Metaverse of Mechas

📘 Chapter 40

🌊 Scene 1: Descent into the Deep

The submersible carrier, a battered craft once used by Spiral's elite divers, trembled as it descended beneath the cerulean waters of the Aqua Belt.

Inside, Zeron sat quietly.

The water outside grew darker by the meter, until even the vessel's lights seemed to flicker against the sheer weight of the sea.

Aina sat beside him, her head resting on a console.

Rest and Ivy were configuring the oxygen-krono stabilizers.

"You're sure this is it?" Aina asked.

"Yes," Zeron said. "The Aria Depths. Where Krono isn't just energy—it's memory."

The moment they breached the last pressure gate, a signal pulsed through the ship.

Like a heartbeat.

But it wasn't mechanical.

It was musical.

⚙️ Scene 2: The Sea Forge

The ship landed in the Coliseum of Echoes — a submerged dome of translucent alloy that still shimmered with old-world symbols and shifting tones.

A stairway of floating tiles appeared beneath their feet, forming a bridge that led toward the glowing forge in the center.

Zeron stepped onto it.

The tiles sang with every step.

Ivy muttered, "I hate magic water music."

"It's not magic," Zeron whispered. "It's memory resonance. This place remembers the ones who walked here before."

As he approached the forge, a massive, hollow-eyed mech rose from the central pit.

It wasn't hostile.

It bowed.

"Welcome, Conductor," a voice boomed—not from the machine, but from every molecule of water around them.

"To claim your legacy, you must face your echo."

💭 Scene 3: Trial of the Echo

Zeron stood before the Mecha Forge, arms outstretched, as Krono threads spun from the air and wrapped around his body.

Suddenly—

He was pulled inside his own memory.

But not as he remembered it.

He stood in a burning field.

His younger self held a crying Zui and Zake.

But something was different.

Behind them, in the firelight, stood a man with purple Krono pulsing around his body. His face blurred.

"Who was that?" Zeron asked.

The memory-self didn't answer.

Instead, it attacked.

Zeron dodged instinctively, as the younger version of himself fought with wild strength—blades of raw Krono, untamed and vicious.

"This is the you that never forgot pain," the voice echoed. "The you that never chose peace."

"Then I'll face him," Zeron muttered. "And conduct my truth."

The battle began.

Each movement, each parry, each clash of Krono-blades formed a song—a fugue of fury and forgiveness.

Until, finally, Zeron did not strike his memory-self.

He hugged him.

And the echo… vanished into light.

🧬 Scene 4: Varik Tensin

Above sea level, in the black alleyways of ruined sector 7G, Ivy Skorn stood face to face with the assassin once called her master — Varik Tensin.

He looked older now.

Eyes hollow.

Krono blackened at the edges.

"You should have killed me," Ivy said, blade drawn.

"You should have stayed dead," Varik replied.

They fought.

Fast. Deadly. Silent.

But when Ivy disarmed him, he whispered:

"It was never about killing Zeron. It was about delaying him."

"Delaying what?"

"The prophecy. The one Spiral hid. The one about the Conductor of Collapse."

Varik coughed blood.

"You're too late now… He's already heard the First Verse."

🧠 Scene 5: Zake's Return

As Zeron emerged from the depths of the forge, his body shimmering with radiant Krono strings, another figure arrived on the submersible deck.

Zake.

His body pulsed with rhythmic Krono flow.

He wore robes woven from sound-reactive thread. And floating behind him was a mecha-djinn—shaped like a harp that emitted deadly sonar slices.

Zake grinned.

"Did I miss the chorus?"

Zeron smiled. "You're just in time for the crescendo."

🔚 Preview — Chapter 41: The Verse of Ruin

With the First Verse awakened, Zeron now holds a portion of the lost Mecha-Conductor code.

But with great resonance comes a cost — and the Silence God begins to crack.

Aina discovers the meaning of her visions: she is the keeper of the Final Note.

Ivy must make a choice — hunt Spiral's remaining commanders or protect Zeron's growing symphony.

Zake faces his first opponent: a living weapon bred from Krono silencing fields.

And far beyond the galaxy, a forgotten planet begins to sing back.