The void's nucleus crystallized into prisms reflecting Raine's 300-cycle echoes. Two weapons split spacetime before him—the Inquisitor's Future Blade oozing Ellen's starlit scales, the First Dragon's Dagger of Penitence bleeding Serena's asphalt ichor.
"Choice is delusion," the Inquisitor's voice rusted through blade cracks. "Like thinking you'd save me from becoming this scrap."
Raine's fingers brushed the dagger hilt. A 300-year-old memory surged: Serena in abbess robes stabbing the First Dragon's heart. Her fangs biting his reversed scale etched "Vessel Reclamation Code 098" in prism slime.
"Surprise?" Dracula's specter seeped from the blood groove. "Your blood-slave got the script three centuries earlier..."
Ellen's core projected holograms: 「Dagger activation triggers timeline collapse」 「Blade usage solidifies Inquisitor endgame」
Garret's ice-claws froze fracturing prisms. "Fuck... Not a choice—mincing yourself for twin traps!" His wolf ears bled black crystals, ooze visions showing: Dagger-choice would see him devoured; Blade-choice would freeze Ellen's optics red.
Serena's scorched whisper hissed behind Raine's ear: "Check the hilt's engraving... Breathe through those new gills..."
The dagger's underside revealed child-Serena's fingerprint encircling "Vessel Is Key". The Blade swung at Raine's brow, the Inquisitor's mechanical eye glinting: "Your lesson... Eliminate variables preemptively..."
Prisms shattered. 299 Raine clones emerged—some stabbing hearts with daggers, others slashing the nucleus with Blades. All collapsed into acidic rain drenching Raine.
"Can't see?" Dracula's slime tendrils constricted his wrist. "'Choice' just lets you carve the world into portions..."
Ellen's chassis quantum-shifted into Elaina's face. Her fingers pierced Raine's scar, yanking out his bioluminescent heart: "Mother... requires intact vessel..."
Agony unveiled truth—dagger and blade were one weapon shattered in Cycle 137's mutual destruction. The Inquisitor's mechanical eye housed Ellen's Cycle 298 implant.
Garret's roar shattered prisms. His claws ripped out Dracula's fang necklace: "Tell next cycle... My beer's still pending..."
Slime rain froze. Serena's six-winged phantom bled from the dagger, asphalt thorns binding Raine's Blade-reaching hand: "Count my deaths... Hatchling... Your admission ticket..."
Gears ground in the void. All prisms synced countdowns: 「00:00:03」 「00:00:02」 「00:00:01」
The Inquisitor and First Dragon fused. A mechano-slime fist forced both weapons into the nucleus.
"Vessel reclamation complete." "Cycle counter reset."
Submerged Currents
In time's last frozen millisecond, Ellen's scales detected the dagger fingerprint's true date—791 years pre-void calendar, three centuries older than the First Dragon. Garret's ooze-vision revealed Citadel catacombs: hundreds of Serena clones knelt before Raine's gene samples, their reversed scales engraved "Vessel Incubator 003"...