The Clockbound cult finally reveals itself. Wearing armor stitched from clock parts and speaking in synchronized chants, they unleash a temporal weapon known as the Hourmaw — a massive living vortex of broken seconds and looping deaths. Wherever it passes, time glitches, people age in minutes, children forget their parents, and cities flicker into ruins. Entire districts of Terra vanish, becoming unstable echoes of what once was.
Kaien, Shiran, and a small squad of Riftguard survivors travel to uncover the source. Guided by visions and Zaiya's hidden archives, they learn of the Cradle Engines — ancient stabilizers that once helped keep the Chrono Nexus balanced. Each Engine lies buried in a temporal disaster zone, where reality itself breaks down.
To activate them, Kaien and his team must journey into fractured zones: the Frozen Sunlight, where night and day happen simultaneously; the Echo Marsh, a foggy land where every word spoken repeats forever; and the Mirror Bastion, a fortress full of shifting versions of themselves — all hostile.
With each Engine restored, VyrnSpark absorbs more Rift energy, beginning to change. Kaien starts seeing glimpses of a figure in the mist — Benizame's final memory, frozen inside the Nexus, calling out to him. Shiran fears that restoring the Nexus may not save the world — but only make Kaien its next prisoner.
And behind every move, Revontis, leader of the Clockbound, watches — ready to sacrifice time itself to bring the Spiral into reality again.