The sky of Universe AX-19 was splitting open.
Lines of white-blue light crawled across the heavens like cracks on glass, widening with every second—each one revealing the swirling void beneath. Buildings flickered, phasing in and out of existence. Streets bent at impossible angles. Gravity pulsed like a dying heartbeat.
Kashyap stood on the fractured rooftop of a dissolving skyscraper, breathing in the metallic scent of a universe at its end.
His Temporal Gauntlet hummed, projecting a holographic map full of red zones. Every zone meant destruction. Every red pulse meant another life gone.
But one signal glowed blue.
Anomaly Detected. Energy Source: Unknown. Risk Level: Extreme.
Kashyap tightened his grip on the Grav-Blade strapped to his back. That anomaly had appeared moments before the collapse accelerated. And wherever the anomaly was…so was the cause.
His voice was low, steady—too steady for someone standing in the ruins of a dying world.
Kashyap: "If this is the one who triggered the collapse…I end it today."
A gust of warped gravity swept across the rooftop, bending metal beams like soft clay. Kashyap leaped, landing silently on the next broken structure. His boots crushed glass that wasn't fully solid anymore.
He didn't look back.
He never looked back at falling worlds.
---
Far below, in the flickering neon-lit alley of the shattered city, Mandakini crouched over a pulsing energy core. Her fingers moved quickly, her Quantum Rings whirling around her wrists as they scanned the unstable environment.
Her eyes glowed with determination and something deeper—fear buried under fury.
Mandakini: "Come on…show me the exit vector. I didn't cross seven timelines to die here."
The scanner beeped sharply. Her entire body froze.
Another presence. High energy signature approaching. Armed.
She rose slowly, dust swirling around her boots, and tapped her device. The alley lit up with pale blue light as her Quantum Rings activated.
Mandakini: "Whoever you are…don't come closer."
But the world ignored her warning.
A sudden shockwave tore through the street. Windows exploded. The air rippled. Gravity wavered.
Somewhere above, something heavy crashed into the ground—leaving a crater.
Footsteps echoed.
Measured. Cold. Relentless.
Mandakini turned, her rings glowing brighter.
A figure walked through the settling dust… tall, armored, his silhouette sharp against the flickering lights.
Kashyap.
Their eyes locked for the first time.
He didn't draw his blade yet. He didn't need to.
Kashyap: "You're the anomaly."
Mandakini: "And you're blocking my exit."
A second later, a building beside them split open in a vertical flash of light, sending debris flying in slow-motion waves—caught between gravity pulses.
Neither flinched.
They both moved.
Not toward safety. Toward each other.
Two strangers. Two threats. Two keys of destiny.
The universe around them cracked, roared, and fell apart—
—and their first clash began.