The earth shook as though the very last of an dying creature as Kairos settled himself, his fiery sparks of his might along his muscles. At his side, Veyra was also upright, blood masking her cheeks yet determination unflickered. Elsewhere, the Unbound spread, a wall of living body, a dark tide and sea of teeth, yelling above ruins of ground.
There hung the Rebirth, form equally hideous and godly, eyes two flashlights of chastisement.
Seize, Kairos!" thundered the Rebirth. "Fight and perish—or surrender and watch the final strands of life unravel!"
Kairos clenched fists. He could feel his past lives surging within him, goading him, enticing him to awaken something beyond himself. The power of the Soulforger was insufficient. He required more—he required them all.
"I won't be your puppet," growled Kairos.
He closed his eyes—and plunged deep into the well of his soul.
---
The Awakening.
It was not a gentle one.
All the lives he had ever lived—warrior, sage, tyrant, hero—descended upon him at once. Their memories, their arts, their strengths flowed through him like a tidal wave. Bones snapped and reformed themselves; muscles tore apart and resealed themselves; his own mind groaned to contain the colossal, screaming deluge of learning.
The ground around him erupted as a sphere of unchecked energy formed, driving the Unbound back momentarily.
A memory flared—a flashback from one of his past existences when he had been the Flamebinder, a sorcerer king able to command the fires of dead stars. Another flared—the Warden of Shards, who had forged broken worlds into blades.
It was all at his command now.
Sigils of blinding strength ran through Kairos's frame—ancient tattoos of power—each one for a life, a destiny once won and now reformed.
He gazed at the world with eyes burning gold and crimson.
Veyra's eyes went wide. "Kairos. what have you done?"
"A better question," Kairos said, his voice ringing with a dozen resoundings, "is what I've recalled."
He raised his hand to the nearest group of Unbound—and reality itself distorted.
From nothing, a burning sword came to life—a sword made of the heart of a dying star. Kairos drew it around in a circle, and where the sword struck, entire legions of the Unbound were reduced to ash and forgotten whispers.
The Rebirth snarled, its perfect mask cracking for the first time.
---
The Battle.
The city battlefield in seconds.
Veyra, driven by the shockwave of Kairos's eruption, summoned walls of crystal might to resist the ensuing eruption of the Unbound. Magic shook upon the breeze, the ground curving beneath every step of the warriors.
Kairos charged into the horde. His fireblade cut through the Unbound with the vengeful might of a wrathful god, every blow unleashing wraths of raw desolation. Shadows screamed in horror as they were unraveled.
But the Rebirth waited not.
It spread out its hands—and the ruins themselves rebelled, twisted into monstrous forms. Smashed skyscrapers reforming themselves as giant golems, fists so huge they could crush mountains. The blackness of the sky grew darker, and thunderous booms shook all around.
"You can't battle the unavoidable!" the Rebirth boomed.
Kairos leaped aloft, a comet burning in the skies, the blade's fiery edge hewing a swath through darkness. A stone giant charged him, but he backflipped, landing on the giant's arm and hurtling down its length. With a roar of fury, he stabbed his sword through the giant's skull—and detonated a supernova blast.
The titan erupted in flames and wreckage.
The second Unbound shrieked and fell back, stunned for a moment.
"We have to stop it!" Veyra wailed on the ground, casting bursts of light into the advancing horde. "Before the whole world comes crashing down!"
Kairos dropped beside her, panting, the energy still burning furiously within him.
"I'm not done yet," he snarled.
---
The Final Stand.
The Rebirth descended from the heavens, taking the form of a giant beast—an armored one composed of raw cosmic power, its spear fashioned out of the fragments of shattered timelines.
It offered the weapon to Kairos.
"This is your only hope," it said, voice cold and absolute. "Bow before me and I will have mercy on what remains."
Kairos spat blood and drew out his sword.
"No."
The final battle commenced.
They clashed with a ferocity that shook the heavens.
For every blow Kairos threw, the Rebirth retaliated with calculation born of eternity. Their blows smashed through the sky, cleaved the earth, dried up rivers and turned mountains to ash.
Kairos was not alone.
And from the shadows, others emerged—Arius, Riven, even former friends from other existences Kairos had lost. Whispers of his own past lives swirled up around him. Together, they charged as one—a unified force against the end.
The fight continued—past dawn, past twilight, through the destruction of reality itself.
And when Kairos raised his sword to deliver the final blow, the world held its breathless silence.
---
Let the fight begin.