Kael did not sleep.
He sat cross-legged on the cold floor, the black token resting in his palm. Even without activating it, the metal felt alive—breathing faintly, resonating with the devil sigil embedded in his soul.
"You're not the only one who came back."
The woman's words echoed again and again in his mind.
Kael closed his fingers around the token.
"So the timeline is already contaminated," he murmured.
That was dangerous.
Rebirth was not meant to be shared.
He had assumed the world would move exactly as he remembered—predictable, controllable, obedient to his memory. But if others had returned… then the future was no longer a straight path.
It was a battlefield.
Kael exhaled slowly and pushed the thought aside. Panic was useless. Adaptation was everything.
He stood.
The moment his feet touched the ground, the devil sigil pulsed sharply—warning, not hunger.
Someone had entered the outer grounds.
Not hiding.
Not rushing.
Walking openly.
Kael frowned.
That alone was abnormal.
He stepped outside.
The night was quiet, the moon hanging low and pale. At the far end of the path, a lone figure approached, hands behind his back, posture relaxed as if strolling through his own home.
A young man.
About Kael's current age.
Clean robes. Calm eyes. Cultivation deliberately restrained to a moderate level—strong enough to command respect, weak enough not to provoke suspicion.
But Kael felt it immediately.
This man was lying.
Not with words.
With existence.
"You shouldn't be here," Kael said calmly.
The young man stopped a few steps away and smiled.
"I was hoping you'd say that," he replied.
His voice was gentle. Familiar.
Too familiar.
Kael's eyes narrowed. He searched his memories—past life, future timelines, hidden figures.
Then it hit him.
Hard.
"…You," Kael said quietly.
The smile widened.
"So you do remember," the man said with clear satisfaction. "Good. That saves time."
Kael's heartbeat slowed instead of speeding up.
In his previous life, this man had not existed until much later—long after Kael's fall. A nameless genius who rose from nowhere, rallying sects, uniting factions, and eventually being praised as a savior of the era.
The one who cleaned up the ruins Kael left behind.
The hero.
"You were supposed to awaken ten years from now," Kael said.
The young man tilted his head. "And you were supposed to be dead."
Silence stretched between them.
The night air thickened.
"You came back," Kael said. "Just like me."
The man did not deny it.
"Not exactly like you," he replied softly. "You returned with hatred. I returned with responsibility."
Kael laughed.
It was quiet.
Sharp.
"Responsibility?" he repeated. "Is that what you call standing on a mountain of corpses someone else created?"
The man's smile faltered for the first time.
"Someone had to stop you," he said.
Kael stepped forward.
The devil sigil reacted violently, pressure bleeding into the air like an invisible tide. The ground beneath Kael's feet cracked.
Fear stirred.
But not in the man.
Instead, something else surfaced—resistance.
Golden light flickered briefly behind the man's eyes.
"So it's true," the man said softly. "The devil foundation has awakened early."
Kael stopped.
Golden light.
That light did not belong to this era.
"You also shouldn't have that," Kael said.
The man chuckled. "Seems we've both stolen things from the future."
They stood facing each other now—devil and hero, reborn too early, standing on the wrong square of fate.
"You'll destroy everything again," the man said quietly.
Kael met his gaze without blinking.
"No," Kael replied. "This time, I'll destroy only what deserves it."
The man's expression hardened.
"Then I can't let you grow."
The golden light flared.
At the same moment, the devil sigil burned like fire.
The night split between black and gold.
Far above them, unseen clouds churned violently, thunder rumbling without lightning—as if heaven itself had sensed an impossible contradiction.
Two existences that should never have met.
Two futures colliding.
Kael smiled slowly.
"Then try," he said.
And for the first time since his rebirth—
he felt something close to excitement.