The Silver City shimmered beneath the morning sky, reborn in solemn grandeur. Its crystalline towers caught the first rays of dawn and scattered them across the plains like shattered stars. The old world was gone. The corrupted planes had been fused and purified. This was Jin's creation—a city built not on conquest, but on resolve.
For the first time in what felt like lifetimes, the air was calm.
He stood on the high balcony of the central spire, dressed in ceremonial white and obsidian robes, watching the wind dance across the silver grass below. Behind him, he heard the faint footsteps of someone approaching.
"Found you," came a soft voice—warm, familiar.
He turned and saw Lia, her long silver hair trailing like mist behind her. In her arms was a sleeping child—Eirlys.
Moments later, Velka entered as well, more regal in demeanor, yet strangely gentle as she approached. In her arms was a smaller boy, his golden hair tousled, crimson eyes half-lidded in sleep—Daemon.
"It's peaceful," Lia said. "Too peaceful."
Jin nodded. "It's always like this… right before the storm."
In the lower districts of the Silver City, the Courtyard of the Twelve Moons echoed with the sound of steel, breath, and determination. Kaelros cleaved through training constructs with his crimson blade, moving like a flame reborn. Beside him, Lysander conjured ethereal shields mid-air, practicing precision defenses against volleys fired by Rin, whose arrows glowed with radiant enchantments.
Athena stood apart, eyes closed, levitating in silence—sensing the threads of fate. She could feel something unraveling. Something distant. Dark.
On the training ground's edge, Arden sparred alone, each swing of his blade heavier than the last. Rage and regret burned behind his every move. Though once a foe, he had chosen to stay—though his path toward redemption remained thorned.
Jin arrived shortly after, his children safe in the care of his mother and Lillian, who tended to the inner sanctum with quiet reverence. His father watched proudly from the citadel's edge, the person once lost now found in a world too surreal to grasp—but standing by his son all the same.
"They're training well," Jin said.
"They have to," Velka replied beside him. "The next enemy won't be merciful."
But while the Silver City thrived in rebirth…
Something far beyond the veil of light cracked.
In the cold hollow where time was once sealed, a cocoon pulsed.
The Loop… barely held… splintered… and now… broken.
The cocoon split with a deafening silence.
Two glowing eyes opened—brilliant gold with rings of black chaos.
Lucias had awakened.
His body trembled from the effort, but his mind—his will—was unyielding. The cycle was broken, and yet… he had seen it all. Shadow Army Awaken, the creation of the Silver City, Jin's rise…
"So you rose higher… but you forgot one thing, brother."
Lucias stepped forward into the shadows of the old void.
"I remember who you were… and who you're destined to become. This world is not saved. Not yet."
He smiled, blood dripping from his lips, his eyes glowing with forbidden truth.
"Let's end what we started."
Back in the Silver City, Jin paused mid-sentence as a strange chill passed through him. His gaze turned toward the distant horizon.
Athena's eyes opened suddenly.
"Something ancient just moved."
"Lucias?" Jin asked.
She nodded.
"He's free."
Silence fell. The wind no longer danced.
The light above the Silver City dimmed ever so slightly—as if fate itself held its breath.
Jin smirked. " It is expectable. But he needs few time to recover properly. And this time I am not longer a weak."
He looked at the endless sky. The sky looked normal but it was the symbol of silent before storm.
"Let's end what we started."
The silver winds moved gently across the high balcony of the central tower.
Jin leaned against the balustrade, watching the last rays of sunlight fade from the Silver City. He wore a quiet expression, the kind that comes after victory—but hides the burden of cost.
Behind him, a presence approached—not divine, not spectral, but solid and real.
Han Jin Hyuk, his father.
The man who had once perished in the mundane world, now restored to life within a realm where myth and truth blurred. He had changed little in appearance—yet his eyes held something deeper now: observation. Experience.
He stood beside Jin in silence for a moment.
"You've grown more mature," Jin Hyuk said. "More calculating. There's steel in you now that wasn't there before I died."
Jin offered a faint smile, not meeting his eyes.
"War forges people. Even gods."
"No… it's not just that," his father continued, voice soft. "I can see it. Something else changed you. You're hiding something."
Jin stiffened slightly.
"Don't do this, Father."
"Why not?" Han Jin Hyuk's tone was suddenly firm. "You told us about Zhel-Vorah. About Aurelia. About your reincarnation. Even your strange connection to the Monarchs and Overlords… But tell me this…"
He turned to face Jin fully, eyes locked on his son's.
"Why didn't you tell us that you knew… your mother and I are the reincarnations of Kronos and Rhea?"
Jin's breath hitched.
The silver light around them dimmed. Time itself seemed to pause.
"Why didn't you tell Lia… that she, too, was summoned from another world just like your mother?"
"Why didn't you tell your sister, Lillian, that she is the reincarnation of Aurevian, the Monarch of Balance and your former sister in the previous cosmic cycle?"
Jin's eyes widened. "How…"
"I'm not a fool, son," Han Jin Hyuk said, softly now. "Not anymore. I've been watching. I've been listening. And I've remembered. When I left you then I was wandering to find the answers my questions. "
He looked at his son. He saw the scars in his arm. His eyes softened.
"I am not forcing you. If you don't want this then I will not mention this again."
Jin turned away, gripping the railing.
His voice was low.
"Because I was afraid."
"Afraid of what?" his father asked.
"Afraid that the truth would break them."
[Flashback - Revelation of Truth]
The memory bled through like a wound reopening.
Jin stood in the inner sanctum of the Silver City. The core family was gathered. He told them—told Eva, Lillian, Chris, Lia.—about the truth of their souls.
Eva's face had crumpled first. Not in fear—but betrayal.
"You knew? You knew all along? And you said nothing?"
Lia stood frozen, Her lip trembled.
Lillian stepped back as if struck.
"Aurevian…? But I'm her heir."
"You're not 'just' anything," Jin said quickly. "You're still you. But your soul carries more. I didn't want your identity to be chained to a past you never chose."
"But you chose to hide it from us," Eva whispered. "All this time."
"I only wanted to protect you," Jin replied, voice cracking.
"But love isn't protection built on lies," his mother said. "It's trust built on truth."
Now
The flash faded.
Han Jin Hyuk waited for an answer. Not as a god. Not as Kronos. But as a father.
Jin closed his eyes and took a breath.
"I've seen what the truth does to people," Jin said. "It doesn't set you free. It puts a weight on your soul."
"I wanted them to live as themselves, not as echoes of past divinity. I wanted Lia to love me because I'm me—not because fate chose us. I wanted Mom to remember her life as Eva—not as a goddess who once ruled Olympus."
His voice broke for a moment.
"And I didn't want Lillian to become something else. Aurevian is a name of finality. But Lillian is warmth, laughter, kindness. My sister."
There was silence. Then Jin Hyuk placed a hand on his son's shoulder.
"You made hard choices. But now, you have to stop running from them. They all deserve the truth—and you deserve the peace that comes when you stop hiding from the people who love you."
Jin looked up slowly.
"But what if telling the truth breaks us apart?"
"Then you rebuild," his father said. "Together."
Far away, Lucias sat atop the remains of his dead domain, watching stars twist unnaturally overhead.
"He's still hesitating," Lucias muttered. "That's your flaw, Jin. You love too deeply. But in the end… even love cannot stop what is coming."
The eyes of the forgotten gods opened in the dark.