Kaiya's eyes locked with Dylan's, a hundred questions crashing into her all at once.
"What do you mean, you opened the next gate?" she demanded.
Dylan tilted his head, smirking. "Project Lux wasn't about fixing time. It was about replacing it."
Around them, the corrupted students began to move in sync, like puppets on invisible strings. Their eyes glowed gold—emotionless, empty, mechanical.
Liam pulled Kaiya back. "We need to leave. Now."
But Dylan raised his hand, and the school gates behind them slammed shut with a loud clang. A golden force field shimmered to life, sealing them in.
Kaiya's watch buzzed again.
> Incoming anomaly: TimeCode X77 - Hostile Rewrite detected.
"Guys…" Adrien muttered, gripping his sword tighter. "They're not just being controlled. Their timelines have been hacked."
A corrupted student lunged at them. Then another. And another.
Liam grabbed a metal pipe from the ruined cafeteria table. "We're fighting our classmates now? This just gets better."
The trio fought their way through the chaos—Kaiya dodging, Adrien slicing with precision, Liam smashing anything that moved—but they were outnumbered.
And Dylan? He just watched, like a director enjoying his twisted film.
"You still don't get it," he said, stepping forward. "Time doesn't want balance. It wants power. And Project Lux gives it that."
Kaiya shouted over the noise, "Then what's Lux's next phase?"
Dylan smirked and raised his hand.
The ground trembled.
In the center of the school courtyard, a golden spire burst through the pavement—glass, wires, and gears spiraling around it like veins. From the top, a pulsating orb flickered.
> LUX NODE 1 ONLINE.
From it emerged versions of Kaiya, Liam, and Adrien—older, twisted, upgraded. Clones from corrupted timelines. Stronger. Faster. Crueler.
Kaiya stared in horror. "No. No no no—"
"Meet your replacements," Dylan whispered.
Then everything turned gold.