The sky over Thaloria cracked like shattered glass.
Lightning in reverse—tendrils of black crawling from the clouds instead of the ground—ripped across the heavens. Screams echoed from every direction as the very fabric of the city trembled.
And in the eye of it all stood Kai.
His clothes were torn. One hand clutched his side where blood seeped out like a broken promise. But his eyes? Unyielding. Still and sharp, like frost on steel.
The girl with silver eyes had vanished the moment the distortion began. Left behind was a name whispered in the deepest part of his mind:
> "He is coming. The Voidbound Tyrant walks again."
The moment those words faded, reality blinked. Buildings stuttered between ruin and perfection. People flickered like unstable memories. The sky warped. The stars shifted out of place.
Then he appeared.
Floating above the plaza, draped in an obsidian cloak that bled darkness itself, was the figure of a man—face hidden beneath a porcelain mask. The air around him twisted. Like the world resented his presence.
> "This timeline was not meant to birth you," the figure spoke. His voice echoed like a thousand screams held underwater.
> "You should not exist."
He extended his hand.
Kai's breath caught in his throat. His body froze, limbs suddenly heavier than lead.
[System Alert – Emergency Trigger]
> Catalyst Detected. Second Class Awakening: Timeline Anchor – Sovereign of Causality Activating Passive: 'Anomaly Rejection Protocol'
Time itself convulsed.
The air tore with a soundless wail. The Voidbound Tyrant's body shuddered, flickered, then began to dissolve at the edges. His mask cracked down the center.
> "You dare reject me?! I was chosen by the stars before your stars even burned!"
> "Wrong," the System answered. "He is outside of fate."
A brilliant pulse exploded from Kai's chest—silent, invisible to the world—but catastrophic to all that didn't belong.
The Tyrant was ejected.
No fight. No fanfare. Just gone.
Reality stitched itself together like nothing had happened. The cracks healed. The sky cleared.
Kai fell to one knee, panting. Around him, everyone acted as if they'd just witnessed a minor earthquake—nothing more. No memory of the Tyrant. No knowledge of what had just been prevented.
But he remembered.
And so did the System.
> Voidbound Entity Expelled Warning: Attempted Timeline Breach Protection Protocol: Active
Somewhere far beyond stars and gods, watchers leaned closer to their cosmic mirrors.
Because this time, the heavens hadn't just chosen.
They defended.
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Next: chapter 8 - "The Whisperer of Stars"