Chapter 78 — Road to the Rainbow Bridge
The smoke still hadn't settled.
San Juan was no longer a city — it was a scar on the world. The sky burned with ash and flickering veins of blue energy that refused to fade. What had once been the Chronos Citadel was now nothing but molten steel and scattered gears raining from the heavens.
The people whispered that the gods were fighting again.
They weren't wrong.
Amid the chaos, Moro stood on a cracked bridge leading out of the city, his cloak torn, his hands bleeding from the battle that had almost cost him his life. The wind carried the stench of smoke and ozone, brushing his face as he watched the last remains of the citadel crumble into the ocean.
He closed his eyes briefly. His body was numb, but his mind burned with purpose.
They had to move. They couldn't stay here.
Behind him, Kaya knelt beside Kiro, who was barely conscious. His body was weak, his once bright lion aura now reduced to faint golden embers. Kaya placed her hands over his chest, summoning a gentle stream of water energy to soothe his wounds.
"His pulse is faint, but he'll live," she said softly.
Moro turned to her, nodding. His blue aura flickered weakly. "Good. We move soon. Revo and Kuzak won't stay down forever."
At that moment, Herbet limped toward them, his body half-covered in metal fragments. His Techno Aura pulsed faintly around his arm, forming a makeshift brace.
"The citadel's gone," he said through gritted teeth. "But the temporal energy is spreading everywhere. If we don't leave now, we'll get caught in the loop collapse."
Yaya appeared behind him, brushing blood from her lips. Her cheetah aura still shimmered faintly, though her usual grin was replaced by a faint, almost sincere expression.
"Then let's not waste any more time," she said, stretching her arms. "I'll lead the vanguard."
Wolf Hunter growled lowly. He had burn marks across his chest, but his eyes gleamed with their usual intensity. "You? You nearly died back there. Stay behind and recover."
Yaya turned sharply, her gaze locking onto his. "You should know by now — I don't follow orders. Especially not from beasts."
Moro sighed, stepping between them. "Enough. We're heading to the Rainbow Bridge. That's where it all started — and where it'll end."
Kaya looked up at him, concern written on her face. "You're not planning to—"
"Yes," Moro interrupted. "We finish this. Revo. Kuzak. Whatever's left of Scaro's shadow network — all of it ends there."
---
THE ROAD BEGINS
They moved through the ruined outskirts of San Juan — a wasteland of twisted metal and shattered glass. The ocean waves crashed violently against the ruins as if the world itself was trying to erase the memory of what had happened.
Kiro lay unconscious on a stretcher, carried by Herbet's robotic arm constructs. Kaya walked beside him, her hand glowing faintly as she continued to heal him.
Yaya scouted ahead, moving so fast that only brief flashes of gold and silver light revealed her position. Every few minutes she returned, reporting that the path ahead was clear.
Wolf Hunter stayed behind the group, his senses stretched wide. His nose picked up faint traces of blood and dust — but beneath it all, something else. A power signature that made his skin crawl.
He muttered under his breath, "They're not gone. I can smell them. Revo's energy… and Kuzak's too. They're still fighting."
Moro glanced back at him, his eyes dark. "Then we better move faster."
As they advanced, the world began to distort around them. The air shimmered like heat waves, bending light into strange patterns. Temporal residue — leftover fragments of Revo's time control — twisted through the air, forming ghostly silhouettes of past moments.
Herbet cursed softly. "Reality's still breaking apart. We're walking through living memory."
Kaya looked around, her voice trembling. "So all this—these echoes—are people?"
Herbet nodded grimly. "People, places, time itself. Everything that got caught in Revo's loop experiments. It's like walking through a broken mirror."
The path narrowed as they reached the Valley of Silvers, a canyon filled with floating shards of time crystals that reflected light from nowhere. Each shard showed distorted images — flashes of their past battles, moments of triumph and failure.
Yaya stopped, staring at one shard that showed her fighting beside Revo months ago, laughing and confident. Her face hardened.
"He used to call me his fastest blade," she said quietly. "Now he's just another monster wearing a man's skin."
Moro placed a hand on her shoulder. "He lost himself chasing perfection. But that doesn't mean you have to lose yourself too."
She looked at him, smirking faintly. "You talk like a priest, Moro. Don't tell me you're trying to redeem me."
Moro smiled faintly. "Maybe I just believe everyone deserves a second chance — even killers like us."
For a moment, the group walked in silence, the only sounds the hum of the shattered air and the distant thunder from the skies.
---
ADMIRATION AND OATHS
Later that night, they made camp near the ruins of the old Neon Highway, an elevated stretch of broken road that led toward the Rainbow Bridge. The bridge itself glowed faintly in the distance — a massive arc of rainbow energy linking the two sides of the city, a remnant of an ancient world before San Juan became a battlefield.
As the others rested, Yaya approached Moro, who was sitting alone, sharpening his blade.
"Can't sleep?" she asked, crouching beside him.
"Not really." Moro didn't look up. "Too many ghosts in this city."
She smirked. "You're not the only one haunted. But tell me something, Moro — why do you keep fighting? You've lost so much. Your father, your home, half your soul. What keeps you standing?"
He paused for a long moment, then sheathed his blade. "Because if I stop now, everything they died for becomes meaningless."
Yaya stared at him for a while, then nodded slowly. "You're stronger than I thought. Not just with fists or aura — but inside. I admire that."
Moro glanced at her, surprised. "Admire?"
Yaya shrugged, smiling faintly. "Don't get it twisted. I'm not falling for you, hero. I just… respect you. And maybe… I'll protect you. Because men like you don't last long in this world."
Kaya, who had been listening nearby, walked over, crossing her arms. "He doesn't need protecting, Yaya."
Yaya smirked. "Then you better keep up, water queen."
The tension between the two women sparked like static. Moro sighed. "If you two are done measuring egos, we have a long walk ahead tomorrow."
Kaya chuckled softly, but in her eyes, there was something else — something faintly jealous, though she didn't understand why.
---
HUNTER'S PROMISE
A few meters away, Wolf Hunter crouched beside the dying campfire, his gaze locked on Moro. His claws dug into the ground.
Herbet noticed and asked quietly, "Still thinking about your old mission?"
Wolf Hunter's eyes narrowed. "I was trained to hunt Moro. To bring him down. But every time I get close, he proves he's not like the monsters we hunt."
"So why still follow him?" Herbet asked.
The wolf-man growled lowly. "Because until the world tells me otherwise, he's still my prey. And when this is over — when all this chaos ends — I'll finish the hunt."
He stood, his shadow stretching long in the flickering firelight.
> "Even if I have to chase him to the edge of the world."
---
THE FIGHT CONTINUES ABOVE
Far above San Juan, amid the torn sky and burning atmosphere, Revo and Kuzak were still locked in battle. The clash had grown so intense that even the stars seemed to flicker.
Revo's cloak was shredded, his body leaking silver light. He manipulated time with every breath, reversing wounds before they could kill him, but Kuzak's power — his Indestructible Diversion — broke logic itself. Every punch was a ripple that shattered the rules of cause and effect.
"Stop fighting me," Revo growled, his voice echoing across timelines. "You're delaying what's inevitable."
Kuzak's laughter boomed like a storm. "Delaying? I'm rewriting it!"
He summoned his six diversions, merging them back into himself — his aura multiplying a hundredfold. The resulting energy tore a rift in the sky, exposing raw streams of temporal flow.
Revo steadied himself, realizing something.
His eyes widened. "They're leaving…"
He saw it — faintly, in the thread of time — Moro and his squad, moving toward the Rainbow Bridge.
Kuzak felt it too. His crimson aura flared. "They're running to the bridge. To that cursed place."
Revo clenched his fists. "Then we end this there."
The two stopped fighting for the first time in hours, floating opposite each other amid the ruins of the heavens.
"Truce?" Kuzak asked mockingly.
Revo smirked faintly. "Only until he's dead."
Kuzak's grin widened. "Good. I'll be the one to crush his skull."
They turned at the same time — two gods of war descending from the sky, leaving streaks of energy that split the air open as they flew toward the glowing arc of the Rainbow Bridge.
---
THE DAWN OF THE FINAL ROAD
As the first light of dawn painted the ruins in faint gold, Moro and his squad stood at the foot of the Rainbow Bridge. The structure shimmered, its colors rippling like oil across water. It was beautiful — and terrifying.
Yaya stepped forward, staring at it. "So this is the bridge that connects worlds."
Herbet nodded slowly. "And the bridge where legends die."
Kaya turned to Moro. "Once we cross, there's no turning back."
He looked ahead, his eyes reflecting the glowing horizon. "Then we keep walking."
Behind them, Wolf Hunter's claws tightened on his weapons. His instincts screamed that something was coming. He turned slightly, staring at the horizon where the sun was rising — and in that light, he saw them:
Two figures descending from the heavens like burning comets — one cloaked in silver time energy, the other surrounded by crimson fury.
Revo.
Kuzak.
Moro's jaw clenched. "They're here."
The air vibrated with power as the two landed miles apart — the shockwaves shaking the bridge itself.
Kuzak grinned, his club resting on his shoulder.
Revo stood calmly, silver eyes focused on Moro.
The stage was set.
The world held its breath.
And beneath the broken skies of San Juan, where gods walked among men, the road to the Rainbow Bridge had finally begun.
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