The seal screamed as it fractured.
Cracks of blinding light and leaking darkness tore across the transparent prison like shattered glass struggling to hold a star.
Outside—
Alexander and the others were still striking it with everything they had.
Each hit sent thunder across the sky.
Each blow echoed inside Eve's soul.
And then—
she heard it.
"EVE!!!"
Alexander's voice ripped through the void.
"DON'T GIVE UP!"
Seraphina's cry followed.
"WE'RE HERE!"
Don's roar.
"YOU'RE NOT ALONE!"
Vincent.
Dr. Jin.
So many voices.
So many people.
Fighting for hope.
The darkness around Eve rippled violently.
She lifted her head, tears pouring freely.
"Those crazy idiots… but they're the kind of crazy idiots that give me hope…"
Light flickered in the void for the first time.
A distant glow like cracks in night.
Eve stumbled toward it.
"I need to leave," she whispered.
The darkness surged.
Dark Eve appeared in front of her like a blade drawn from shadow.
Her eyes glowed.
Her sword of black light formed instantly in her hand.
"How long will you keep running?" Dark Eve asked calmly.
Eve's breath shook.
"I need to leave."
Dark Eve raised the sword and slowly pointed it at Eve's throat.
"Leave?"
Her smile was cold.
"You'll find no refuge among the stars."
The void twisted.
The light flickered weaker.
"Time is unyielding," Dark Eve continued, stepping closer,
"as the turmoil of fate and destiny."
Eve clenched her fists.
"I'm not like you."
Dark Eve laughed softly.
"No."
"You are me."
"And I'm you."
"A mirror image."
The darkness reflected Eve's face — twisted, broken, furious.
"Our fate and destiny cannot be changed."
Eve screamed, tears streaming.
"I'M NOT YOU!"
Dark Eve's eyes sharpened.
"Eternal death is our redemption."
"And so is the world itself."
Her blade glowed brighter.
"You who reject the fate of destiny and time…"
She pointed the sword straight at Eve's heart.
"…deserve death."
Eve barely rolled aside.
The sword carved through the void and split it open like a rift.
The blast hurled her across the darkness.
She slammed into nothingness and rolled painfully.
Dark Eve appeared above her.
Sword slashed downward.
Eve formed a barrier at the last second but It shattered.
"You can't beat me," Dark Eve said calmly.
"I know every move you'll make."
Eve forced herself up.
"I can still try!"
She lunged wildly.
Dark Eve dodged effortlessly.
Spells of darkness chained Eve's legs and exploded at her feet causing her to be push her backward again.
"You hesitate," Dark Eve said.
"You hope."
"You love."
She slammed Eve with a wave of shadow.
"That makes you weak."
Dark Eve approached slowly.
"Give up."
"You were born for damnation."
Eve heard Alexander again.
"EVE HOLD ON!"
The glow outside grew brighter.
The seal cracked louder.
Eve clenched her fists, shaking.
"I wasn't born to end the world…"
She struggled to stand.
"I was born to live in it."
Dark Eve sneered.
"Then die for it."
She rushed again.
Sword flashing like lightning.
Eve barely blocked.
Their blades clashed — light against darkness.
Dark Eve overwhelmed her.
Strike after strike.
Eve was pushed back constantly.
Breathing hard.
But still standing.
And through every blow—
she heard them.
Fighting.
Believing in hope.
And Eve realized something:
Dark Eve is stronger and faster than her.
But she was alone.
Eve wasn't.
The rage on Eve's face as she screamed—
"I'M NOT DESTINY'S SLAVE!!!"
She charged again.
Dark Eve lifted her sword and drove it into the darkness beneath her feet.
From every direction — above, below, behind — a gigantic wave of blackness rose like an ocean swallowing the sky.
A tidal wall of screaming darkness, filled with distorted faces, broken worlds, and endless echoes of suffering.
Dark Eve's voice boomed through it.
"You have nowhere to run."
The wave collapsed inward.
It crashed over Eve.
The darkness wrapped around Eve like the deep sea swallowing a sinking body.
Pressure crushed her chest.
Her limbs went numb.
Her mouth opened in a silent scream as the void filled her lungs.
She tried to swim and tried to reach the light in front of her only to succumb endlessness falling into the darkness.
The deeper she sank, the heavier it became.
Her heartbeat slowed, her vision blurred, the sounds of battle outside faded, Alexander's voice disappeared and only darkness remained.
Eve's body drifted helplessly.
Her eyes fluttered.
Her strength vanished.
And then—
the darkness opened.
Eve stood in a ruined world.
Red skies, burning cities, mountains of corpses stretching beyond the horizon, blood rivers flowed like oceans, and the smell of death was everywhere.
She saw Dark Eve — younger, broken, kneeling among bodies.
Friends.
Family.
All dead.
One by one Eve watched memories unfold:
Battles that never ended, Entire realms burned, Allies screaming as they died in her arms
She saw Dark Eve fighting endlessly.
Bleeding endlessly.
Winning — but losing everything.
Days with no sun.
Nights with no stars.
Just war and Loneliness.
Dark Eve standing alone among the dead every time.
Forever surviving.
Forever alone.
The darkness cracked.
Light poured in.
Eve suddenly stood in warmth.
She saw herself younger, running with Adam.
Him tripping and falling dramatically just to make her laugh.
She saw Lilith chasing them both, pretending to be a monster.
Their father lifting them up, spinning them until they screamed with joy.
Family dinners, late night talks with friends, training with allies.
Eve first time meeting Alexander and fighting him.
Seraphina laughing uncontrollably at bad jokes.
Moments where life felt worth fighting for.
Tears streamed down Eve's face.
"I don't want a world without this…"
She looked back toward the blood-soaked timeline.
Toward Dark Eve standing alone.
And finally understood her.
"You weren't born a monster…"
"You were made one."
The two worlds hovered before her.
Endless suffering.
Or fragile happiness.
Pain or hope.
Rage or love.
Eve clenched her fists.
Even as consciousness faded.
Even as darkness pressed in again.
"I choose to live," she whispered.
"I choose them.... I'll choose... Hope"
The happy memories burned brighter.
Eve's body drifted downward in the black ocean, limbs weak, vision fading — the weight of despair pulling her deeper and deeper.
Her chest burned.
Her heart screamed.
But then—
her eyes snapped open.
The darkness resisted like thick water, dragging her down.
But she pushed harder as her arms cut through the sea of shadow and yet she swam upward anyway.
Toward the faint glow above.
And she spoke through the crushing dark.
"You are right…"
The sea trembled.
"You are me."
"And I'm you."
Dark Eve's silhouette loomed above like a god of the abyss.
"But…"
Eve's voice strengthened.
"You won't follow me into my future!!"
The words detonated.
Light erupted from Eve's body.
The sea of darkness exploded outward like shattered glass.
Shadow burned into radiant light.
Waves evaporated into glowing mist.
Dark Eve staggered back in shock.
"What?!"
Eve burst free from the abyss like a star being born.
Her body blazing in warm brilliance — not holy, not monstrous — just alive.
"I will blaze…" Eve newfound resolve, voice shaking with emotion.
"…A PATH OF MY OWN!!!"
The void shattered.
Dark Eve snarled and thrust both hands forward.
The remaining darkness surged together violently, forming into a colossal dragon of shadow.
Its eyes burned like dying suns.
Its roar shook eternity.
Dark Eve screamed:
"It is FUTILE!"
The shadow dragon lunged.
Mouth wide.
Claws ripping reality.
Eve didn't hesitate.
She screamed back and charged straight into it.
Light wrapped around her arms like living fire.
She swung.
One clean, desperate strike.
The dragon split in half.
Darkness unraveled into glowing rain.
Eve ran forward through falling shadow and light, straight past Dark Eve.
The Sea of Darkness collapsed into soft rainfall, pattering gently across the void like a storm washing away pain.
Silence followed as Dark Eve stood still.
She slowly exhaled with only exhaustion remaining.
"Go then…" she said quietly.
"Leave."
Dark Eve was already fading.
Her shadow dissolving into mist.
Before disappearing completely, she whispered one last word:
"…And don't look back."
Eve reached out.
"Thank you…"
But the darkness was gone.
Only rain remained.
Eve stood shaking in the gentle downpour, sobbing — not in despair this time, but in release.