The wind stilled. We saw the Old Lark...

He stepped into the next battlefield, still clutching his snapped staff. His foot dragged in the ash. His face was creased with exhaustion, but his grin remained stitched in place like a scar that never healed. When he stepped towards the next battlefield, one vestige appeared from the smokes and blocked his

His opponent stood motionless.

A boy.

No older than thirteen but he was old than him. Just his appearance looked like that, barefoot, with skin like porcelain. His silver eyes reflected everything and nothing.

He had no shadow.

And time rippled near him like a fevered sea.

Aln. The Neverborn.

Lark clicked his tongue. "A child? Really? Bit cruel, even for war."

Aln blinked.

The earth under Lark's feet cracked.

Suddenly, the old man was flying backward, thrown by a pulse of raw force that hadn't even visibly moved. He crashed through a jagged rock spire and rolled to a stop in the dust.

"Alright," Lark coughed, climbing up, brushing blood from his nose. "No talking then."

Aln raised his hand.

The sky folded.

A wall of condensed gravity slammed down on Lark.

He punched the ground with his palm. A bubble of time spun out from his body, slowing the collapse just enough for him to dive out of the way.

The moment he landed, Aln was already there.

The boy didn't walk. He just appeared, silver eyes staring. He reached forward, fingers curling like claws.

Lark twisted. Aln's hand grazed his cloak and half of it disintegrated into dust.

"Touch of erasure, huh? Like Ren but different. Interesting!" Lark muttered, tumbling away.

The boy's next step tore open the ground. Every patch of stone beneath his feet aged to dust in seconds. Flowers bloomed and withered in an instant. Even the air shivered.

Lark spun his staff and unleashed a time-reversal shockwave.

But it bounced off Aln.

Did nothing.

The boy's body flickered.

In one moment he was near. The next, he was behind Lark, punching straight through the air.

Lark ducked.

The air behind him cracked like glass. A time fracture opened, warping the sky.

Lark rolled forward, stabbed his dagger into the ground, and channeled a delayed loop trap.

Chains of light snapped around Aln's arms and legs.

For a second, the boy froze.

Lark sprinted forward and stabbed the broken staff toward his chest.

But the boy vanished again.

The chains shattered into dust.

Lark's eyes narrowed.

Aln reappeared above him, upside down in the air, floating. Both hands extended.

A pulse exploded.

Not fire. Not ice. Just force. Pure and crushing.

Lark's body slammed to the ground, buried under rubble.

Then silence.

Aln floated down, approaching the pile.

But before he could reach it, a spark flared.

Time paused.

Lark stepped out from behind a ruined boulder, untouched, holding a small copper disk.

"Should've known," he said. "Can't hit something you never quite existed in the first place. But lucky for me, I don't play by existence either. Why you are not speaking?"

He clicked the disk.

A mirrored version of Aln appeared beside the boy, copied in exact motion.

The copy stabbed its hand into Aln's chest.

The real boy gasped, blinking in confusion for the first time.

Then he screamed.

Reality cracked.

Lark charged.

He drove his knee into Aln's gut, then slammed the base of his staff across his face. Blood flew.

The boy staggered.

The finally he spoked..." I have not interest to do conversation and by the way I am older than you. That's my powers. It was changed my appearance."

"Interesting! Hahaha... let's enjoy the fight man." He replied.

Lark threw five bombs in a tight circle. They hovered midair, ticking.

Boom.

A precision shockwave knocked Aln straight up into the sky.

Lark raised both arms.

A dome of suspended time locked around the falling boy.

The moment Aln landed inside it, everything slowed.

Lark stepped in.

Face to face now.

He whispered, " I think you are amaze by seeing time dome. In your mind raise a question that how can I able to use it? Don't worry! Let's break this mystery. I am going to reveal the truth. It's a long story but I am telling you in short. Before our time mage went to coma, he gave me this and said that take care of it. True time will come and you will use it that time. Now I understand what they are tried to say. Anyway you're powerful. But I'm not from your time."

Then he tapped the boy's forehead.

The time dome collapsed.

And Aln dropped like a puppet cut from strings.

Lark stood over him.

The boy twitched, barely able to move. His limbs spasmed. He tried to phase out, but Lark had already dropped an anchor sigil on his chest.

"Stay right here," Lark said.

He knelt. Pressed the tip of his staff into the boy's heart.

"Sorry, kid."

He spoke a final command.

"Now."

Aln's body folded inward, pulled into itself, vanishing into a flickering crack of white light.

Gone.

Lark coughed again. Wiped sweat from his brow.

"Damn kids and their fancy laws of reality."

He stretched his back, wincing as bones cracked.

Then limped away, chuckling.

"Next."

We saw Elara.

She stood motionless at the cliff's edge, her white cloak stirring in the scorched wind. The air shimmered with distant heat and magic, but her face held no fear, no urgency. Only stillness. Her silver hair clung to her cheeks, damp from the thin mist above the battlefield.

She watched the chaos below without blinking, as if each clash, each scream, passed through her. Her lips were pressed tight, not in sorrow, but in quiet restraint. The power inside her pulsed softly, coiled like a breath held too long.

It did not speak in words, but its presence was clear. Do nothing. And so she did. Elara watched the world burn without moving a finger to stop it.

Then she showed that Seroi was near to collapse. She wanted to go and help him like a daughter but she couldn't. The power stopped her and told that...

"Wait, our time will come soon."

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