The underground cavern breathed like a slumbering giant—its stale air drifting through the broken shacks, carrying the scent of rust, earth, and something faintly metallic. In this place, sunlight never touched; the only light came from flickering bulbs strung along low ceilings, trembling as though they feared their own dim glow.
Asol sat beside the old man outside his shack, both of them watching the children play.
To him, it felt strange. Surreal, even. These children—thin, ragged, barefoot—played tag between piles of scrap metal. Their laughter echoed faintly through the damp tunnels alongside the sounds of the miners mining for Adamantium. For a moment, Asol wondered how they could possibly smile in a place like this. How they could find joy when the world around them was built of sorrow.
His gaze drifted to one of them, the girl with crimson eyes. She laughed without sound as she darted through the group with a surprising grace, her torn uniform fluttering behind her. Even without a voice, she seemed to speak effortlessly with the others. When her fingertips brushed a boy's shoulder, he burst into a quiet giggle and chased her. She smiled then small, but unmistakably real.
Asol exhaled through his nose, stunned.
"She seems… different here," he murmured. "Like all that fear she carried before when I first encountered her is now gone."
"She was born among terrors," the old man said, "but even terrors cannot bind a child's heart forever. Not if she finds something else to live for."
A moment passed as Asol swallowed.
"Old man… does she have a name?"
The man's lips twitched, as though he had been waiting for that question.
"Kurogane," he said softly, "her name is Kurogane."
"Kurogane…" Asol repeated, glancing toward her.
"It is a rare name. One I have only heard twice in my life."
The old man tilted his head. "She carries it well."
Asol crossed his arms slowly. "You said she broke the temporal loop I was in. How… did you even know I was trapped?"
The old man chuckled—a dry, brittle sound.
"Her. She knew."
He nodded his chin toward the girl. Kurogane was tracing her finger through the air. A thin line of shimmering distortion followed it—like a tear in invisible fabric. Then the tear stitched itself back together.
Asol blinked. "She's… cutting space?"
The old man nodded.
"Her power is the manipulation of boundaries. To move through space not by travel, but by refusing to acknowledge the distance. To step outside the rules that confine the rest of us. That is most likely how she disappears all of a sudden when it came to you."
"You're saying she cut into the loop? Just like that?"
"A temporal loop is still bound to space," the man replied, "she severed the walls around it. A child with powers even heroes fear."
Asol swallowed again, unsure whether awe or fear filled him more. Before he could say anything else, Kurogane turned. Her red eyes met his. A faint light reflected off them—as though she held a flame inside her irises. The other children paused as she waved goodbye to them. They waved back, then scampered off into the maze of shacks.
The old man rose slowly, his joints cracking like old timber.
"She wants to speak with you," he said. "Alone."
He shuffled away, leaning on a crooked cane. Asol watched him go, then glanced at Kurogane again and approached her. He stood in front of her as her chin lifted slightly. Asol cleared his throat.
"Uh… hey."
A small nod.
"You… saved me earlier," he said. "If you didn't break the loop, I… I'd probably still be repeating the same day forever."
He scratched his cheek awkwardly.
"So… thank you."
Kurogane blinked.
'I did what I had to,' her voice echoed in his mind.
It wasn't cold, but it was dismissive. As if gratitude was irrelevant. Asol rubbed the back of his neck, wincing.
"Still. I'm grateful."
No response. He sighed.
"How are you doing? Are you… okay?"
Again, her head tilted, expression flat.
'I am fine. You do not need to worry about me.'
Her mental voice was sharper this time. Asol frowned.
"Why do you talk like that? Don't you want people caring about you?"
'I come from a place where such things were unnecessary.'
A place?
Asol leaned forward, interest sharpening.
"What place? Where?"
She turned her head slightly.
'I will not tell you.'
"Oh, come on—why not?"
'Because it is not necessary.'
"Not necessary my ass," Asol muttered. "You can't just drop a mystery like that."
She stared at him. He stared back.
Asol's prosthetic hand moved and he poked her lightly in the side. She stiffened and glared at him. He poked her again. Her eyes sparked.
Poke.
"Kuroga—"
Poke.
'Stop that.'
"Then tell me."
'No.'
Poke.
'…Enough.'
Poke.
Her aura flickered.
'FINE!'
The caverns groaned as the stone beside them cracked under pressure from her flare of spatial distortion causing Asol to jolt. She inhaled sharply and lowered her gaze.
'…I will tell you. But do not laugh.'
"I won't," Asol said, suddenly serious.
A long silence.
'I was not born,' she said, 'I was made.'
Asol felt his stomach drop. Her mental voice continued.
'I awoke inside a glass cylinder, submerged in a liquid that stung my skin. Tubes pierced my body. I could see only shapes through the glass. White cloaks. Masks. Machines humming.'
She sat on a nearby stone and hugged her arms around herself.
'I could hear them. Their voices. Their thoughts. All of them. Their intentions… felt like knives.'
Asol's jaw clenched.
'They ran tests on me. Day after day. They made me do things I did not want to do. I asked why I existed. I asked what I was.'
She paused.
'And then… when I questioned too much… my voice was taken.'
Asol stared, horrified.
"Taken. You've said that many times."
'It was a punishment. A warning. A proof that I was a thing—not a person. A weapon'
Her breath trembled.
'One night, alarms screamed. Red lights flashed. Something was fighting outside my room. It felt like earthquakes. The floor shook and the smell of fire filled the air.'
Her crimson eyes dimmed.
'The door melted open. A boy stood there. His body covered in flames. But… he carried a second presence in him. Another soul—cold as ice, buried deep in darkness.'
Asol's heart skipped.
Kazuma?
Her voice softened.
'He grabbed me and carried me through collapsing halls. He said he was like me. He freed me. And then… he left me here. He never came back.'
Asol placed a hand over his mouth.
Kazuma. It had to be Kazuma.
Two souls. Fire and Ice.
"Kurogane…" he said softly. "I… think I know who he is."
She looked up sharply.
'Really? Can I meet him?' she asked, her mental voice trembling with something fragile. 'I never thanked him.'
Asol nodded slowly.
"I'll make sure you do."
He meant it. But deep inside, something twisted.
If Kazuma truly saved her… then his involvement in this underground world ran deeper than Asol could imagine. Did Kazuma know what was happening down here? Was their entire reality built on top of these buried lives?
Asol's thoughts spiraled until a sudden voice echoed through the cavern.
"Yo!"
It was cocky, sharp, and unmistakable.
A streak of blinding blue lightning split the earth as something ripped past them, wind spiraling violently. Asol barely had time to react before the thunderclap hit him like a shockwave, slamming him backward.
"Kurogane!"
He lunged to catch her but another force moved faster. A flash of blue lightning seized the girl by her collar and whisked her several meters away in the blink of an eye as dust exploded in their wake. Asol crashed into the dirt, breath knocked out of him. His vision blurred as he forced himself to his feet.
A figure stood in the distance, lightning swirling around him like a storm given human shape. He held Kurogane in one hand, dangling her effortlessly. A cocky grin stretched across his face.
"Long time no see, Saviour Slayer."
Blue sparks crawled along his boots as he tilted his head at Asol.
"Blink and you'll miss me!"
Asol's heart pounded. Not from fear, but from pure rage. He wiped the blood from his lip and glared at the hero holding the terrified girl.
"The Fastest Hero," His voice came out low, "Blue Volt."
He was exactly as Asol remembered him from the plaza—and yet utterly wrong in this place. His presence felt like a joke told at a funeral. The Fastest Hero held Kurogane by the collar of her uniform, one arm casually hooked under her weight as if she were no more than a bag of groceries. She didn't struggle. Her legs hung limp, black hair veiling her face. Only her crimson eyes stayed sharp, narrowed up at him.
Blue Volt beamed down at her.
"Found you~."
His voice echoed against the rusted walls, too bright for the stale, rotten air of the underground.
"Gotta say," he went on, glancing at Asol over his shoulder, "I wasn't expecting to see you down here too, Savior Slayer."
Asol's jaw tightened.
"…Put her down."
Blue Volt tilted his head, as if genuinely surprised.
"Wow. Straight to business. No 'what are you doing here' or 'how did you find us?' You're getting fun, Asol Ansaldo!"
The miners in the distance had gone silent. Their specialized pickaxes, the short grunts of effort, the quiet sobbing—it all stopped. Hundreds of eyes watched from the shadows; gaunt faces turned toward the intruder in blue. Some recognized him. Asol saw it in the twitch of their mouths, the bitter twist in their eyes.
Hope on the surface.
Nightmare down here.
"Blue Volt."
The old man's voice came from behind Asol, low and brittle but clear.
"This place isn't for you heroes to stain further with your presence."
Blue Volt's gaze flicked lazily to the shack, eyes half-lidded in amusement.
"Oh? Grandpas bold. Cute."
His grip on Kurogane's collar remained firm. She didn't flinch, even as the fabric dug into her throat. Her crimson gaze flicked from Asol to the old man, then back.
'Don't move,' her voice brushed the inside of Asol's mind thin as a whisper, but steady.
He gritted his teeth.
I'm not just going to stand here!
"Let her go..."
Asol repeated, stepping forward. His prosthetic fist flexed, metal groaning. Aura stirred inside him, a dull heat rising along his spine.
Blue Volt wrinkled his nose.
"You're acting like she's yours. Hate to break it to you, but she's a weapon, not a pet. Providence gave clear orders."
He lifted Kurogane slightly, studying her like a specimen.
"This one broke the loop. That's a big no-no. You know how hard it is to keep the timeline clean?"
He flashed Asol a bright grin that didn't reach his eyes.
"Honestly, I should thank you. If she hadn't cut you out of the cycle, we might never have noticed how fun you really are."
The old man's face darkened.
"You speak as if time is a toy for your god."
Blue Volt laughed.
"No. But it is for me!"
Asol took another step.
"What's Providence planning? How many loops did he run? How many times did he reset me?"
Blue Volt shrugged with exaggerated carelessness.
"Who knows? Time is infinite. I just run where he points."
His gaze sharpened, predator slipping through the cracks of performer.
"But I do know this: you're not supposed to be here. And she—"
He jostled Kurogane lightly.
"—isn't supposed to exist outside his control."
Then something snapped in Asol. He lunged. In the same instant, Blue Volt vanished.
The world blurred. Asol's fist closed on empty air. A crack of displaced wind slammed into his side as a sonic wave chased Blue Volt's motion. Pain flared along his ribs; he skidded backward, boots grinding against concrete, metal whining. He barely managed to plant his prosthetic into the ground to stop his slide. Dust clouded the air.
Fast…!
His mind raced, trying to track what his eyes couldn't follow. All he caught were afterimages of blue arcs and the faint smell of ozone. Kurogane's form flickered in and out of his peripheral vision as Blue Volt whisked her from one spot to another, taunting him.
"You kept up better on the surface," Blue Volt mused, voice echoing. "Still dizzy from the loops?"
The headaches…
Except—as Blue Volt said it, Asol realized something.
There wasn't a headache.
His skull wasn't splitting. His vision wasn't fracturing. The familiar pounding that had haunted him every time he "woke up" was gone. The air hurt, but in a normal way—lungs burning, muscles straining, Aura flaring. Not the warped compression of his mind being rewound. It also confirmed this was not the first time he's fought him.
Kurogane really cut me out!
His teeth bared.
Good. Because that means all of this is real.
Blue Volt reappeared a few meters away, still holding Kurogane by the collar. He had lured Asol atop a broken scaffold overlooking the cavern, as if he'd chosen a stage.
"Gotta admit," he said, "I was curious what you'd do when you saw the truth. Cry? Break? Beg? But nope—you're still trying to throw punches just like the other times."
He smirked.
"Ya know, Providence was right. You're… entertaining."
Asol's Aura surged in his chest, hot and furious.
"I'm not your entertainment."
"Everyone is."
Blue Volt's eyes glittered with something dangerous—too sharp to be actual joy.
"That's what you surface-dwellers never understood. Heroes, idols, soldiers—everyone plays to a crowd. You just finally walked backstage."
He raised free fingers, snapping once. The sound cracked like a gunshot in the cavern air.
In response, several heroes Asol hadn't sensed appeared on the ledges above—Dark silhouettes, armor glinting faintly in the lamplight. They weren't the grand names from the tournament, but they wore the same emblems. Their helmets hid their faces.
Miners shrank back into the shadows, fear ripping through them like a silent wind.
"We've been told to clean house," Blue Volt said. "The loop's broken in this branch, so… we wipe. New branch."
Asol's eyes widened.
"Wipe…?"
Kurogane twisted in his grip for the first time, panic flashing across her face. Her crimson eyes burned.
'Don't let him speak again,' her voice flickered in Asol's mind. 'If he gives the order—'
Right!
Asol moved before he finished thinking. Aura roared along his arm, flooding the Adamantium arm. The air warped around his fist, space thickening, heat searing through the metal.
As he pushed off the ground, the world snapped into sharp focus. The first time he'd used [Shattered Legacy] at its fullest against the Leader, it had almost killed him. But now, the power in his prosthetic arm felt different but more contained. Like the cracks in his Aura had knitted just enough to hold a shard of that destructive force. Just like when he took out that Kaiju before arriving on Aegis Prime.
His fist cut through the air toward Blue Volt and hit something else. Blue Volt vanished an instant before impact, causing Asol's fist slamming into the scaffold itself.
The world screamed. Concrete shattered. Metal beams twisted like paper. The shockwave blasted outward, splitting the platform apart in a violent ripple. Heroes above shouted, recoiling as dust and debris exploded upward in a geyser. Blue Volt appeared on a different platform, still holding Kurogane.
He stared at the cracked, smoldering void where the scaffold had been.
"Ooh," he whistled. "Ya know, I still have your little friend in my hands."
Asol dropped to a knee as the recoil surged back through him. Pain shot up his arm, Aura crackling violently under his skin. The black fractures along his prosthetic wrist glowed, spiderwebbing further up his forearm.
Dang! I didn't think this output would still cause this much pain through the Adamantium!
He clenched his teeth, forcing breath through his lungs.
I can handle this. I have to.
He pushed himself up and saw Kurogane's eyes.
They weren't afraid. They were focused. Her gaze met his and space warped. The air around Blue Volt bent like glass under pressure. Lines—thin, sharp, almost invisible—etched themselves into the world around them, like someone drawing on reality with a knife. Where those lines traced, the light itself seemed to split.
Blue Volt's smile faltered.
"Whoa, whoa—easy there."
Kurogane's small hand had clamped around his wrist. Her fingers dug into his jacket—not in fear, but with will. A shimmering distortion rippled out from her palm.
'Asol,' her voice rang through his head, clearer now, sharp as a bell.
'Catch.'
She twisted. There was no sound. No flash. Just a sudden, impossible cut.
Blue Volt's arm separated from the world—no blood, no gore. One moment Kurogane was in his grasp, the next, the space between them had been sliced, severing contact. The hero stumbled backward, his hand jerking as if something had just slipped through it like water.
Kurogane dropped.
Asol moved, instincts screaming. He sprinted, ignoring the pain in his arm just enough to propel his legs faster. The distance between them vanished in a heartbeat. He caught her before she hit the broken ground, the weight of her small frame colliding into his chest.
He skidded to a rough stop, boots dragging trenches into dust.
"You okay?"
He asked, breath ragged.
She nodded against him, arms trembling as she held onto his shirt. Her face was pale, sweat beading along her hairline. Using that power had cost her. He could feel the shake in her Aura—like a candle flickering in a hurricane.
The Heroes above shouted, their voices sharp and distorted by distance. Blue Volt stared at his empty hand, then at Kurogane in Asol's grasp. His grin slowly returned, but it didn't feel as clean as before. There was a crack in it now.
"She severed the space between my hand and herself?"
He whistled low.
"Yeah. Providence definitely wants you back."
Asol shifted Kurogane behind him.
"She doesn't belong to you. And neither do they!"
He jerked his chin toward the miners watching in frozen terror. Blue Volt's gaze slid over the crowd. For a brief second, something unreadable flashed in his eyes. Then his shoulders relaxed.
"Relax. Mass wipes are above my pay grade."
His tone turned mocking.
"But Providence wasn't wrong about one thing."
He vanished.
Asol felt it this time—wind pressure, a faint electrostatic crawl along his skin. He moved on instinct, swinging his prosthetic in a wide arc. Blue Volt reappeared just long enough to tap the side of Asol's head with two fingers.
"—You really are special."
The world spun. Asol's Aura spasmed, his senses scrambling under a sudden surge of charged energy that wasn't his. It wasn't a full attack—more like someone jamming a fork into his nervous system for a second. He staggered.
Blue Volt stepped back, already at a safe distance, hands in his pockets as bolts of light danced lazily around his boots.
"I got what I needed."
Asol's vision wobbled.
"What… did you…?"
"Data," Blue Volt said cheerfully. "Don't worry, it only stings the first time."
He glanced up at the shadowed heroes still waiting on the ledges.
"Stand down. Orders changed. We're not wiping this branch."
The armors shifted, exchanging glances, but obeyed. One by one, they vanished into the shadows again, leaving the cavern humming with leftover fear. Blue Volt looked down at Asol and Kurogane.
"As for you two…"
His smile thinned, something sharp sliding in behind it.
"Providence wants to see how far you'll go when the loop doesn't reset. So do I."
Asol's grip tightened around Kurogane.
"You knew," he said, voice low. "You knew about the loop. About them. And you still smiled for the cameras."
"Of course I did."
Blue Volt's eyes glinted.
"That's what heroes do. We smile so the world doesn't ask what's behind us."
He turned, lightning already licking at his heels.
"I'll see you topside, Asol Ansaldo. Try not to die too quickly down here. The audience would be disappointed. But I do wonder. If you and I were to fight one on one in a serious battle, who would win? Me? Or you?"
And then he was gone just like that. There was no dramatic exit. No final explosion. Just a streak of blue lightning swallowed by the darkness of the tunnels, leaving behind the smell of ozone and the echo of his arrogance.
Silence crashed down.
Then the murmurs started.
"Did you see that?"
"He knows Providence…"
"A wipe… they were going to wipe us—"
Asol's knees threatened to buckle. His Adamantium arm throbbed with dull, violent pain. Even though it was a metal arm, it was part of his body and he could feel the pain as if his actual arm was still there. Kurogane shifted, pulling back just enough to look up at him. Her crimson eyes softened.
'You shouldn't have forced your power,' her voice whispered in his mind.
He managed a weak smile.
"I couldn't let him drag you away. The last time something like that happened, I failed."
Her lips then pressed together.
'I didn't save you so you could get yourself broken again.'
He blinked.
"…You remember that?"
'Of course.'
A faint hint of color touched her cheeks.
'I don't waste effort.'
Despite everything—the pain, the revelations, the looming shadow of Providence—Asol let out a short, breathless laugh.
"That hurt, you know."
She looked away.
'Good.'
Footsteps approached. The old man hobbled closer, leaning more heavily on his cane than before. His old eyes glimmered in the lamplight, studying the air where Blue Volt had disappeared.
"He spared them," he murmured. "For now."
Asol shifted Kurogane gently to her feet. She swayed, and he steadied her instinctively. The miners watched them with something new in their eyes—fear, yes. But also something else. Hope, maybe. Or the memory of it.
Asol swallowed.
"You said Providence wants to be God," he said, turning to the old man. "And Blue Volt said he wants to see how far I'll go without the loop. That means they're watching."
"Always."
The old man nodded.
"Even now, you may be within his gaze. But there is a difference, Asol Ansaldo."
His tone shifted—soft, yet firm.
"This time, your choices will not be erased. Every act you take from here will carve into their illusion like a scar."
Asol looked around at the cracked walls, the trembling children, the hollow faces clinging to the edges of the lamplight, and then towards Kurogane, standing with her small shoulders squared, eyes burning with defiance.
He thought of Aoi and her bright smile. The way it broke when he spoke about the underground. Kazuma, looking away when asked about Ultima. And Fujiwara, sleeping peacefully in a world that might already be under Providence's thumb.
"He wants to be God," Asol repeated quietly. His Aura pulsed, aching but alive.
"Fine."
He raised his Adamantium arm. The sigils glowed faintly, like coals waiting for air.
"Then I'll drag his world into the light he claims to protect."
There was no roar. No dramatic declaration. Just a simple statement that settled into the underground air and refused to move. Kurogane watched him, eyes unreadable.
'Liberator,' she whispered in his mind again.
This time, the word didn't feel like a curse or a prophecy. It felt like a weight he chose to carry. The old man inclined his head, as if satisfied.
"Then it is time you stopped walking alone."
He turned, gesturing deeper into the underground tunnels.
"There are others who resist. Scattered. Afraid. Hunted. They lack someone to stand at the front of their storm."
He chuckled softly, bitterly.
"Fitting, is it not? That a boy who survived the end of one world would be asked to begin the end of another's illusion."
Asol glanced at Kurogane. She met his eyes, unwavering.
'I will guide you through the paths they cannot see,' she said. 'Through the gaps in space even Providence has not learned to touch.'
He let out a slow breath.
"All right," he said. "I'll see this world's ugliness. Every last part of it. And then…"
His eyes lifted, as if he could see through the rock, through the city, all the way to the shining dome and the smiling faces above.
"…I'll decide whether it deserves to be saved."
The lamp between them flickered. For a brief moment, the light bent—just slightly—around Asol's silhouette, as if the world itself was learning a new shape.
Far above, Aegis Prime glittered on in ignorance, its festival of light still blazing against the night And somewhere in that brilliance, a man who called himself Providence smiled, feeling the first real change in his carefully looped world.
A deviation.
A crack.
A choice that did not belong to him.