Their duel raged across broken time.
Every clash of blade and memory pulled pieces of Kael's past into reality:
Him, training under Astra in simulation rings.
Her voice, calm and precise. "Don't just fight. Adapt faster."
The silence when she vanished in the first Collapse.
Now, she was here. But twisted.
"You don't even remember how we died, do you?" she hissed.
Kael's blade wavered. "I remember what matters now."
She laughed—a sound like shattering glass. "You don't get to decide what matters."
Suddenly, her blade stabbed deep into the floor—activating something.
[Time Fragment Unsealed – Memento Chamber Accessed]
[Mem-Log (Command Class): PLAYING]
A holographic recording appeared between them. Astra, alive. Kael, still fully human. And an Ashveil scientist whispering:
"We had to erase them. Their minds were syncing too fast. The Nexus was adapting to them—not the other way around."
Astra looked at Kael.
"We weren't erased to protect humanity," she said coldly. "We were erased because we outgrew our gods."