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Iris's Chapter — Ambition Laced with Peril
The blood Iris had witnessed in the recent battles still clung to her eyes.
Her brother, Ethan, had become a monster walking the earth. Every strike he threw was enough to shatter mountains; every step he took made the world tremble beneath him.
And she…? Nothing more than a shadow hiding behind his back.
That sense of shame never left her—especially after she had faced the power of time itself. In that moment, when everything around her came to a halt, she had been nothing but a helpless doll, imprisoned within the instant, unable even to think of resistance.
That helplessness… was an unforgivable disgrace.
And within her heart, a reckless decision was born:
> "I won't remain like this… even if the price is my life."
She asked no one for permission. She told neither the shelter's commander nor her brother.
At night, while everyone was catching their breath after a blood-soaked day, she stood before the small mirror in her room. Her reflection no longer looked like a girl's face, but like that of a soldier marching toward death.
She took her weapon, put on her cloak, and left in silence.
Every step away from the shelter made her heart heavier… yet she did not stop.
The road was desolate, but it was no harsher than the struggle tearing at her from within.
She was not heading out on a "mission," as anyone might assume—there was no one guiding her.
She was merely following a call rising from deep inside her, a call that whispered:
> "If you want power… you must tear it from the very heart of hell."
And so she reached her destination: one of the strongholds of the Time King Organization.
A place where even thinking of approaching was forbidden.
Dark gates, towering walls as though they were a barrier between the living and the dead, and guards filling the grounds as if they had been waiting for her arrival all along.
Iris did not tremble.
She did not retreat.
Instead, she felt something else… something frightening yet obscure: exhilaration.
> "Ethan… this time, I won't be behind you."
With calm steps, as though walking into her own grave by choice, she vanished into the organization's shadows.
End of the chapter.
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