throne. Just ruins and people who learned how to survive by becoming harder than the world."
Images bled into the air as D U spoke—memories carried not by illusion, but by resonance.
A younger man stood amid broken cities.Broad-shouldered. Calm-eyed.No crown. No sigil.
Only resolve.
"He was stronger than everyone around him," D U said."Not because of raw power—but because he understood limits. How to touch them. How to step past them without breaking."
The image shifted.
Battles. Endless ones.
Entities fell. Warlords vanished. Systems collapsed.
"He didn't conquer," D U said."He ended wars. Every time he moved, conflict stopped—because nobody wanted to be the next lesson."
Null clenched his fist unconsciously.
Hyung felt it too.
This wasn't legend.
This was memory.
"They started calling him King because nothing stood after him," D U continued."Not because he wanted rule."
The vision changed again.
A council. Figures kneeling—not in fear, but relief.
"They begged him to take the crown," D U said."And he said no."
D U smiled faintly at that.
"He said crowns make people lazy. They think power protects them."
The image showed the man turning away.
"But the world didn't listen."
The memory darkened.
Doors appearing. Entities pressing inward. The beginning of something vast and wrong.
"When the Doors began to open," D U said quietly, "everything changed."
The man returned.
Not as a ruler.
As a shield.
"He stood between humanity and extinction," D U said."Not because it was destiny. Because someone had to."
Null's chest tightened.
D U glanced at him.
"He reached Old Prime Stage Four fighting the first Entity. Alone. No guide. No predecessor."
Adrax's shadow shifted subtly, listening.
Luxion remained silent.
Aizeno did not interrupt.
"He won," D U said."But victory cost him."
The image fractured.
Blood. Light. A sealing ritual incomplete.
"The world couldn't hold both him and what he sealed," D U continued."So he made a decision."
The vision showed the King standing before a newborn child.
Null.
"He split his core," D U said."Not to save himself."
D U looked directly at Null now.
"To save you."
Silence spread.
Hyung's breath caught.
"He hid part of himself inside you," D U continued."And part inside Hyung—because balance was the only way the power wouldn't consume either of you."
Null's voice came out low.
"So he chose us… over himself."
D U nodded once.
"He walked into oblivion smiling," he said."Said the world didn't need a king anymore."
The memories dissolved.
The battlefield returned.
Null stood unmoving.
Then he spoke.
"…He never wanted the crown."
"No," D U replied."He wanted a future where his son didn't have to wear it."
Null's aura shifted—subtle, deeper.
Not stronger.
Clearer.
Adrax's voice echoed faintly from the rift.
"So the martyr's shadow still guides you."
Null looked up.
"No," he said evenly."He trusted me."
Aizeno's eyes narrowed.
D U stepped back beside Hyung.
"Now you know," he said."Your power isn't borrowed. It isn't copied."
He met Null's gaze.
"It's inheritance."
Null inhaled.
For the first time, the weight of Old Prime did not feel like pressure.
It felt like responsibility.
And somewhere, far beyond the battlefield, something ancient stirred—as if the world itself recognized the return of the King's blood.