The domain cracked.
Lucias's body was unraveling — unmade by collapse, by chaos, by a force that devoured even unfulfilled dreams.
Jin stood tall, sovereign in the void, blood dripping down his lip, victorious.
But then—
A whisper echoed.
A spear of searing thought pierced through his abdomen from behind.
Crack.
Jin coughed, wide-eyed, as blood painted the dream-torn air.
Lucias stood behind him — arm outstretched, hand twisted in a spear-thrower's grip. His body flickered, barely whole, barely breathing, and yet… smiling.
"I also dreamed this."
With one final surge, Lucias forced his will upon the collapsing world.
"Reality Override — Resurgence Thread."
The domain briefly stabilized. The dream resisted collapse. Jin dropped to one knee, wounded, dazed, the spear impaled deep into his side.
Lucias limped forward. His face pale, his bones fractured, but his spirit burning.
"You think you're above dreams… but even the lord of collapse can bleed," he said. "You fell for it, Jin. All of this — your triumph, your strike, your final blow — I dreamed it all. This was my path to victory."
Jin's fingers twitched.
His eyes slowly rose to meet Lucias's.
And then…
he smiled.
A subtle, slow, horrifying smile.
"Exactly…" Jin whispered. "You dreamed what I allowed you to dream."
Lucias froze.
"What…?"
Then, the world fractured — not from power, but from truth.
The moment of Lucias's triumph flickered. Time faltered. The memory twisted.
Suddenly — Jin wasn't in front of Lucias.
He was behind him.
Lucias turned—
Too late.
"Chrono Tyranny: Time Blades."
A shimmering array of Time Blades erupted around Lucias — each one forged from broken causality, laced with paradox. They didn't just cut his body — they carved conceptual scars across his timeline. His victories. His escapes. His rewinds. All sliced.
Each blade dug into a different moment of Lucias's life and pulled him in all directions.
He couldn't move. Couldn't scream. Couldn't even breathe properly in linear time.
And then, Jin's voice echoed across the collapsing void:
"You never dreamed of me… because you weren't the one dreaming."
Lucias's eyes widened.
Jin's gaze became distant, calm.
"I embedded a seed. A subtle suggestion. I rewrote your certainty. I led you here."
He raised one trembling hand.
"Hypnosis."
Lucias realized — the entire battle had been a stage.
From the beginning, Jin had whispered into his soul, guided his assumptions, made him believe every twist was his to control.
The dream had not been Lucias's.
It was Jin's all along.
The trap wasn't just the blades or the battlefield.
It was belief itself.
"When I touched your mind at the start of the battle… I whispered the idea into you: 'You will see a dream of victory.'"
Lucias gasped, his pupils dilating in horror.
"And everything since then," Jin said, stepping forward, his aura now igniting like a star going supernova, "has been me walking you to the edge of your own false godhood."
Reality began to collapse.
Time shattered like broken glass as Chrono Tyranny surged through Jin's veins. A thousand golden clock-hands emerged from the air, forming a sphere of endless loops.
"Chrono Tyranny: Dreamlock Prison."
Lucias turned to flee — but the blades of time came crashing down.
Each one sliced a possibility from his life.
A future. A moment. A memory.
Lucias screamed — until his voice was frozen inside the loop.
His body twisted in place — endlessly reliving his false triumph, again and again.
Trapped in the illusion Jin let him believe.
"I gave you the illusion of choice…" Jin whispered, falling to one knee again, blood pouring from his side. "But in the end… even your dreams… were mine."
Lucias screamed.
But his scream repeated again.
And again.
And again
Jin collapsed, knees hitting the cracked floor of a dying realm. His body flickered, unstable. The cost of layering Chrono Tyranny, Omnikinesis, and Hypnosis all at once was monstrous.
The world he stood on was disintegrating — the battle, the domain, even Lucias… sealed and frozen in infinite recurrence.
Jin whispered something unintelligible.
A glyph formed under his feet — shimmering like broken constellations.
"Astral Reft"
And then—
Flash.
He vanished.
Elsewhere, Somewhere silent. Somewhere far from battle, far from gods and dreams and ruin.
A strange new sky.
A forest with no history.
Stars that did not remember Olympus.
Jin's body crashed into the earth with a heavy thud.
Unconscious.
Bleeding.
But victorious.
Above him, the sky whispered… and somewhere, beyond even the veil of this new world…
Meanwhile, The moon hung over the castle like a wounded eye — pale and distant.
Its light spilled across the marble halls, but no warmth touched the hearts of those within.
In the quiet chamber near the spire, Lia sat by the tall window, her knees drawn to her chest, her cheek resting against the glass. Her silver hair fell loosely over her shoulders, a soft tremble shaking her frame.
He wasn't back.
It had been hours — maybe more.
Outside, the once-roaring battlefield was silent. The wards still shimmered faintly, holding back what remained of the chaos. Inside the castle, Athena, Eva, Rin, Lysander, Kaelros, Arden, Lilian, Chris, and Han Jin-Hyuk were gathered in the main hall — quiet, still. None dared speak what haunted them.
But Lia…
She couldn't move. Couldn't look away.
"You promised…" she whispered, a teardrop sliding down her cheek and striking the windowsill.
"You said you'd come back."
More tears followed. Silent, desperate.
Her fingers trembled against the glass.
Then—
a pulse.
Not through the castle. Not through the air.
Through her heart.
A soft warmth, like a voice whispering through the soul.
"Lia…?"
Her eyes widened.
And suddenly—every person in the castle felt it.
Jin's voice — his presence — blooming like a sunrise in the back of their minds.
"I'm alive…"
"I'm in another world. But I'm safe. Just… a little far from home."
"I'm sorry I made you all wait."
Gasps filled the halls. Athena placed a hand on her chest. Arden clenched his fists, silently relieved.
But Lia—
Her breath caught in her throat.
And then she heard it:
"Lia. Are you listening…?"
She pressed her hand to her chest, eyes shut tight.
"Yes—yes, I'm here…!"
"I'm sorry I left like that."
"He was stronger than I expected. I had to send him into a loop. I couldn't let him reach any of you."
"But I'll come back. I promise."
A sob escaped her lips — but this time, it was joy mixed with sorrow.
"You idiot…" she said, laughing softly through tears.
"You don't get to vanish right after marrying me…"
"I'll make it up to you. Every moment we lost, I'll reclaim."
"Watch the stars for me. I'll be beneath the same sky, finding my way back."
She closed her eyes, her soul anchored to his.
"I'll wait. Even if it takes a thousand lifetimes."
A final warmth passed through her — like his hand brushing her cheek.
And then silence.
But her tears had stopped.
Because now, every heartbeat carried his name.
And no matter how far the distance —
she believed.