Rex turned back to the convulsing Theo, who was weeping in agony as he felt his mother's horror through their psychic connection.
"See that?" Rex asked, tilting his head as he watched the city descend into panic. "That's the sound of your world breaking."
"You wanted to be a god of time, Theo."
"Now, you're just the monster that time will forget."
Rex's fingers tightened around Theo's magical core. The clash wasn't physical anymore; it was a war of narrative and soul.
Rex was rewriting Theo's history in real time, using the very magic Theo had used to try and kill him.
"Now," Rex said, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper as he prepared to unleash the final blow of manipulation. "Let's see how much more you can take before you beg me to kill you."
High above the dimensional veil, in a realm where time flowed like molten gold, Kaeleth watched the unfolding catastrophe with a cold, detached fury.
