The air around them vibrated with power, thick with the weight of fate. Aiko stood firm, her breath steady despite the storm of emotions raging inside her. Ryou was beside her, his grip on her hand unwavering. For the first time, they stood together, seeing the same enemy, sharing the same truth.
Her ancestor—the one who had cursed them, the one who had torn the Ninth Tail apart—watched them with something close to curiosity. "You truly believe you can undo what has been bound by time itself?" they asked, their voice like wind through brittle leaves.
Aiko's jaw tightened. "I don't believe. I know."
Her ancestor's expression remained unreadable. "Then prove it."
The ground beneath them trembled as the air twisted, folding in on itself like reality was unraveling. The ruins of the shrine flickered, shifting between past and present, whole and broken. Shadows surged from the cracks in the earth, forming into figures—echoes of the past lives Aiko and Ryou had lived and lost.
Aiko's breath caught as she saw them—versions of herself and Ryou from ages long gone. Some barely out of childhood, some hardened by war, all reaching for each other, only to be torn apart by unseen forces.
Ryou tensed beside her, his free hand going to his sword. "This isn't real."
"No," Aiko murmured, watching as one version of herself fell to her knees, reaching out to a dying Ryou. Her heart clenched. "But it was."
Her ancestor lifted a hand, and the visions swirled into a whirlwind of agony and longing. "This is the fate that has been woven into the fabric of existence. Each time you find one another, you are torn apart. Over and over. And yet you still reach for him. Why?"
Aiko lifted her chin, her voice steady. "Because love isn't something you control."
The ancestor studied her for a long moment, then turned to Ryou. "And you? Do you accept this fate? To always find her, only to lose her?"
Ryou's grip on his sword tightened. "No. I never accepted it. I never will."
A shift in the air—subtle, but undeniable. The cycle trembled at his defiance.
Aiko's heart pounded. This is it.
She turned back to her ancestor. "You say this was done for balance. That the Ninth Tail was too powerful to remain whole. But tell me—how is this balance, when all it has brought is pain?" Her voice rose, fueled by the power stirring inside her. "This isn't balance. This is a prison. And I will not be caged any longer!"
A crack split the sky above them, light flooding through the storm of shadows. The echoes of their past selves wavered, their sorrow shifting into something new—hope.
Her ancestor's expression flickered, something unreadable crossing their face. Regret? Uncertainty? It didn't matter.
The bond between Aiko and Ryou pulsed, stronger than ever, their combined power rising like a tide that could no longer be held back.
Aiko took a step forward. "This cycle ends now."
With a roar, the energy between them exploded, colliding with the force that had bound them for centuries. The world trembled as the past and present collided.
And then—
Everything broke.