They stared at him in silence.
Jalen Grey—the boy who lit the sky, who vanished to save the world—was standing in front of them again. Not like before. Not exactly. He was heavier now—not in size, but in presence. Like the Core hadn't just burned through him... it had changed him.
Reyka stepped forward slowly, half afraid he might vanish again.
"You... how? We thought—"
"I know," Jalen said quietly. "I was gone. But not lost."
Ari crossed her arms, expression hard. "Where the hell have you been?"
Jalen looked up, and for a moment, a thousand lifetimes flashed behind his eyes. "Everywhere. Every time. The Core didn't kill me—it scattered me. Through the Rift. I've seen cities that don't exist yet. I've fought wars in timelines that already ended. But something pulled me back. This."
He opened his hand.
A single black ember sat in his palm, pulsing faintly.
"The last shard of the Core," he said. "And the only thing Null can't touch."
Reyka's eyes narrowed. "So it's true. Null's draining powers."
"Not just draining," Jalen said. "He's rewriting them. The Rift left a fracture in more than just space. It cracked identity. Null is... feeding on it. Turning people into echoes of what they were."
"He's not like any villain we've faced," Ari added. "No base. No signal. Just emptiness."
Jalen nodded. "That's what he is. A walking void. The anti-Core."
Suddenly, a deep rumble shook the safehouse. Dust fell from the ceiling. Emergency lights flickered red.
Reyka ran to the scanner. "Signal breach. District 6—Core level energy spike. But it's... wrong."
Jalen stepped beside her, eyes narrowing. "He's here."
Reyka turned to him. "You're not strong enough yet."
"I don't have to be," he said. "I just have to slow him down."
He opened a compartment in the wall and pulled out an old chestplate—his Eclipse armor. Scarred, cracked, still warm from the energy it once carried. He slid it on.
Ari grabbed her gauntlets. "We're going too."
"No," Jalen said.
"Yes," Reyka shot back. "You don't do this alone anymore."
They stood together—three against the coming dark. Just like before.
Only now, the enemy was more than just evil.
It was emptiness itself.