The morning was too quiet.
The air was still.
The birds did not sing.
Even the wind… seemed to avoid the village.
Nir was helping an elderly woman repair the roof of her house.
His hands trembled slightly—
Not from fear… but from exhaustion.
She said to him with a weary smile: "You are kind, my son…"
He stopped.
The word caught in his chest.
Kind.
As if it were foreign.
As if it did not belong to him.
Then—
The sound vanished.
Not suddenly, but faded.
The woman's voice.
The sound of wood.
Even his own internal voice.
He looked around.
The village was still there…
But it was distant.
As if a transparent layer had been placed between him and the world.
He said: "…?"
His voice came out distorted.
Then he saw his hand.
It wasn't bleeding.
But its edges… were beginning to fade.
As if they were being erased.
As if someone were passing a slow eraser over his very existence.
He said in a hoarse voice: "Kim…?"
No one answered.
But the name itself… moved through the air.
A form appeared.
No shadow.
No aura.
Just a void… taking shape.
The voice said with a terrifying calmness: "Do not worry."
"Death does not hurt at first."
Nir took a step back. "Who are you…?"
The voice replied: "I am Orion."
"Ruler of Continuity."
Silence.
Then he added: "You will disappear now."
"I am proving that you… were of no use from the very beginning."
Nir looked at his hand again.
Half of it… was gone.
The elderly woman was still before him.
But her eyes passed right through him.
As if… he no longer existed.
He screamed: "Look at me!"
She did not see him.
Orion continued: "The world does not collapse if you vanish."
"History does not change."
"Even Kim… will only suffer for a little while."
Nir trembled. "Why me…?"
A brief silence followed.
Then Orion said: "Because you are the pivot."
"Because you are the last thing connecting him to humanity."
"Because if you disappear… he will choose Chaos without hesitation."
Nir's chest began to burn.
Not with physical pain, but with fear.
Not for himself… but for Kim.
He said in a broken voice: "Do not touch him…"
"Just take me…"
The void smiled. "That is what we are doing."
"Taking you… without ever touching him."
—
On the other side of the village—
Kim stopped suddenly.
The black veins froze… then surged.
He placed his hand on his chest.
Not pain… but an absence.
He said in a low voice: "…Nir."
Baith turned immediately: "What?"
Kim did not answer.
He felt that something… was being pulled.
As if someone were trying to uproot the last stake in his chest.
—
In the village—
Nir fell to his knees.
His body was slowly vanishing.
From the feet… upward.
Orion said: "When it reaches the heart… no one will remember you."
Nir closed his eyes.
He breathed.
Then… he smiled.
He said with a strange calmness: "That is a lie."
The erasure stopped for a moment.
"Kim does not forget."
Orion fell silent.
—
In the next instant—
The area exploded.
Not an explosion of power… but of rejection.
The air split.
The earth cracked.
And the sky… bowed.
Kim appeared.
Not by moving, but by imposing his existence.
His eyes were entirely black.
He spoke in a voice that made existence tremble: "Take your hand off him."
Orion took a step back—for the first time.
"This is a violation—"
Kim cut him off: "So are you."
He looked at Nir… of whom only the upper half remained.
He said with lethal calmness: "Hold on."
Then he looked at Orion.
He smiled.
But it was not a smile.
"You don't erase people."
He stepped forward. "You erase excuses."
The black veins moved—
But this time… the Seal cracked.
Baith shouted from afar: "Kim! The Seal—!"
Kim did not turn.
He only said: "Does life insist on testing my strength…?"
He looked at Orion.
"Then let this world witness how a monster is born."