The world dissolved.
Rin drifted through clouds—white, then gray, then red, then blue, then black. Colors folded into each other again and again, looping without logic. She couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't act.
She was trapped inside her own mind.
Memories crashed into her all at once—what happened before the lab, before the table, before the needles. Thousands of emotions tore through her, too fast to process. Her thoughts fractured. The world outside paused.
Then—clarity.
She could see it now.
Kairo's arm pinning her to the wall. His grip crushing. Her body frozen, helpless. Time itself stood still, like reality was holding its breath.
And then she saw herself.
Another Rin, a few steps away—entirely green, translucent, like glowing glass. Light passed through her body, refracted and sharp. Time was stopped, yet this version of Rin moved.
She heard a voice.
Soft. Warm.
Too warm.
"I always knew you could do this, dear."
Her mother's voice.
Rin's chest tightened.
No.That wasn't right. Her mother had never spoken like that. Never encouraged. Never believed. Always cutting possibilities down before they could grow.
Understanding hit her like a blade.
This wasn't her mother.
This was her mind—trying to stabilize itself. Trying to survive.
Another Rin appeared—this one identical to her in every detail, yet unmistakably not her. Copies. Reflections. Possibilities. Her consciousness branching, overlapping.
Her eyes burned brighter. Green light spilled from them, sparkles drifting into the frozen air.
She could see everything.
She saw one version of herself a few feet from Kairo, ready to strike. She saw the angle. The timing. The result.
And she realized something terrifying.
She could change it.
Rin planned the strike.
And the strike obeyed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reality snapped back into motion.
Rin's eyes locked with Kairo's glowing red ones.
A Rin-clone appeared and struck exactly as planned—then shattered into green particles. Kairo reeled, damaged.
Five more Rins materialized around him.
He destroyed two.
The other three cut him apart.
Rin teleported away, reappearing near the double doors. Kairo attacked instantly, hurling a black-gas tentacle straight through her—
—the tentacle passed through her body and smashed into the doors behind her, obliterating them.
The exit burst open.
Green particles drifted where Rin had been.
A clone.
The real Rin appeared behind Kairo, blade flashing toward his heart—
—and was crushed by fifty smaller tentacles slamming her into the floor.
She vanished.
Reappeared.
Vanished again.
All across the room, faster than thought. Kairo chased, missed, turned, struck air. He couldn't keep up.
Then—stillness.
Kairo stood at the exact center of the room.
Axel was gone.
Veyron stood beside the shattered doors, watching.
Kairo lunged toward him—
—and his legs were severed.
He collapsed, regenerated in seconds, rose again—
—and froze.
He began to count.
Ten.Twenty.A hundred.
No.
More.
The room was full.
Walls. Ceiling. Broken debris. Every surface.
Rins.
Hundreds—no, hundreds upon hundreds—standing silently, glowing faintly green, eyes fixed on him.
At least eight hundred.
Kairo spun in place, head jerking, eyes darting. For the first time in the entire fight, his smile was gone.
He wasn't enjoying this anymore.
He was afraid.
For the first time, Kairo Noctis understood the truth.
He was already dead.
Hundreds of Rins collapsed inward at once.
They poured down on Kairo from every angle—walls, ceiling, shattered pillars, the air itself. Steel flashed. Green light streaked. One after another, clones were torn apart by his black gas limbs, bursting into particles only to reform again somewhere else. No pattern. No rhythm. Just endless pressure.
Kairo screamed.
Not a roar of dominance this time—but something raw, cracked, desperate. He fought like an animal cornered with no exit. His strikes were wild now, unfocused. Every time he destroyed one Rin, three more were already moving in.
Slashes carved across his gas-formed body. His frame was marked everywhere—arms, torso, back—but never the heart. Never there.
Rin was learning. Adapting.
Then—something changed.
Without warning, Rin swapped places with one of her clones.
Kairo didn't notice.
He spun, lashing out, tearing through a cluster of Rins—including the one that had just become real. Or so it looked. Green particles scattered. Another success. Another kill.
But when the smoke cleared—
There was no real Rin.
All the clones vanished at once.
The room fell silent except for Kairo's ragged breathing. His body was riddled with damage, gas leaking and reforming unevenly. He growled to himself, turning, searching, striking empty space.
Then—
Rin appeared above him.
She switched places again—instantaneous—now near his legs. Again—above. Again—behind. Again—below. Kairo lashed out blindly, attacking echoes, hitting nothing but air and fading light.
His movements slowed.
In one fatal moment, his footing slipped.
Several Rin clones materialized just long enough to grab his leg.
He fell forward.
All clones disappeared.
Rin stood there—real, solid, undeniable—one foot planted on Kairo's collapsed body, her sword raised directly over his heart.
Kairo couldn't move.
The strength was gone. The fight was over.
For a brief second, his vision blurred—and he saw his grandfather beside him, crouched low, hand extended in silence.
Kairo turned his head away.
His eyes landed on Veyron.
He was standing right there now, close enough to end it.
Rin lowered her blade and handed it to him—the fire-green edge humming faintly. Veyron took it slowly, without ceremony, and drove it straight through Kairo's heart.
Kairo screamed.
Not in rage. Not in pride.
In terror.
"N–NO—I CAN'T DIE!"
Veyron didn't even look at him.
"Said it like a true prey."
The light in Kairo's eyes faded as the last of his power drained away. Rin pulled her sword free.
Kairo was finally dead.