"But why do I have to do this?"
Zycrist sighed. "Because only you can remove the corrupted parts of time."
Leo frowned. "I don't even understand what that means. How can I remove time?"
She looked at him. "It's not the time itself. When these disruptions happen, they leave behind something like… broken pieces. Fragments that don't belong anywhere. Normally, I can erase them and fix the flow, but there are too many now. I'm the only one left who still remembers how to do it."
Leo's expression hardened. "So you want me to help erase them?"
"Yes," Zycrist nodded. "Your ability — Void Reclaim — can absorb those broken fragments. It's not just for stealing power from enemies. It can take in any form of existence that's unstable… and remove it from reality."
Leo looked down at his hands. "But it doesn't even work anymore."
"I sealed it," Zycrist said bluntly. "If it was left active, it could destroy everything — even me. But now, I'll release a part of its seal. Enough for you to use it safely."
"Why not just give it to someone else?" Leo asked. "You have Aurelius, you have your guardians—"
"Aurelius?" Zycrist interrupted, her tone sharp. "He's a Khronokai — a guardian, not a weaver. He can protect this place, but he can't touch the flow of time. If he tries, even he would freeze or vanish. You, on the other hand, can interact with it… because your void ignores all rules."
Leo stayed quiet. He wasn't sure if that was a compliment or a warning.
Zycrist continued, "You won't be fixing time directly. You'll only remove what's broken. Once you clear those pieces, I'll repair the rest from here."
Leo asked, "And what happens if I mess up?"
Zycrist stared straight at him. "Then everything connected to that time — every person, every memory — will disappear. Including you."
There was silence. Even Aurelius, who had been quiet this whole time, looked at her with concern.
Leo exhaled slowly. "You're saying… I can erase parts of existence itself."
"Yes," Zycrist said.
As Zycrist finished speaking, Aurelius stepped forward, frustration burning in his voice.
"You can't be serious," he snapped. "He's human. A human can't handle that kind of power! You're asking him to rewrite what even we don't understand!"
Zycrist crossed her arms, unimpressed. "And yet, you've failed to fix it yourself."
"I'm not meant to fix time!" Aurelius shot back. "I'm a guardian — not a vessel for your experiments! And this boy, this kid, he's the one who killed the hero and refuses to take responsibility for the consequences!"
Their argument echoed through the endless white hall. The tension between them grew sharper with every word, but Leo didn't move. He just stood there, staring at the ground, lost in his own thoughts.
Why is it always me…?
Ever since he was reincarnated, he had never known peace — not once. He thought this world would give him a second chance, something better than the loneliness of his past life. But no. Every path he took led to another mess, another burden.
I just wanted a normal life…
He clenched his fists, then looked up. "Alright," he said quietly. "I'm ready."
Aurelius turned sharply. "Oh, shut up! You're not doing anything!"
Leo looked straight at him, his tone steady. "I'm not taking any responsibility — you heard me. I didn't ask for this, and I don't want it. I don't even know why everything keeps connecting to me."
He stepped forward, slowly closing the distance between them. "But if it is connected to me, then it's my problem to handle. I'll deal with it my way."
Aurelius froze for a second as Leo walked past him toward Zycrist. Just before reaching her, Leo turned back with a faint smirk. "Don't look at me like that. Even if I don't want to, I'm not letting this place fall apart."
Zycrist watched him, her golden eyes narrowing — not in anger, but approval.
"Then let's begin," she said.
Zycrist raised her clawed hand. Golden light rippled through the white space around them — slow, like liquid sunlight. The endless emptiness began to tremble, cracks forming across the air itself.
"Before we begin," she said, "you need to understand what you're about to see."
The floor beneath them shifted. The light dimmed, turning to deep blue. And in an instant, the empty white world turned into something else — a shattered reflection of reality.
Leo looked around. Fragments of lands floated in the air — broken pieces of cities, forests, and faces. Time itself seemed to bleed between them. In one shard, he saw Lia crying alone in the castle; in another, Lyra slowly fading away into light.
"What… is this place?" he whispered.
"This," Zycrist said, "is the fracture between timelines — the space where the temporal disruptions take form. Everything that ever was or could be exists here, trapped, looping endlessly. If left alone, it will consume every version of your world."
Leo swallowed, unable to look away.
"And we can fix it?"
Zycrist nodded once. "We can — but only through balance. You hold something that can erase distortions completely. That's why I sealed your Void Reclaim. If left unchecked, it can consume everything — including fate itself."
She turned toward him, her massive form casting a golden reflection across his eyes.
"But now, you'll need it."
Zycrist's tail curled through the air, drawing a glowing circle behind her. The energy surged, and a seal of black and gold appeared beneath Leo's feet.
"Wait—what's happening!?" Leo shouted.
"Unsealing protocol," Zycrist said. "I am restoring what was yours. The Void listens only to you."
The seal pulsed, and Leo's body began to glow faintly. Darkness leaked from his shadow — a strange, living smoke that wrapped around him like armor. The world's sound faded. He could hear only a heartbeat — his own.
"Void Reclaim — Reactivation Complete."
The voice wasn't his or Zycrist's. It came from the world itself.
Leo gasped as the energy rushed into his body. His vision flashed — for a moment, he saw through space, through timelines, through versions of himself that never existed.
Then silence.
He dropped to one knee, catching his breath. "What… was that?"
"Your link to the Void," Zycrist said calmly. "You've just touched something far older than I am — the original emptiness before creation. But be careful. It doesn't serve you. It obeys you only because it remembers your soul."
Leo raised his head slowly. The glow in his eyes faded to black.
"So how do I use it to fix time?"
Zycrist gestured to the shards around them — the broken timelines flickering like dying stars.
"You will use Void Reclaim to erase the distortions, not the timelines themselves. You must remove the pieces that do not belong — the echoes that never should have existed. If you consume them fully, balance will return."
Aurelius folded his arms. "And what if he messes up?"
Zycrist gave him a cold look. "Then the Void reclaims everything. Even you."
Leo stood up, his breath steady again. "So I just… eat the parts that shouldn't exist?"
"Consume the false," Zycrist confirmed. "And one more thing."
She stepped closer, her eyes glowing faintly. "Your second power — the one you called Echoes of Forgotten — has evolved. It's now God's Sight. You'll see not only what happened… but what will happen."
Leo frowned. "Then I can see the future?"
"You can see futures, plural," Zycrist corrected. "But not all of them belong to you. The wrong choice, the wrong echo, and you'll consume the wrong time."
Leo clenched his fists. "So if I make a mistake, I destroy everything?"
"Exactly."
He took a deep breath, then looked toward the shattered fragments again. Somewhere in them, he could still hear faint echoes — the voices of Lia and Lyra, calling out, mixed with countless others.
"Alright," he said quietly. "Tell me where to start."
Zycrist looked down at him — the faintest smile crossing her face.
"Start where everything began."
The ground rippled again, and light surrounded Leo. When it faded, he was gone — sent to the origin point of the disruptions.
The ground beneath Leo's feet vanished.
For a heartbeat, everything went dark — no sound, no air, no realm.
Then the world twisted.
He was standing in a burned village. Smoke. Blood. Screams.
People were begging for help… and among them, he saw himself.
Leo blinked, breath caught in his throat.
The other him was laughing — sword dripping red. He was killing his own friends.
"No…" Leo whispered. "That's not me… that's not—"
The killer turned around.
Same face. Same eyes. Same smile.
Leo stepped back, heart pounding.
Then it changed again. Another scene.
He saw himself torturing someone — Lyra, crying, begging for mercy.
Another him stealing. Another… doing things he couldn't even look at.
Each scene slammed into him like knives.
Every version of him — twisted, broken, cruel — doing things he couldn't stop watching.
He fell to his knees. "Stop it… stop it!"
But it didn't stop.
He saw more. And more.
Every echo replaying horror after horror.
"Then I was just kept seeing my own versions doing disgusting things with those I saved… over, and over, and over again—again—again—again—again!"
Leo grabbed his head, trembling violently.
"Someone please—stop them! Kill me—just kill me!"
He screamed into the void.
But only a faint whisper answered.
A voice, far away — soft, almost breaking:
"It's alright, Leo… control yourself…"
Zycrist's voice. Barely reaching him.
Leo looked around wildly. "Zycrist! Aurelius! Help me!"
But no one came. Only the echoes of himself kept repeating.
Each one killing, breaking, falling — every sin reflected back at him.
The world around him started to spin, the line between reality and illusion tearing apart.
And in that chaos, Leo began to understand — this wasn't punishment.
It was truth.
Every possible version of him — all born from his choices, his pain, his fear.
And he was trapped inside them.