Darkness drifted endlessly within the void — cold, suffocating, and unyielding. In its center, the mangled form of Umbra floated, his once terrifying visage now stripped of pride, his very will shattered under centuries of torment. Yet, after what felt like eons of torment, his shredded consciousness began to stir.

  A long, guttural groan escaped his formless throat. Then, without reason or sanity, laughter followed — a deep, broken cackle that echoed through the void.

  “Hahahahahahahaha…”

  The sound was bereft of joy — it was the laughter of a being who had long abandoned hope. A god, once revered across billions of multiverses, now reduced to a puppet chained by fate. His voice, laced with uncontained bitterness, finally spoke.

  “I'm weak… utterly pathetic. I can't follow my ambitions. My ideals are meaningless. And all I have now—” his tone darkened, “is this miserable region to rule.”

  Umbra's gaze, though featureless, burned with a hatred so deep it could erode the stars. His black, skeletal hands stretched toward the surrounding void, where countless spherical orbs — multiverses — floated, glowing faint azure hues.

  “A god in this hyperverse?” he scoffed bitterly. “How laughable. I know the true scale of the cosmos. These multiverses are but specks of dust in an endless storm. I was once ambitious, desperate to grow stronger, to understand the mysteries of creation itself. But now… that knowledge is a curse.”

  The void stirred in response to his sorrow. Thick tendrils of living darkness emerged, coiling around his broken form as though offering solace. Umbra didn't resist. Instead, his voice turned venomous.

  “The Guardians think they've broken me — stripped my purpose away, chained me to this domain. They think I'll rot quietly while they continue their tyranny.”

  A sudden shift in his tone — one dripping with malice. “But if I cannot breach the barrier… then I'll devastate what they hold dear. I will tear this hyperverse apart and leave them to clean the filth.”

  The darkness around him convulsed. The void itself groaned in protest as Umbra's will took form. Tendrils of abyssal power erupted from his being, merging into a vortex of concentrated destruction. His very hatred materialized into a colossal, all-consuming void — an aberration capable of erasing multiverses.

  “Let them suffer my revenge.”

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  The void screamed. The colossal black spot expanded infinitely, eclipsing hundreds of multiverses in moments. Entire realms shattered. Cosmic fabric twisted. Universes collided as the resulting gravitational pull began consuming everything like a great attractor.

  The hyperverse wept.

  The orbs, once orderly and stable, now ruptured — releasing countless universes from their containment. Chaos erupted. The very concept of balance crumbled as infinite realms collided, their inhabitants consumed by a tide of destruction. The edges of the hyperverse burned crimson as a horrifying energy, unknown to mortal comprehension, bled into reality.

  Then… the Tesseract stopped rotating. Its once brilliant auroran lights dulled, corrupted by the crimson hue that now infected the hyperverse. And then it — like the multiverses — succumbed to the darkness.

  ……

  Elsewhere in the Cosmos — Another Hyperverse.

  Far beyond the reaches of Umbra’s shattered domain, in a hyperverse whose borders were lined with writhing, slimy tendrils, the seven Guardians of the Origin gathered around a different Tesseract. This one still gleamed in pristine auroran light, untouched by the chaos Umbra had unleashed.

  The violet-robed Guardian, speaking with a casual, almost amused tone, broke the silence. “Well… it seems the ‘Umbra problem’ has finally resolved itself. Lord Origin was right — once again.”

  The yellow-robed Guardian giggled, nudging the violet-robed one playfully. “Were you doubting our Lord, Violet?”

  Flustered, Violet raised both hands. “No, no! I was just amazed. That stubborn wretch held out for millions of years — honestly, I thought they'd never break.”

  The blue-robed Guardian, emanating chilling, lifeless energy, spoke without emotion. “It was inevitable. Yellow's… games expedited the process. Umbra's lingering humanity was always the key to his resistance.”

  Yellow let out a demented giggle, practically skipping around the Tesseract. “Awww, you guys knew I was torturing him for fun and you didn't stop me? How precious!”

  The other Guardians exchanged blank stares. The unhinged nature of Yellow never ceased to unsettle them.

  The orange-robed Guardian grumbled, rubbing his head. “Yeah, and you wasted centuries when you could’ve simply altered his memories. Typical.”

  Yellow twirled on his heel, grinning ear to ear. “Alter his memories? Pfft! Where’s the fun in that? You should’ve seen his face every time I ground his bones into ash and rebuilt him.”

  The Guardians collectively shuddered at Yellow’s morbid excitement.

  The red-robed Guardian finally spoke, his voice absolute. “Enough. The task is complete. Umbra has fulfilled his role by corrupting his hyperverse. The infection has begun.”

  A lingering silence followed before the crimson-robed Guardian added. “We must now prepare to contain the chaos. Search the remaining hyperverses. Should they show signs of contamination — we purge them.”

  Yellow let out a disappointed groan. “Awww. So no more Umbra to play with?”

  The red-robed Guardian ignored him, opening a fracture in space. “We move now.”

  As the Guardians stepped through the rift, Yellow lingered for a moment, his face plastered with twisted glee. “I’ll miss you, Umbra. You really were my favorite toy.”

  And with that, the Guardians vanished — leaving the hyperverse untouched.

  ……

  Meanwhile — Umbra’s Domain

  Umbra's mutilated form floated lifelessly within the void — his physical body consumed by his own creation. Yet his consciousness endured. He saw the devastation wrought upon his hyperverse. His act of vengeance was absolute.

  But something else stirred.

  The crimson hue — foreign and malicious — had not merely corrupted his hyperverse. It had assimilated it. Umbra felt the chaos reaching out, whispering into his fragmented mind.

  “Power… knowledge… freedom…”

  A horrifying realization dawned. The crimson energy had not originated from his rage — it had been waiting. The moment Umbra acted in defiance, the energy consumed everything — and now, it whispered to him.

  A choice lingered before him. Remain a broken prisoner, or allow the chaos to remake him.

  “…I will not die in vain.”

  And so, Umbra welcomed the chaos.

  A new force of horror was about to be born — far more devastating than anything the Guardians an

  ticipated. And this time… Umbra would not be alone.

  ……

  The Age of Resonance had begun.