The afternoon light inside Mahashunya Vishwavidyalaya didn’t behave like normal sunlight.
A boy was running.
His footsteps echoed loudly through the long glass corridor.
His uniform was slightly torn at the shoulder.
His breathing was uneven, but he didn’t slow down.
His lungs burned, but he refused to fall.
Behind him—two shadows.
At first, they weren’t fully visible.
Just distortions in the air where motion systems tried and failed to track them cleanly.
Then they solidified as they gained speed—two students, faces cold, expressions too calm.
A voice cracked from behind, sharper than the corridor’s silence.
“Hey, Amar… my boy.
Accept your destiny.
It’s your end.”
Amar didn’t look back.
Looking back meant death.
His mind was blank except for one thought.
“Don’t stop.”
Another voice came, laughing.
“Hahaha… what a beautiful scene.
An S-Ranker running from two F-Rankers.
It looks like a lion is afraid of two dogs.”
One of them immediately reacted.
“We’re dogs?”
The other paused.
“No.
I mean…”
The first boy lightly hit the other and said.
“Prasad, we’re villains this time.
Try to look cool.”
Prasad stared at him for a moment.
Then slowly, very seriously—he adjusted his collar.
“…Like this, Satish?”
Satish sighed—
“Absolutely not—you look exactly like a dog right now.”
Satish then looked at Amar.
His tone shifted—
“Why are you trying so hard?
Running can’t save you from death.”
A brief pause—
Then calmly—
“Sorry about this… but someone has paid us to kill you.”
Amar didn’t slow, but a line slipped from his mouth.
Nervously—
“L-look… behind—”
Before they could react—
Their three heads dropped onto the corridor floor.
No sound of footsteps.
No warning.
And then—
Just silence—
A moment ago, three voices filled the corridor—but in the next instant, only their severed heads remained on the floor.
*
*
*
Shravani and her team were silent in the middle of the road.
Barsha finally broke the silence.
“I don’t want to die… Shravani, can we win against—”
“Never.” Shravani interrupted immediately.
A heavy fear settled over the team.
And suddenly—
Zeroth King instantly appeared in front of them.
“Hey!
I’m Zeroth King!
Nice to meet you all.”
But the team didn’t respond to him.
Zeroth King noticed something in the crowd behind the team.
“What is that creature?
It doesn’t look like a monster, demon, devil, or any mutant creature.
It looks so weird and creepy.
Is this even a creature?
And the most important thing is— it has such a terrible and dark aura.”
Then he shifted his gaze to Yuvraj.
“Hey, Emperor.
Why are all of you acting like this?”
Yuvraj silently pointed behind them.
Zeroth King nodded.
“Ah…
that creature is the problem?”
He exhaled once.
“I need help with finding someone.
Earlier one of you mentioned Mahashunya Vishwavidyalaya.
Right?”
“Sorry, am I correct?”
His eyes swept across the surroundings.
“So this is Shunyagarbha… huh.”
A tiny pause—
“I came here directly from Vishwagarbha.
I heard the name of the university from your team.
No big deal—just arrange a little appointment with your Vice President.”
Zeroth King became silent for a moment.
“If I remove that creature then would you arrange an appointment with your Vice President?”
Shravani looked up slowly.
“Are you an S-Ranker?
Or higher?”
Zeroth King looked at her for a moment.
“This girl looks like she’s already decided to give up on her life.
If that happened, then who would take me in front of the Vice President?”
He closed his eyes, as if thinking something.
“Should I erase the mysterious creature?”
He opened his eyes again and looked at her.
“For me, even a hundred omniverses mean nothing.
And this is merely an ordinary creature.”
Then he noticed the address on his hand.
“If I erase the creature, the problem will be solved… and if I let it stay the same, then the Awakened Association must take action, and then I have a fifty percent chance to meet with the Chairman of the Awakened Association.”
*
*
*
At the construction site—
Rhea smiled for a moment.
But her smile didn’t feel normal or soft—
“Oh, you were the—”
“Let’s start the fight.” The figure replied immediately.
“Hm…
on road direct.
No excuse?
I like this vibe.”
The figure shifted his gaze from Isha to Rhea.
“I believe our introductions will play an important role in what comes next.
At least I’ll remember the names of the insects I killed.”
“Yeah, sure.
I’m Rhea.”
She pointed toward Zoya.
“Zoya.”
Then toward Isha.
“Isha.”
Then toward Sia.
“Sia.”
Then silence—
The figure noticed something unusual in her eyes.
“You look so confident, and didn’t feel afraid while saying the names.”
“Fear?” Rhea laughed.
“In Ramayan, if Ravan had been afraid before kidnapping Mata Sita, then what would the meaning of the Ramayan even be?”
“Mm…
I’m Vyom.
And you aren’t completely wrong.
The Ramayan is incomplete without Demon King Ravan.”
He slowly looked toward the construction site.
Then he spoke—
“That war of Ramayan was a destiny.”
The next moment silence.
“Just like ours.”
Suddenly, the construction site vanished.
One blink, the world was there.
The next, it wasn’t—
In its place, something else had settled into existence—as if reality had flipped a page and forgotten what was written on the previous one.
The sky didn’t have a ‘color’ in the way worlds usually agreed on color.
It shifted like a living memory—sometimes molten gold, sometimes bruised violet, sometimes a pale, sickly white that looked too thin to hold anything together.
Clouds didn’t drift here.
They assembled, as if obeying instructions written in an unseen language.
Below it, the land stretched in broken layers.
Floating plates of terrain suspended at uneven heights, drifting slowly as if the planet itself couldn’t decide where anything was meant to belong, with rivers pouring off cliffs mid-air and vanishing into luminous mist before they ever touched a surface.
On a floating piece of land, the five of them stood.
“So…
It’s reality or just another illusion?” Isha asked, looking at Vyom.
Vyom answered her, but a moment later.
“Guess.”
Isha’s eyes narrowed.
“Guess?”
Vyom didn’t react to her tone.
The next second, a massive meteoroid slammed into the floating land.
KRRR—THOOOM…!!
Vyom was already in the air, away from the destruction.
“Nice, insects.”
Suddenly, he sensed something above him.
When he looked up, he saw a giant ice ball almost the size of a meteoroid hurtling toward him.
He narrowed his eyes.
“What’s this?!!”
Suddenly, he sensed someone behind him.
He spun around instantly, but nobody was there.
The ice ball had already reached him.
But before the meteoroid-like ice ball could touch him, he instantly disappeared and reappeared on another floating landmass.
“What a cheap trick.” His voice carried no surprise—only disappointment.
The next instant, he realised his feet were frozen.
And four figures appeared around him.
They all surrounded him.
Rhea and Isha with their swords.
Zoya and Sia without any weapons.
He didn’t react, but a smile spread across his lips.
“Still smiling?” Zoya asked.
Vyom slowly raised his head.
“Because all four of you made the same mistake.”
“Same mistake?” Sia asked in confusion.
Then suddenly a figure appeared behind Sia, but Zoya noticed it.
“Sia, dodge!” Zoya shouted.
A wormhole instantly opened beneath Sia’s feet.
The next moment, Sia appeared beside Rhea.
Her breathing remained steady.
No injuries.
No attack had landed.
Rhea narrowed her eyes.
The figure stood where Sia had been.
It looked exactly like Vyom—
The same face.
The same uniform.
The same calm expression.
Then—
Another voice spoke.
“Interesting.”
Everyone froze—
Because the voice came from the frozen Vyom.
The one trapped in ice.
The floating land suddenly felt much larger.
Much colder—
Zoya slowly turned her head toward two Vyoms.
One Vyom stood frozen.
One Vyom stood at another place.
Neither disappeared.
Neither flickered.
The next second, Rhea wasn’t on the spot where she was.
Instead, she was standing behind the frozen Vyom.
And then, the bodies of both Vyoms scattered into multiple pieces.
The frozen Vyom’s smile widened slightly.
He spoke before scattering into multiple pieces.
“Huh, supersonic speed.
Cool.”
“Weird guy.” Sia assumed.
“That’s it?
The problem is solved.
Let’s go to the other students.” Zoya suggested happily.
“Wait, I’m not sure.” Isha responded.
Then, the next moment—
“Sia, teleport.” Isha informed immediately.
But before Sia could react, a meteoroid suddenly slammed into the floating land.
THOOOOMMM!!!
The floating land shattered instantly.
The team appeared on another floating landmass.
“This is not a meteoroid.
This is a mountain.” Zoya muttered.
“He’s alive.” Rhea said quietly.
Her grip tightened around her sword.
“And he’s an S-Ranker.”
Zoya’s expression deepened slightly.
“He’s still alive?
Huh…” she asked in confusion.
“Let’s be serious, girls.
No more playing around.”
“Ah…
Okay.
But where’s our opponent?”
Then she called his name loudly—but playfully.
“Hey, opponent!
Where are you?”
Sia looked at her helplessly.
“Zoya, stop teasing him.
Maybe that’s why he refuses to come out.”
Zoya turned toward her.
“Huh?”
Then toward multiple floating lands.
“Hey, handsome!
No need to be shy.”
Her tone turned mischievous.
“If you come out and ask for my hand, I might consider it.
After all, you aren’t that bad either.”
“Zoya, why are you making him shy?
Mm…”
“Sia, look at me.
Am I not pretty?”
“Ohh…!!
My Goddess!
Love you so much.”
Isha and Rhea were looking at each other without blinking.
Isha turned her head toward both of them.
“Hey, lovebirds!
We aren’t in the middle of a date.”
Rhea exhaled slowly.
Then—
“All of you, close your eyes for a moment.”
“Why, my darling?” Zoya asked.
Rhea looked at her.
No explanation, just a cold stare.
“Something is wrong,” Isha said quietly.
The moment power rules start to blur… and that is where the story truly begins.