The cathedral exploded into motion.
Statues cracked, stained glass folded backward into vapor, and the Cosmic Hourglass splintered further—each fracture bleeding silver sand into the air like drifting stars.
Nox advanced, calm amid the chaos.
Kalo felt his heart slam against his ribs. "You want my life."
"No," Nox replied, voice steady as stone. "I want my life back."
He raised his hand. Time distorted—pillars warped into spirals, then snapped straight again. Kalo staggered, gripping his chest as the mark on his hand flared with a searing cold.
"This world was built around me," Nox continued. "You are the parasite feeding off what was mine."
Kalo forced himself upright."If I was meant to replace you—maybe there's a reason."
Nox's expression flickered—more anger than fear, but something brittle beneath.
"You were a mistake," Nox hissed. "A patch the universe will soon remove."
With a twist of his fingers, he pulled.
Kalo felt his heartbeat rip sideways—like his pulse existed in two timelines at once. His knees buckled. Lira rushed in front of him, her hands forming a star-shaped sigil that strained against Nox's force.
"You can't erase him yet," she growled. "He isn't fully written."
Nox's eyes narrowed."You again. Still clinging to a dying second."
Lira bared her teeth."And you're clinging to a destiny that doesn't want you."
Nox thrust his hand outward.Lira was launched across the cathedral, slamming into a bending column.
Kalo choked on terror—then anger surged, cold and sharp.
His cracked Hourglass mark glowed—
The sand in the air froze.
Everything froze.
The hooded echoes halted mid-collapse. Falling fragments of stained glass hung suspended. Even Nox's shadow stopped writhing.
Only Nox himself still moved, but slower—like pushing through a sea of syrup.
He stared at Kalo—eyes widening.
"You've taken control of the Second Verge."
Kalo didn't understand—but instinct guided him.
He stepped forward.
"Maybe time didn't choose the wrong person," Kalo said, voice trembling but alive. "Maybe it just needed someone who can break the rules."
Nox struggled against the frozen world—cracks forming in the floor beneath him.
"You don't deserve the power you carry," Nox spat. "You don't even know who you are."
Kalo swallowed hard.
"That's why it's mine to define."
His vision flickered—two lives…
two timelines…
two boys overlapping—
One trying to erase.One trying to exist.
The Cosmic Hourglass wailed with a deep, shuddering toll—
And time lurched back into place.
Nox's calm shattered. He lunged, shadow solidifying into a blade—
Lira appeared behind him, arm wrapped in constellations, dragging him backward just long enough for Kalo to stumble away.
"Kalo!" she shouted. "Choose! We can flee and regroup—"
"No," Kalo said, breath sharp."If I run now, I'm agreeing I'm a mistake."
He turned to Nox—fear burning into resolve.
"You'll have to prove I don't deserve to exist."
Nox's lip curled into a silent promise.
"Oh," he said softly."I intend to."
The cathedral walls split open—revealing a void of turning stars and collapsing seconds.
The battle for a life for identity had begun.