The Throne Room — Helix Fortress
The gravity was crushing. It felt like an invisible ocean pressing down on Kazuki's shoulders.
[SYSTEM ALERT: HYDRAULIC FAILURE. SKELETAL STRESS CRITICAL.]
Kazuki was on his hands and knees, the floor tiles cracking beneath his metal gloves. He tried to look up, but his neck felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.
Beside him, Renji was in worse shape.
Without a powered suit to protect him, Renji was flattened against the floor, blood leaking from his nose and ears. His breathing was a wet, ragged gasp.
Kaelen Rhyne walked toward them. He moved effortlessly, his bare feet making no sound on the obsidian floor. The gravity didn't affect him.
"Pathetic," Kaelen sighed. He stopped in front of Kazuki. "You stole the most advanced engine in the universe, and you use it to... crawl."
Kaelen raised a finger.
The gravity lifted slightly—just enough for Kazuki to lift his head.
"Look at the Anchor, boy," Kaelen pointed to the pulsing machine behind him. "Do you hear it? It is singing. It is calling my armies. In ten minutes, this timeline will be paved over."
"Go... to... hell," Kazuki gritted out.
He tried to stand. The suit whined.
[VELOCITY CORE: MAX OUTPUT.]
Kazuki forced himself up, inch by inch, fighting the invisible weight. He raised the Fulcrum Staff.
Kaelen looked impressed. "You have spirit. I will give you that."
He flicked his wrist.
SLASH.
Space distorted.
Kazuki didn't even see the attack.
The Fulcrum Staff—the indestructible weapon made from a collapsed star—was sliced cleanly in half.
The top half of the staff clattered to the floor.
The cut continued. It sliced through Kazuki's shoulder armor, carving a deep gash into the metal. Sparks flew. Kazuki was thrown backward, slamming into a pillar.
"Spirit is useless against physics," Kaelen said boredly.
He turned his attention to Renji.
Renji was trying to crawl toward his fallen rifle.
Kaelen stepped on Renji's hand.
CRUNCH.
Renji cried out—a raw, broken sound.
"And you," Kaelen sneered, looking down at the broken soldier. "Subject Zero. The failure. The man who ran so fast he burned his own soul away."
Kaelen crouched down, grabbing Renji by the hair and lifting his face up.
"Why do you fight for him, Zero? Why do you protect him?"
Renji spat blood onto Kaelen's pristine black robe. "Because... he... has a chance."
Kaelen wiped the blood away calmly. He looked from Renji to Kazuki, then back to Renji. A cruel realization dawned in his eyes. He started to laugh.
It wasn't a maniacal laugh. It was a soft, genuine chuckle of disbelief.
"Oh," Kaelen whispered. "Oh, this is delicious."
He stood up and looked at Kazuki, who was clutching his bleeding shoulder.
"You don't know, do you?" Kaelen asked Kazuki. "He hasn't told you."
"Told me what?" Kazuki yelled, trying to stand up again. "Let him go!"
"You think he is your mentor," Kaelen walked slowly toward Kazuki. "You think he is a soldier from the future sent to save you. A guardian angel."
Kaelen stopped. He pointed back at Renji, who was shaking his head frantically.
"Don't listen to him, Kazuki!" Renji screamed, his voice desperate. "Don't listen! Just kill the machine!"
"He isn't here to save you," Kaelen said, his voice dropping to a whisper that echoed through the silent room. "He is here to replace you."
Kaelen waved his hand. A holographic screen appeared in the air.
It showed a DNA analysis. Two strands of DNA.
Sample A: Kazuki Tanaka (Present)
Sample B: Renji (Subject Zero)
[MATCH CONFIRMED: 100%]
Kazuki stared at the screen. The world stopped. The gravity didn't matter anymore.
"100 percent?" Kazuki whispered. "That's... that's a clone match."
"Not a clone," Kaelen corrected. "A timeline remnant."
Kaelen walked back to Renji and kicked him over, exposing the man's face to the light.
"Look at him, boy. Really look at him. Look past the scars. Look past the age."
Kazuki looked.
He saw the shape of the jaw. The color of the eyes. The way the hair fell across the forehead.
It was like looking into a twisted, broken mirror.
"He is you," Kaelen announced. "He is Kazuki Tanaka from twenty years in the future. The Kazuki who failed. The Kazuki who watched his world burn."
Renji closed his eyes, defeated. "I... I tried to stop it."
Kazuki backed away, shaking his head. "No. No, that's impossible. He's... he's nothing like me. He's a killer. He's cold."
"He is what you become," Kaelen said ruthlessly. "He came back to change history. But he failed. And now, he is dying. Look at his veins."
Kaelen ripped Renji's shirt open. The black rot had spread to his chest. It was pulsing near his heart.
"He didn't save you because he loves you," Kaelen smiled. "He saved you because he hates himself. He wants to erase his own existence."
Kazuki looked at Renji.
"Is it true?" Kazuki's voice broke. "Renji... are you me?"
Renji opened his eyes. They were filled with tears.
"I'm sorry, kid," Renji whispered. "I'm so sorry."
The betrayal hit Kazuki harder than the gravity.
The man he trusted. The man he looked up to.
It was all a lie.
Kaelen Rhyne clapped his hands together.
"Now that the family reunion is over... it is time to end the lineage."
Kaelen raised both hands.
The purple tear in the sky ripped open wider. The Causal Anchor roared.
"Goodbye, Kazuki Tanaka. Both of you."
Kaelen prepared to bring the ceiling down on top of them.
But Renji moved.
He didn't run. He didn't shoot.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a syringe filled with a glowing Green Liquid.
It was the experimental "Velocity Serum" Dr. Vaunt had used to torture him. The stuff that kills him.
"No!" Kaelen's eyes widened. "You fool! That will dissolve your heart!"
Renji looked at Kazuki one last time.
"Don't be me," Renji whispered. "Be better."
Renji stabbed the needle into his own neck.
PLUNGE.
[To Be Continued…]