Dominos: Zero Point Awakening

Chapter 49: The Path of blood

As narrated by the event keeper

Three days before the tournament began

Sleep had long abandoned Cipher. While his comrades surrendered to rest each night, he drove himself relentlessly, harnessing impulse acceleration to hunt for a way to thwart Skepto. Every failed attempt tightened the grip of guilt around his heart. He bore an unshakable oath—to him, the world’s suffering stemmed from his failure to unmask Number One’s treachery sooner. The dimming spark in his friends’ eyes was a mirror to his own despair, and it pushed him to a precipice. On this night, determination crystallized: he would step into the fire, no matter the cost.

He understood the stakes with brutal clarity—recklessness would spell ruin not just for him, but for everyone he held dear. Desperation fueled him as he sat, motionless, for a full day, eyes clamped shut, plunging into the depths of his mind for the answer.

Sane, ever vigilant, watched him from the shadows. She saw the toll his obsession exacted. Approaching his bedside, she pressed a hand to his forehead. His skin burned, a fever born of mental strain. She jolted him awake, shattering his inward spiral, and seized his hands, pulling him into the night’s embrace. The air was crisp, a fleeting reprieve from the heat consuming him.

Her gaze pierced him, seeing a man shackled by torment. “Let’s run,” she urged, her voice quivering as she gripped him tighter. “Forget it all. Let’s just... run and live.”

Cipher’s head bowed, his words barely a whisper. “We can’t. I have to find a way—”

“I know what you’re chasing,” Sane cut in, her tone edged with fear. “Peace in this world? It’s a ghost. Not while humans draw breath.”

Her words carried the weight of a life carved by anguish, and Cipher saw it etched in her face—a mind honed by suffering.

“Someone told me that once,” he said softly. “But I can’t stop, Sane. There’s still a flicker of hope for us. I have to fight for it, however faint.”

Sane turned from him, inhaling sharply. “I was ten, my sister twelve, when the Final Whisper took us in. Our parents were gone, and within a year, training turned to survival. I faced horror head-on and claimed it as my own. They called me ‘The Insane Reaper.’ Mission after mission, I never faltered, never glanced back. But that made me a liability. To leash me, they stole her—my sister.”

Cipher leaned in, captivated. She had never bared her soul like this.

“The ones I called family, heroes cloaked in shadow, betrayed me,” she went on, her voice taut. “If loyalty can rot so fast, what’s left to believe in? Good twists to evil in an instant. I walked away, scoured the organization’s hidden veins for her. Months later, I found her—alive, but a shell. What they’d done...”

Her fists balled, fury smoldering within.

“Three days after I freed her, she took her own life.”

Cipher’s hands enveloped hers, steady and warm, as tears streaked her face.

“I swore to burn evil to the ground,” she said, her voice fracturing. “But it’s pointless. Cut down a villain, and a ‘hero’ rises to fill the void. It’s a wheel that never stops.”

Cipher drew her into his arms, a quiet vow in his hold. Yet her story didn’t sway his mission. He still believed he had to stop Skepto. But her words stirred something—a realization that he’d been tunnel-visioned on battle, blind to other roads.

As Sane drifted back to sleep, Cipher slipped away, tracing Skepto’s energy like a beacon. He knew precisely where to go.

Skepto dwelled in a simple family home, miles from the battle stadium’s clamor. Cipher entered silently, finding him hunched over a board, scribbling with fervor.

“What are you doing here?” Skepto’s voice rumbled as he turned, eyes sharp.

Cipher stood tall. “You have to stop. If you truly want to save the world, find a path that doesn’t drown it in taxes and blood.”

Skepto laid his marker down and eased into a chair, his stare unwavering. “You people never understand, do you? There are enemies out there who won’t hesitate to destroy this entire world. We need to get to them before they get to us! And to do that, we need ships and gateway devices to reach all our enemies everywhere!”

“But this isn’t the way to do it!” Cipher shot back, his fists clenched.

“Look, I am an understanding man.” Skepto cut through, his tone deceptively calm. “I worked as a janitor for more than ten years at CosCap. I can tell you this from experience as a working man: 5% to save one’s world is more than a fair deal!”

“It’s not just the tax. Your elites are beating and murdering anyone who fights against your side! You can’t rule people with fear and subjugation. That’s not saving the world!”

Cipher stood his ground, his voice steady despite the storm brewing within.

But after what he had seen, Skepto was fixed on his plans of universal conquest and believed he was the only one capable of achieving the impossible task.

“It’s only when you step in it do you realize just how vast the universe is,” Skepto revealed, his voice dropping low. “I thought the Aeonflux would save this planet. That it would save everyone as it saved me. Make everyone see the truth that our real enemies are out there and not within!”

Skepto continued, taking a deep sigh, a regretful expression clouding his face. “With these endless debates, now I understand how wrong I was. To fight them, we need to unite. To unite, we need to break down all walls which separate us. The insanity, the endless debates and division due to concepts of countries, borders, color—I need to break them all apart. Perhaps your father was right! Not all humans deserve the powers of the Aeonflux.”

“My father...” Cipher paused, a chill running through him. “What happened to him?”

“I killed him,” Skepto revealed without hesitation. “Sorry, but I don’t regret it. He destroyed our means for travel, and because of him, I was stranded on that pathetic Rebirth planet for years.”

“You killed him?” Cipher’s voice trembled, disbelief warring with rage.

“After he died, Phosense tweaked his robot and turned it into my servant. It had all the information about your father, and we found out there was a way to reach Earth after all—by using the small quantum link device your father built in his lab. Unfortunately, it was... unfit for a biological lifeform. So we came up with an idea. We sent the robot here with the serum to make my army and create a quantum gate for my return.”

Cipher was silent, his mind shutting down for a moment. Hearing that his father had died made him lose direction once again.

“But he was right,” Skepto continued, his tone almost reflective. “Power like this shouldn’t be given to humans. They have constructed a world they cannot sustain, erected walls so high one must climb on the bodies of others to glimpse the new sky. Those who escape become disillusioned, self-righteous judges. Those left behind struggle for scraps, searching for validation and purpose in their lives, even while knowing they’ll never find it. In their struggle, their hearts keep darkening. It’s an endless loop, and none remember its origin. I wanted this to be a bloodless battle—to lead Earth from a self-destructive path into a new age of logic. After much deliberation, I now know what must be done. For every great outcome, a great sacrifice must be offered. To incinerate the dark history and sow new seeds from the ashes, my hands will have to be washed in blood!”

His deduction resonated with Cipher. To finish his mission, Cipher realized his hands had to be soaked in blood—Skepto’s blood.

“Join me,” Skepto suddenly proposed, extending a hand. “Don’t make the same mistake your father did by letting emotions drive your heart. Take my hand, and together... let’s wash away the evil pests from the universe.”

“Thank you,” Cipher replied quickly, his voice steady now. He now understood the kind of person he was dealing with. Biding his time, he added, “Thanks to you, I now understand the path I must walk to achieve my goal. The universe will hear the loudest roar.” With that, Cipher turned and left.

Skepto accepted his challenge with a smile.

Two days later, it started.

“Begin!” The referee declared the start of the fight between Rowan and Jaxon. At the top chair, Skepto and his now four Elite warrior generals watched, their silhouettes looming over the arena.

Jaxon, looking at his opponent with an inferior sneer, scoffed and laughed. “I have acquired black belts in all the fighting disciplines this world has to offer. By the time I was eighteen years old, I had already defeated all martial artist grandmasters across the five continents.”

“What are you yapping about!” Rowan commented, standing at a distance, unimpressed.

“When I could no longer find anyone strong enough to fight against, I went to live in the wilderness. I have trained and lived among the great beasts of the world. You’re just a small ant I am going to squash to climb even higher!” With that declaration, Jaxon mustered up his energy, power pulsing from his body in visible waves.

Rowan replied in kind and prepared himself.

Aiming for Rowan’s jaw, Jaxon sprang forward at his best speed. His fist connected, the ground shaking as dust burst everywhere. Then he noticed his fist was stuck—grasped to a stop by Rowan’s left hand. Sweat suddenly ran down Jaxon’s face.

“The wilderness?” Rowan said with a smirk, then punched Jaxon in the gut, followed by a brutal strike to his face. “I have spent every morning of every day in the gym honing my muscles. Cats and rats in the jungle are nothing to me!”

With a heavy roar from the crowd and everyone watching, the first fight of the Neogen tournament ended with Rowan’s victory.

Cipher watched from the shadows, his resolve hardening. The tournament had begun, and with it, the path he had chosen—a path of blood that would lead him to Skepto. Each fight, each drop of sweat and blood spilled, brought him closer to the confrontation he knew was inevitable.

His father’s death, Skepto’s vision, and the cost of their clash weighed heavy on his mind.

But he would not falter.

Not now.