Time fractured.
Not metaphorically—literally.
The Cradle of Rivan exploded into fragments of memory, and Akuzai was flung into a dimension made of knowledge too heavy for the mind. The Forbidden Library—a place sealed even from the gods. Here, time's every unwritten law and hidden history was stored, watched over by shadows that remembered too much.
He was alone.
No Abhishek. No Aditya. No Rivan.
Only books… and whispers.
"Welcome," said a voice from behind. It was the Chronomancer—not his physical form, but an echo of his consciousness, drifting through the Library like a curator.
"You wanted to know the truth," the echo said. "So here it is."
Pages flew open on their own. Volumes cracked themselves apart, revealing glowing threads of fate.
Akuzai watched visions swirl around him:
The first seed of time being planted—not by a god, but by a human who wanted to protect his dying daughter.
The creation of the five original blades—not forged to fight evil, but to divide time itself, so that grief could be hidden in separate timelines.
The Chronomancer, once a scholar named Eorath, using forbidden knowledge to try and pause death.
"Your ancestors called me mad," the echo said. "But I didn't seek power. I sought peace. The problem was—peace required sacrifice."
"You became the problem," Akuzai said coldly.
"And yet here we are," the Chronomancer replied. "Everything you've done, every fight you've survived—it brought you closer to me."
Akuzai stared as one final book floated down.
It was blank.
On the cover: The Final Rewrite.
"What is this?" he asked.
"That," said the echo, "is what I cannot write. Only you can."
The Chronomancer stepped forward, now as real as ever. "Strike me down, and you take the throne. Let me win, and the world becomes still. But write your own path—and the universe changes forever."
Akuzai hesitated.
And then…
He closed the book.
"I won't write a perfect world," he said. "I'll live in an imperfect one."
The Library convulsed. The echo screamed.
And Akuzai woke—back in the Cradle, where the Chronomancer now looked at him with something new.
Fear.
"You saw it," the Ascended muttered. "You saw the truth. And you still chose pain?"
Akuzai stood, sword in hand, soul on fire.
"I chose freedom."
And the final battle began.