Liora’s hands glowed with fractured light.  

The Eclipse Beasts halted mid-strike, their glassy eyes reflecting her trembling form. The Sovereign’s tendrils still hung in the air, frozen by Kael’s reversal, but Liora’s mark now pulsed like a dying star. She felt their minds—scattered, ravenous—brush against hers.  

*“Stop,”* she whispered.  

The Beasts knelt.  

Kael stared, his Chrono-Blade slipping in his sweat-slick grip. *“What did you do?”*  

*“I… don’t know.”* Liora collapsed, her vision swimming with overlapping timelines: Beasts devouring cities, Seraphina’s arrows piercing Kael’s heart, a thousand Lioras screaming as the Sovereign consumed them.  

*“They’re afraid,”* she gasped. *“The Sovereign isn’t controlling them. It’s *running* from something worse.”*  

Kael hauled her up, his corrupted arm leaving blackened fingerprints on her skin. *“Focus. Command them to attack the Sovereign.”*  

*“No! They’re *people*, Kael! I can *feel* them—”*  

A roar split the sky.  

Mirror-Kael descended, his blade carving a rift that vomited acid rain. *“Pathetic. You still think mercy has a place here?”*  

---

**Rylan’s blood dripped onto the journal.**  

The attic trembled as he chanted, the cipher’s equations burning into his skin. Seraphina’s warnings echoed (*“It’s a trap!”*), but he’d seen the sketches—Kael’s Core detonating, leveling Blackforge. *This* was the only way.  

*“Bind my life to his,”* he pleaded to the void. *“Let me be his anchor.”*  

The journal erupted in blue flame.  

Agony.  

Rylan’s veins lit with Chrono-energy, his vision fracturing. He saw Kael battling Mirror-Kael in the square, Liora’s Beasts turning on each other, and deeper—*a thread* connecting his heartbeat to Kael’s decaying Core.  

*“Yes,”* he hissed. *“Now I see.”*  

---

**Kael faltered.**  

Mirror-Kael’s blade sheared through his defenses, each strike amplified by borrowed time. *“You’re slowing down, brother. How many reversals left? *One*?”*  

A surge of energy flooded Kael’s veins—*Rylan’s lifeforce*, sweet and desperate. His tumor recoiled, the decay reversing momentarily.  

*“What the—?”*  

Mirror-Kael laughed. *“He *anchored* you? Oh, this is precious. Now his death is your death.”*  

Kael’s gaze snapped to the horizon. Through the acid rain, he glimpsed Rylan’s attic glowing like a beacon.  

*Idiot. Martyr. *Friend*.*  

He lunged, Chrono-Blade aimed at Mirror-Kael’s Core.  

*“You first.”*  

---

**Seraphina found Liora in the ruins.**  

The girl huddled beneath a collapsed spire, her arms wrapped around a shivering Beast pup. Its claws had torn her robe, but its teeth stayed sheathed.  

*“It’s scared,”* Liora murmured. *“They all are.”*  

Seraphina nocked an arrow, aiming at the pup’s skull. *“That thing’s a weapon.”*  

*“So am I.”* Liora met her gaze, tears cutting through the grime. *“Kael’s wrong. The Beasts aren’t the enemy. The Sovereign is. And it’s *terrified*.”*  

A tremor shook the earth. The Sovereign’s voice boomed, no longer triumphant—*pleading*.  

*“PROPHET… FREE ME…”*  

Liora stood, the pup clinging to her leg. *“We have to go to it.”*  

*“That’s suicide!”*  

*“No.”* Liora’s mark flared, parting the acid rain like a curtain. *“It’s a confession.”*  

---

**TO BE CONTINUED…**