The moon no longer hung in the sky.
It loomed — an unblinking wound above the city, a living eye that swallowed every flicker of hope and spat out despair.
The crimson rivers had risen overnight. Streets were flooded in a liquid that reflected memories not of what had been — but what could have been.* Time had begun to bleed.
Adrian Veyl stood at the edge of one such river, his reflection splitting into a thousand faces: himself as a child, as a killer, as a god, as nothing. Each fragment whispered promises or accusations. His chest burned with the sigil of the Vessel, glowing through his shirt like molten metal. The voice of the Red Moon throbbed behind his thoughts.
> "You've tasted power and still pretend to be pure. Lust doesn't consume you because you've already surrendered."
He gritted his teeth and tore his gaze away, trying to anchor himself to something real — Elira's faint breathing nearby, Kael's distant voice shouting orders, Crysmal's muffled sobs that shook the ruined air.
But reality was unsteady. Every sound stretched. Every echo doubled. The clocks across the city had begun to tick backward and forward simultaneously. Time no longer flowed — it flickered.
---
Kael stood atop the fallen cathedral, sword drawn, his white hair now streaked with threads of gray as if the battle itself had aged him centuries. His body bore deep gashes, yet he stood resolute.
The Devil hovered before him, cloaked in obsidian light, a presence that distorted every ray of the Red Moon around them. His voice was both gentle and merciless — the way a father might speak to a son he never intended to spare.
> "You've forgotten who you are, Kael. I forged you from light stolen from heaven and shadow stolen from hell. You think your rebellion makes you free?"
Kael's grip tightened on his sword. "I am free because I chose to be."
The Devil smiled faintly. "You chose defiance. That's not freedom. That's a prison with prettier walls."
Their blades collided — light against void. The force split the air in ripples that distorted the clouds and tore open fragments of time.
With every strike, echoes appeared around them — dozens of Kaels, dozens of Devils, each locked in the same eternal duel. Each moment replayed and rewound, a thousand fathers killing a thousand sons.
---
Down below, Elira gasped as the air fractured like glass. Her veins glowed faintly, the signature of a Timekeeper nearing her limit. The strain of holding the city's fragments together had already begun to eat away at her life.
"Adrian," she whispered, voice trembling, "the city's dying through every second at once. If we don't anchor time again, it'll loop itself until everything is just memory and dust."
Adrian knelt beside her, his eyes dark with exhaustion. "Tell me what to do."
"Not you," she said softly, looking toward the Red Moon. "Me."
He froze. "No."
"It's the only way," she continued. "My body is bound to the temporal lattice. I can use myself as a core — become the stabilizer. It'll stop the collapse… but it'll erase me. I'll be everywhere and nowhere — living inside the seconds, not in them."
He shook his head violently. "We'll find another way. Kael—"
"Kael's fighting his father. He can't break from that without shattering what's left of the timeline. Adrian… look around you."
He did. And saw.
Children chasing shadows that vanished mid-step.
Old men turning young only to age again before his eyes.
Buildings forming and unforming.
Cults praying to versions of gods that no longer existed.
Time itself was melting.
---
Crysmal landed beside them, his massive wings drooping. Tears dripped like molten glass onto the ground, steaming where they fell.
"I can't feel… where I am anymore," the dragon murmured. "My heart beats too slow… or too fast…"
Adrian placed a hand on Crysmal's snout. "Stay with me."
Crysmal blinked, one eye flickering between colors — blue, gold, and red. "Kael's dying. His father is tearing him apart through his memories. I can feel it. The bond between us— it's unraveling."
Adrian looked up at the cathedral's spire, where flashes of battle split the clouds. The Red Moon's reflection bent around Kael and the Devil like water around a wound.
He wanted to help. He needed to help. But the vessel mark on his chest flared — not with power, but pain. Every time he tried to draw more energy, the Red Moon pulled back, mocking him with its control.
> "You are mine, Adrian. Lust was never your gift. It was your chain."
The words burned into his mind. The ground beneath his feet turned to scarlet liquid. He sank to one knee, gasping. The Moon's power coiled around his lungs like smoke. He could feel it — the temptation, the surrender, the sweet promise of release.
If he gave in, he would be unstoppable. But he would no longer be himself.
Elira touched his face, her own fading. "Don't lose yourself now. You're the only thing left that still believes this world can be saved."
"I'm not sure I do anymore."
"Then believe in me instead."
Her words cut through the noise. Adrian inhaled sharply, focusing on her touch, her voice, her trembling heartbeat. Something within him steadied. The sigil on his chest flickered — and for the first time, it pulsed in rhythm against the Red Moon.
He rose, his body trembling but his eyes alight.
---
Above, Kael's duel had escalated beyond mortal comprehension.
Their clash had broken the very notion of gravity. Pieces of the cathedral floated in midair, orbiting them like the remains of a shattered world.
The Devil struck him with a blade made of pure will, sending Kael crashing into the void between seconds.
> "Every son kills his father to become himself," the Devil murmured. "But tell me, Kael — who do you become when the father is the world?"
Kael, bloodied and gasping, laughed through clenched teeth. "Then I'll kill the world."
He charged again. The impact shattered something fundamental. The moon flickered. The rivers stopped flowing. For an instant — silence.
---
Then came the scream.
It wasn't human. It wasn't divine. It was time itself.
Every clock burst simultaneously.
Every mirror cracked.
Every sound stretched into eternity.
Elira fell to her knees, clutching her head. "It's starting—!"
Reality broke.
The city collapsed inward like paper folding on itself. Streets spiraled upward into the sky. Towers twisted into grotesque shapes. Time bled from every corner — a crimson mist carrying memories and futures alike.
And from that bleeding came them — the Scarlet Choir.
They emerged as silhouettes of light and shadow, voices layered upon voices, singing in a harmony that warped existence. Each note reshaped matter, bending the world closer to the Red Moon's will.
> "The Vessel calls. The Choir answers. The Eclipse begins."
Adrian's mind nearly split under the sound. Crysmal roared, sending sonic shockwaves that tore through several Choir members, but for each that fell, two more emerged, crawling from rifts in time.
Kael saw them too — even mid-duel. His father's smirk returned.
> "They've come for him, not you. The Vessel must either ascend or be devoured. Let them sing, my son. The song of endings suits you."
Kael snarled. "Then I'll silence them myself."
He stabbed forward, piercing through the Devil's chest. For a moment, victory — until the Devil smiled and gripped the blade from within.
> "Kill me, and the chain breaks. The Red Moon will fall unbound. Are you ready for that, Kael?"
Kael froze. The realization hit him — if the Devil died, nothing would contain the Red Moon's hunger.
---
On the ground, Elira's body flickered in and out of existence. Her skin glowed with time-energy, her form already merging with the collapsing lattice.
"Adrian," she whispered, "take my chronos core. Fuse it into the vessel. You'll be able to resist the Choir… for a while."
He knelt, shaking his head violently. "No. You'll—"
"I already am."
Her eyes softened. "When time bleeds, something must be sacrificed to seal the wound. Let it be me. Maybe then, you'll have a future worth the pain."
He felt something crack in his chest — not just the vessel mark, but his heart. Tears mixed with blood. "Elira, don't do this."
She smiled weakly. "You once told me love was just another form of defiance. So let me defy the end."
Her hands reached his chest, pressing against the glowing sigil. Energy flared, wrapping around them both. The air turned white-hot.
"Forgive me," she whispered. "Or don't. Just remember me."
With a flash, her body dissolved into light — her essence pouring into Adrian's heart. The sigil changed shape, now bearing the spiral of a clock.
The Red Moon howled. The Scarlet Choir screamed in discord.
And Adrian rose.
---
The world dimmed.
He stood between moments, surrounded by nothing but the ticking of unseen clocks. His voice was cold, trembling with fury and grief.
"Red Moon," he said, "you wanted a vessel. You have one."
Power erupted from him, tearing through Choir members like paper. The city's timeline shuddered as he moved through multiple instants at once — appearing behind enemies before they'd even struck. Every motion left an afterimage of himself a second too early or too late.
Crysmal's wings blazed with light, amplifying Adrian's fury. Kael, seeing the shift, drove his sword deeper into the Devil's chest, locking him in place. "Now, Adrian! End this!"
Adrian extended his hand toward the Red Moon, channeling every ounce of vessel and chronos energy. The sigil flared — part clock, part flame. The Moon convulsed, bleeding crimson light into the void. The Choir shrieked, fracturing into motes of shadow.
But the strain was unbearable. His vision blurred. His skin began to crack, light seeping from the wounds.
Kael shouted, "Adrian! Stop!"
He couldn't.
He wouldn't.
"I can still see her," Adrian whispered. "In every second. In every breath of this broken time. She's… everywhere."
He poured the last of his strength into the beam.
The Red Moon split.
The Choir vanished.
Silence.
And then — darkness.
---
When he awoke, the sky was gray. The Red Moon was gone.
The rivers were still.
The clocks had stopped.
Kael knelt nearby, leaning on his sword, his father's corpse dissolving into ash beside him. Crysmal lay motionless, faintly breathing.
Adrian sat up weakly, looking at his hands. The sigil still glowed — but the spiral had stopped turning.
"Elira?" he whispered into the wind.
No answer. Only the faint echo of ticking far away — as if time itself was breathing through her memory.
Kael looked at him, eyes weary but resolute. "She bought us this calm. But it's not over. You felt it, didn't you? The Moon didn't die. It hid."
Adrian nodded slowly. "Then we find it."
He looked up at the sky, the gray clouds pulsing faintly red from beneath.
> "Because if the Moon bleeds again…"
"...the world will drown."