The light pouring from the Old King's Gate did not illuminate the station normally.
It erased shadows.
Every broken rail, every ruined pillar, every drifting particle of dust became unnaturally clear beneath the pale gold glow leaking through the opening seal.
The gate continued separating slowly.
Metal groaned like continents shifting against each other.
Null stood closest to it.
The spiral mark in his left eye rotated steadily now—not unstable, not violent. Calm. Synchronized.
Hyung stepped beside him immediately.
"You feel that?"
Null nodded once.
"It's calling me."
D U grimaced from behind them.
"Yeah, well, I don't trust ancient glowing doors with emotional attachment issues."
Eris leaned casually against a fractured support beam, watching with narrowed silver eyes.
"This pressure…" she murmured. "It's different from the Door."
Caelum agreed quietly.
"The Door consumes identity. The King's Gate preserves it."
That sentence lingered heavily in the air.
Then—
The opening stopped.
A narrow path now stood visible beyond the massive doors. Not a room. Not a corridor.
A void-like passage made entirely of pale light.
No walls.
No ceiling.
No visible end.
Just a pathway suspended in endless brightness.
The deep voice from within the gate echoed again:
"Heir confirmed.Trial pathway unlocked."
D U immediately pointed at the entrance.
"Nope."
Hyung glanced sideways. "Nope?"
"That is the most obvious death hallway I've ever seen."
Eris laughed softly for the first time.
"You're surprisingly expressive for someone nearly killed yesterday."
D U pointed at her next.
"And you teleport between dimensions like a thief with commitment issues."
Caelum ignored both of them.
He looked at Null.
"Only you can enter first."
Hyung frowned instantly.
"What?"
"The gate responds to bloodline priority," Caelum explained. "If anyone else enters before Null stabilizes the pathway, the gate may reject them."
Null looked toward the glowing passage.
For some reason—
he wasn't afraid.
The closer he stood to the entrance, the calmer his mind became. The fractures inside his thoughts quieted. Even the Third Fragment felt… still.
As though something inside the gate recognized him completely.
Hyung stepped forward.
"Then I'm going with you the moment it stabilizes."
Null gave a small nod.
D U sighed dramatically.
"If the glowing king hallway eats you, I'm blaming your family."
Null almost smiled.
Then he stepped through the gate.
The moment his foot crossed the threshold—
the world vanished.
No sound.
No gravity.
No station.
Only light.
Null stood alone inside the endless pathway now, his footsteps echoing softly despite the lack of visible ground beneath him.
Ahead, far in the distance—
a silhouette waited.
Tall.
Broad shoulders.
Long dark coat.
Still.
Null's breath caught.
"…Father?"
The figure did not move immediately.
Then slowly—
it turned.
Not fully visible.
Not entirely real.
But enough.
The same eyes.
The same calm presence.
The same overwhelming feeling of controlled power.
The Old King.
Null felt his chest tighten.
"You're dead," Null said quietly.
The figure smiled faintly.
"Yes."
The voice was calm.
Human.
Not godlike.
Just tired.
Null took a step forward.
"I don't understand any of this."
"You are not meant to yet."
The King's image flickered slightly, unstable like an old memory struggling to remain intact.
"This gate was never built to give answers," the King continued.
"It was built to measure intent."
Null stopped a few meters away.
"Then measure me."
Silence followed.
The King studied him carefully.
Not his power.
Not his aura.
Him.
Then finally—
the King nodded once.
"You already carry the burden," he said quietly. "But burden alone does not create a ruler."
Null's eyes narrowed slightly.
"I don't want to rule anything."
The King smiled again.
"Good."
The light around them shifted.
Suddenly the endless pathway transformed.
The brightness shattered into countless fragments.
Scenes appeared around Null like broken mirrors:
Cities burning.
Entities descending.
Hyung covered in blood.
D U collapsing again.
Aizeno standing before a broken throne.
The Door opening wider than before.
And finally—
Null himself.
Alone.
Wearing the crown of the Old King.
His eyes empty.
The vision disappeared instantly.
Null's breathing became uneven.
"What was that?"
The King's expression darkened slightly.
"A possibility."
Null clenched his fists.
"I won't become that."
The King stepped closer now.
For the first time, Null could see the exhaustion in his father's eyes.
"No one chooses corruption at the beginning," the King said quietly.
Then he raised one hand.
A single black object materialized between them.
A blade.
Simple.
Dark.
Ancient.
The spiral symbol rested near the handle.
Null felt Old Prime resonate violently.
"This weapon," the King said, "was made to answer only one bloodline."
Null slowly took the blade.
The moment his fingers touched it—
the entire pathway shook.
Outside the gate, alarms of ancient origin suddenly activated throughout the station.
Caelum's eyes widened.
"No…"
Eris straightened immediately.
"What happened?"
Then the station ceiling trembled violently.
A massive pressure descended from above.
Cold.
Ancient.
Hungry.
D U looked upward slowly.
"…That's not Aizeno."
The ceiling exploded inward.
Darkness poured through the opening like liquid night.
And from within it—
a colossal eye opened.