⚙️ Chapter 70 –
"The greatest enemy isn't born… he's remembered."
🌌 Scene 1: Return From the Starfall Realm
Aeren gasped awake, drenched in sweat, lying beneath the shade of a towering tree near the academy's edge. His body was trembling… but not from fear.
Something inside had changed.
"I… remember something," he muttered. "But it's fading… no, it's being sealed away."
His right hand throbbed. A glowing symbol of a shattered clock burned on his wrist before disappearing.
The moment he stood, the entire forest seemed to pause. Birds flew in reverse for a split second. A tree branch that had broken repaired itself.
Time… warped around him.
And Aeren had no idea how to control it.
🧬 Scene 2: The Rise of the Crimson Paradox
Far from Sinjai, beyond the desolate wastes of Nocthollow, inside a floating temple known as the Sanctum of Lost Time, a dark figure stood facing an ancient mirror.
He had no face. His cloak swirled like black fire. But his voice was unmistakable.
"He's awakened, hasn't he?"
Behind him, twelve robed figures—all members of the forbidden cult NEXILIS—bowed.
"Yes, Lord Paradox. The pulse from the Starfall Chamber confirmed it."
"Then it's time I remind him… who he truly is."
The mirror before him shimmered, revealing Aeren's image.
Then he reached forward—and from within the mirror, he pulled out a forbidden relic:A scroll sealed in red wax and bound with thorns.
The God-Killer Seal.
Once opened, it had the power to shatter divine beings… and reset time itself.
🏫 Scene 3: Back to Sinjai – Hidden Changes
Back at Sinjai Academy, preparations for the second phase of the Seeker Ranking Competition were underway. But whispers moved like wind:
"Did you hear? The Scarlet Moon awoke some ancient monsters.""One school got attacked by a Level 8 Reaver Drake.""And someone said… Sinjai might be next."
Anshi found Aeren in the courtyard, training alone, his hands shaking.
"Aeren… are you okay?"
"I think I'm… not who I thought I was."
She stepped closer, concern in her eyes. But Aeren's gaze was elsewhere—fixed on the sun, which flickered for a moment like a dying lightbulb.
Time was distorting again.
"I'm scared," he whispered. "Not of what's coming… but of me."
Anshi hugged him tightly.
"Then we'll fight it together."
🩸 Scene 4: The Crimson Signal
That night, a red beam erupted into the sky from deep within the Verdant Hollow, a Level-9 danger zone that had been sealed for years.
The barrier shattered like glass.
And every high-level seeker across the region received the same mental message:
"The Crimson Paradox has returned."
The world trembled.
🎭 Scene 5: Aeren's Vision
As he tried to sleep, Aeren was pulled into a dream—not a memory, not a vision—but a warning.
He stood at the edge of a broken realm. Storms of time and blood swirled around him.
A shadow stepped from the mist—it was him again, older, darker, dripping with a mix of rage and sorrow.
"You keep hiding," the shadow said."But you can't run from what you were made to be."
"Who are you?"
"I'm you… the day you finally remembered everything."
And then Aeren saw it—flashes of entire timelines he had once ruled, destroyed, rebuilt.
He saw the faces of monsters… bowing.
He saw gods falling.
And worst of all—he saw himself losing control.
🔚 End of Chapter 70