The silence after the battle felt heavier than the fight itself.
Fragments of collapsed Nullborn flickered out of existence on the floor,dissolving like dying sparks.
Mandakini stood in front of Kashyap—close, too close for him to ignore the intensity in her eyes.
Vasundhara broke the silence first.
"Kashyap… how did you do that? No one—not even the Continuum Guard—can touch a Nullborn and survive."
Kashyap shook his head.
"I don't know.I've never been able to—"
Mandakini cut in softly, her eyes still fixed on him.
"You have. You just don't remember."
The room froze.
Viraj frowned.
"Are you saying he has paradox amnesia?"
Agastya finally stepped forward.
His expression carried the weight of answers he never wanted to give.
"It's time," he said quietly, "that Kashyap learns what he was before."
Kashyap felt a chill crawl up his spine.
"Before what?"
Mandakini stepped back, letting Agastya speak.
But her gaze stayed locked on him,unreadable.
Agastya tapped his staff on the floor.
A holographic projection formed—
not of planets,not of universes,
but of a singular corridor of light,twisting infinitely.
Kashyap felt nausea.
He had seen this place.
In dreams.
In flashes.
In nightmares he never understood.
Agastya spoke:
"This is the Axis Corridor.
The birthplace of paradox entities."
Kashyap swallowed.
Mandakini's voice drifted from behind him—lower, sadder.
"This is where I was born.
And where you…were changed."
He turned sharply.
"Changed?Into what?"
Vasundhara stepped forward.
"You were not always Kashyap the soldier.Not always human in the way you believe."
Viraj, usually the loudest, remained silent.
Agastya continued:
"Kashyap… you were part of Project JANMA."
The name sent a tremor through the room.
Mandakini closed her eyes.
Kashyap shook his head.
"I've never heard of that."
Agastya gave a grim nod.
"You weren't meant to."
He tapped the hologram again.
The corridor expanded.
Inside it, two glowing figures floated—
one unstable,flickering with paradox energy.
Mandakini.
The other was stable.
Controlled.
Harnessed.
Kashyap felt his knees weaken.
"That…that figure… it looks like—"
Mandakini whispered:
"You."
Kashyap staggered backward.
Agastya continued before Kashyap could speak:
"You were the first successful paradox-stabilized soldier.
A being who could withstand the destructive pressures of timelines without collapsing."
Kashyap clenched his fists.
"No.I grew up in Bihar. I had parents. A life. Memories—"
Vasundhara spoke gently.
"Memories can be written, Kashyap.
Especially for those created for warfare."
The words struck like blades.
Mandakini walked toward him slowly.
"You were not created from nothing, Kashyap. You were human. But you were modified… your timeline rewritten to stabilize paradox energy."
Kashyap stepped back from her, his voice cracking.
"Why? Why would anyone do that to me?"
Agastya answered:
"Because they needed someone who could counter Mandakini."
The room chilled.
Mandakini lowered her head.
"I was too unstable. Too powerful. I could tear universes by accident. They wanted someone who could control me. Stop me if needed."
Kashyap stared at her, betrayal and confusion swirling inside.
"So I was made to hunt you?"
Mandakini's voice broke.
"Yes… at first."
The chamber dimmed, lights flickering as if sensing the rising tension.
Agastya shifted the hologram to a final image.
A memory.
Kashyap standing beside Mandakini—
not fighting,
not hunting,
but protecting her.
Agastya spoke softly:
"But something changed.
Instead of stopping her…
you helped her escape."
Kashyap's breath halted.
Mandakini met his eyes, emotion trembling in her voice.
"You saved me, Kashyap.
In another timeline.
You were the only person who believed I wasn't a threat."
A faint smile—painful, fragile—touched her lips.
"That's why they erased your memory.
Because you chose me."
Kashyap felt the world tilt.
He had betrayed his creators.
He had protected the woman he was designed to stop.
And he had forgotten all of it.
But Mandakini wasn't done.
She stepped closer and placed a hand on his chest—
right over his racing heart.
"There is something else," she whispered.
Kashyap looked at her with shaken eyes.
"What?"
Her voice softened in a way it hadn't before.
"In the timeline they erased…
you were not my enemy."
She leaned closer.
"You were the person I trusted most."
Kashyap's breath caught.
His pulse thundered.
But before he could say anything—
a deafening alarm blared through the chamber.
Viraj looked at the monitors and went pale.
"Oh no—
The Nullborn weren't attacking us."
The screen showed a surge in the outer layers of reality.
"They were stalling us."
Kashyap snapped back to alertness.
"Stalling? For what?"
Agastya's face hardened.
"For the Paradox Warden."
Mandakini's eyes widened in fear—
a fear Kashyap had not seen in her before.
She whispered one word:
"Run."