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Chapter 22 - The past rewinds

Scene: The House of Time – Tithon's Realm

Far beyond the shattered galaxies and dying stars, hidden within the folds of reality itself, lies a realm untouched by flame or fate — the Chrono Vault.

Here, time doesn't move. It listens.

And in its heart sits Tithon — the eternal God of Time. His body is carved from starlight and stone, and his eyes hold the weight of every moment that has ever existed… or will.

Suddenly, the silence is broken.

A rift explodes open.

Through it steps Black Kai, flames licking across his shoulders, eyes burning not with rage… but with something deeper:

Desperation.

---

Scene: The Request

Kai (firmly):

"Tithon. I need access to the time portal."

Tithon doesn't stand. He doesn't blink. His voice echoes like a thousand ticking clocks:

Tithon:

"You are not welcome here, Kai of Aether Flame."

Kai:

"I must go back. I have to stop myself. I have to save her."

Tithon (coldly):

"You murdered her. You destroyed balance.

You burned universes that time itself had woven.

Now you ask me to let you rewrite fate?"

Kai:

"She is all I have left. I can bring her back."

Tithon:

"Your past is not yours to touch anymore.

Changing it will unravel everything."

Kai steps forward, power rising.

Kai (growling):

"If you don't give it to me… I'll take it."

The realm trembles.

But Tithon finally rises.

---

Scene: God vs Demon

Tithon lifts his Chrono Spear, forged from pure seconds and stolen futures.

Kai unsheathes his Flamebreaker Blade, forged from war and grief.

And they clash.

Time bends with every blow. Kai's strikes set the realm ablaze, but Tithon slows his flame mid-air, redirects it, and traps Kai within a loop.

Kai breaks free with a roar, dragging sparks across space, nearly cracking the walls of time itself.

But Tithon is too powerful.

Too old.

Too focused.

With a final blast of Time Lock energy, Tithon pins Kai to the ground.

Tithon:

"You have not changed. You are still destruction."

---

Scene: Kazuya Returns – A Voice of Truth

Just as Tithon prepares to cast Kai into the Timeless Void—

Another portal opens.

Kazuya steps through, cloaked in light and pain.

Kazuya:

"Stop."

Tithon pauses.

Tithon:

"Another fallen warrior. Will you beg for your monster friend?"

Kazuya (calm, but powerful):

"I'm not begging for him. I'm begging for her."

Tithon (stern):

"She is dead. Let the thread end."

Kazuya:

"She's not just a girl.

She is the last living balance between Aether and Void.

If we let her die… the future we're standing in doesn't exist."

Tithon looks at him.

Tithon:

"You ask me to trust the same man who set fire to time itself."

Kazuya (pointing at Kai):

"I don't ask you to trust him.

I ask you to trust me."

A long silence.

Then… the Chrono Spear dims.

Tithon:

"Very well. But this is not a gift.

This is a gamble."

He turns to Kai.

Tithon (commanding):

"You will be sent back to the exact moment you killed her.

You will have one chance.

Fail… and both you and that time shall be erased forever."

Kai (rising slowly):

"I won't fail."

---

Scene: The Portal Opens

Tithon lifts his hand.

A great ring of light and broken memory forms in the air — the Time Gate.

It shows the moment — frozen — where Marine stands, holding the pendant, begging her father to remember…

…seconds before he strikes her down.

Kai steps toward the portal. Kazuya places a hand on his shoulder.

Kazuya:

"Bring her back, brother. Not as a weapon. Not as a Core.

But as your daughter."

Kai nods, eyes finally softening.

And then—

He steps through.

---

Scene: The Moment Rewinds

The air burns.

The past replays.

Marine, tears in her eyes, says:

> "I forgive you."

And in this exact moment — just before Kai's blade falls —

A second Kai appears, slamming into his past self with a roar.

Boom.

The two Kais collide, flame against flame — father versus monster, soul versus instinct.

And standing between them, again…

Is Marine.

Her body glowing faintly.

Because some part of her had never fully died.

Scene: Kai vs Kai – Flame Against Flame

The battlefield was silent.

A sky torn between light and shadow. The rocks around them floated midair, frozen in fractured time.

At the center stood Marine, her unconscious body glowing faintly, caught in a temporal stasis bubble cast by the God of Time.

Just behind her — standing like a blazing monument of death — was Black Kai, the version of himself that had killed her.

And now… facing him…

Was the real Kai — returned from the future, heart racing, rage and sorrow burning in his eyes.

He looked at his darker self.

Kai (future, softly):

"Step away from her."

Black Kai (voice flat):

"You shouldn't exist."

Kai:

"You shouldn't have killed her."

---

Scene: The First Clash

They charged.

Not with words. Not with warnings.

Just fire.

Black Kai struck first, his sword splitting the air with pure void flame. Future Kai blocked with a new blade — forged by Tithon, pulsing with time-bonded Aether.

Every impact between them shattered reality in ripples — frozen memories of Sophie, Kazuya, and even baby Marine flickered in the cracks around them.

Their swords danced like galaxies crashing.

Black Kai:

"She was weakness."

Kai:

"She was everything."

---

Scene: The Fire That Shouldn't Exist

Black Kai unleashed a Demon Nova, a firestorm made from the destruction of countless Aether Cores. It roared toward Future Kai like a world-ending wave.

But Future Kai raised his hand, focusing Marine's memory — the moment she forgave him.

A burst of pure white flame erupted from his chest, slicing through the darkness.

He dashed forward, faster than light, and punched his past self across the cliff, embedding him into a crater of molten stone.

---

Scene: The Monster Talks

Black Kai emerged, his body cracked with heat, steam rising from his skin.

Black Kai (growling):

"She made me weak.

You came all this way… to protect the very thing that destroyed us?"

Kai (angrily):

"She didn't destroy us.

She was us. The last thing we had left."

Black Kai (snarling):

"She died like all things do. She was just another flicker."

Kai:

"No. She was our last light. And you extinguished her…

Because you were afraid to feel."

That struck deeper than any blade.

---

Scene: Second Clash – Soul vs Shadow

They clashed again.

This time, their swords weren't the only weapons.

Flames of regret. Bursts of memory.

Future Kai called on visions — Marine training, laughing, holding Sophie's pendant.

Black Kai tried to erase them, slamming his flame blade through the memories.

Kai roared:

"You can't burn her out of me!"

He kicked his past self backward, then hurled the pendant through the air.

It struck Black Kai in the chest — and for a moment, the flames wavered.

---

Scene: The Breaking Point

Black Kai fell to one knee.

He saw it.

A vision not from his memory…

But from Sophie's soul.

Marine, just a baby. Reaching up toward him.

Sophie's voice:

> "She is what we left behind to become whole again."

Black Kai (shaking):

"No… no, I… I was alone…"

Kai (approaching):

"You were never alone. You just stopped looking."

Black Kai looked up — for the first time — not with rage.

But with pain.

Black Kai:

"I killed her."

Kai (placing a hand on his shoulder):

"Then help me bring her back."

Their flames merged for the first time.

Light and shadow folding inward.

---

Scene: Two Become One

The ground beneath them cracked.

A pulse of violet and white Aether spiraled upward as past and future merged — one soul split across rage and regret… now reforged.

Kai stood alone once more.

But now with clarity.

His eyes no longer burned with destruction.

They shimmered with grief. With memory. With purpose.

He turned toward Marine.

Kai (whispering):

"I'm here, my star."

Scene: The Edge of Life and Death

The battlefield had gone still.

Kai knelt beside Marine's lifeless body, his hand trembling as it hovered over her chest. The white-blue glow that once marked her as an Aether Core was faint—barely present. But it was there.

A flicker.

A whisper.

He placed Sophie's pendant over her heart. It pulsed once. Then again. But the light inside was too weak to reach her fully.

Kai (softly):

"Come back… I didn't protect you… I couldn't stop myself. But I'm here now."

He closed his eyes and reached deep inside himself — not to his power, but to the memory that had been sealed away:

Sophie's voice.

Marine's laughter.

The day she held his hand and didn't know it belonged to her father.

He opened his palm. His soul burned with white fire — Aether restored, cleansed by Sophie's memory, reshaped by love and guilt.

He held the flame above the pendant.

Kai (whispering):

"Take all of me… if it means she lives."

The pendant burst with light.

It tore the ground open around them in silence.

A spiral of golden energy wrapped around Marine's body, lifting it gently into the air — and then…

Everything vanished.

---

Scene: The In-Between Realm

Marine opened her eyes.

But the world around her was not Vel'Raeth.

It was neither alive… nor dead.

A place where stars hummed like distant voices, and silver grass bent to a wind that didn't exist.

She stood barefoot, still wearing her broken armor, her pendant gently glowing against her chest.

Marine (softly):

"Where… am I?"

A voice echoed behind her.

Sophie:

"You're in the space between. The thread between memory and return."

Marine turned, eyes widening.

Her mother stood before her — not as a ghost, not as a memory, but whole. Radiant. Calm.

Marine ran to her. Sophie caught her in her arms.

Marine (crying):

"I'm sorry… I failed. I couldn't reach him…"

Sophie (softly):

"No, my star. You reached him more than anyone ever could. He remembers now. He came back… for you."

Marine (shaking):

"But I'm dead…"

Sophie cupped her face.

Sophie:

"Only if you choose to be. Your body lives. Your father waits.

But this path back requires your choice. And your strength."

She turned Marine around.

There, in the distance — a gate stood open, swirling with fire and starlight.

Through it, Marine saw her father kneeling on the battlefield, holding the pendant, whispering her name again and again.

Marine (tears falling):

"He's here…"

Sophie smiled.

Sophie:

"He came for you. Now go. Let the flame that broke you… bring you back whole."

---

Scene: Return Through Fire

Kai's eyes were still closed.

His hands trembled, body glowing faintly. The pendant's energy was beginning to fade — he was almost too late.

Then—he felt it.

A small hand wrapped around his.

He looked up.

Marine stood before him, breathing shallow, eyes open. Light burst from her skin like she was being born again.

Kai (choked):

"Marine…"

She fell forward into his arms.

Marine (weakly):

"You came back…"

Kai held her like the world was breaking and healing at once.

Kai:

"I will never leave you again."

The sky above Vel'Raeth lit up — not with fire, but with the return of balance.

---

Epilogue of the Scene: The World Watches

From the broken cliffs, Isaka, reborn in her demon form, stepped forward.

Behind her, the flame dragon let out a thunderous cry that echoed across worlds.

From across dimensions, even Tithon, the God of Time, felt the change.

And far beyond, on a still-broken planet, Kazuya smiled, watching through a time mirror.

Kazuya (softly):

"Welcome back, Marine."

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