The street around them twisted like a wounded beast.
Walls rippled. Streetlights bent. The sky flickered between night, dawn, and something colorless—something that wasn't a sky at all. Universe AX-19 was dying faster now, collapsing inward like a black hole swallowing its own memories.
Kashyap didn't care.
His focus was the woman standing across from him, blue light spiraling around her wrists, her eyes sharp and defiant.
Mandakini.
The anomaly.
The only stable thing in a world falling apart.
He stepped forward, his blade humming to life with a low gravitational growl.
Kashyap:
"You don't belong to this universe."
Mandakini smirked, but there was exhaustion behind it.
Mandakini:
"Neither do you,soldier."
Her voice was steady, but her heartbeat wasn't.
Kashyap felt it—his Temporal Gauntlet synced with environmental fluctuations,picking up the rhythm of her energy signature.
It was… wrong.
Different.
Impossibly stable in a universe breaking apart.
That made her dangerous.
He tightened his stance.
---
THE FIRST STRIKE
Mandakini didn't wait.
A ring of quantum light burst from her wrist—then split into three, streaking toward Kashyap like blades of condensed time.
He dodged the first.
Cut the second.
Caught the third in mid-air.
The ring vibrated violently, trying to phase through his gauntlet.
Kashyap (cold):
"Quantum constructs.You're from a high-tech plane."
Mandakini:
"You really ask questions in the middle of a fight?"
She snapped her fingers.
The ring exploded.
Kashyap flew backward, skidding across a broken street that flickered between three different realities. He slammed into a tilted lamppost, which became a tree for a split second before returning to metal.
He rose at once.
Mandakini was impressed—and annoyed.
Mandakini:
"Okay…you're not normal muscle."
Kashyap:
"Normal died long before I did."
He vanished.
A blink. A distortion.
He reappeared right behind her—his Temporal Gauntlet bending space for a half-second.
Mandakini reacted instantly, spinning with a burst of blue light. Their wrists collided: her quantum ring against his gauntlet.
A shockwave burst outward.
The world shuddered.
Buildings groaned.
The air rippled.
Fragments of reality shattered like glass.
---
THE RECOGNITION
For the first time, Kashyap saw her eyes clearly.
Not scared.
Not confused.
Strategic.
Calculating.
And something else…
A pain he recognized.
Loss.
Kashyap:
"Your universe fell."
Mandakini's jaw clenched.
Mandakini:
"And yours?"
Kashyap:
"Already gone."
For a moment, the fighting paused.
Two survivors in a graveyard of worlds.
Two fates twisted by forces bigger than them.
Then the ground split open beneath them, tearing the street in two. Reality cracked like a broken mirror.
Mandakini stumbled.
Kashyap grabbed her arm without thinking.
A mistake.
A shock of synchronized energy burst between them—white light tearing through the collapsing air.
Both gasped.
His gauntlet blared warnings.
Her rings flickered wildly.
Energy Sync Detected.
Compatibility: 92%.
Convergence Anchor Found.
Mandakini's eyes widened.
Kashyap stepped back, shocked.
Their energies matched.
That was impossible.
Only Convergence Anchors—beings tied to multiversal balance—could do that. And there were supposed to be none left.
Kashyap (quiet, dangerous):
"…Who are you?"
Mandakini:
"…The wrong woman in the wrong universe."
The ground bucked violently, throwing them apart.
A tower collapsed between them with a thunderous roar, sending dust and debris blasting outward.
When the dust cleared—
Kashyap stood on one side.
Mandakini on the other.
Gravity shifted again, warping the space around them.
She stared at him across the fractured gap.
Mandakini:
"This universe has minutes.Maybe less."
Kashyap:
"Then you shouldn't waste mine."
Mandakini:
"Soldier…I'm not your enemy."
For the first time…
He hesitated.
Only for half a second.
But in that half second, Mandakini turned and sprinted deeper into the collapsing city—toward the core rift.
Kashyap's instincts screamed to chase her.
His gauntlet screamed louder.
Warning: Universe Collapse Imminent.
Anchor Required.
Kashyap looked at her retreating form.
She wasn't running away.
She was running toward something.
Toward the exact place he was going.
He cursed under his breath.
Then he ran after her.
Two fates, colliding.
Two anchors,unknown to each other.
Two weapons of destiny running toward the heart of a dying world.
The universe cracked again—
and the chase began.