The sanctuary remained silent after Kaizen's revelation.
No one spoke.
The name Lady Chõko lingered in the air like an invisible weight.
Even Raizen, who rarely took anything seriously, had stopped smiling.
"...So even you couldn't calculate her," Hiroshi said.
Kaizen slowly shook his head.
"It wasn't that I failed."
"There simply... wasn't an answer."
Yurota folded his arms.
"Which means she exists outside your calculations."
"Or..."
Kaizen looked toward the entrance of the sanctuary.
"...someone prevented me from seeing it."
Before anyone could continue, a calm voice echoed from behind them.
"So you've finished introducing yourselves."
Every member turned.
Footsteps echoed through the ancient hall.
Kronos had returned.
His black cloak swayed gently as he walked through the sanctuary. His crimson eyes remained emotionless, as if nothing in the world could surprise him.
Raizen grinned.
"Took you long enough."
"I saw what I needed to see."
"And?"
Kronos stopped beside the shattered monument.
"...Interesting."
Haruto looked at him.
"You went to Reikosha."
"I did."
"What did you find?"
Kronos closed his eyes for a brief moment.
"Potential."
"Nothing more."
Raizen laughed.
"So they disappointed you?"
"No."
"They're simply..."
"...unfinished."
The sanctuary became quiet again.
Raizen rested his sword over his shoulder.
"Well then."
"Show us."
Kronos glanced at him.
"...You wish to see it?"
"The strongest ability among us."
Raizen smiled.
"I've been waiting."
Kronos neither accepted nor refused.
Instead...
He slowly raised one hand.
There was no surge of energy.
No explosion.
No aura.
Just...
Silence.
"...Absolute Time Dominion."
The instant those words left his mouth—
Everything stopped.
The drifting dust froze in the air.
The silver light pouring through the broken ceiling became motionless.
Tiny fragments of stone remained suspended before they could touch the ground.
Even the flickering flames from the ancient torches no longer moved.
Silence.
Complete.
Absolute.
Only Kronos continued walking.
He calmly passed by Raizen, who stood frozen with his grin still on his face.
He walked around Hiroshi.
Past Yurota.
Past Ayame.
Past Kaizen.
Past Haruto.
None of them could blink.
None of them could breathe.
None of them could even think.
To them...
Time no longer existed.
Kronos quietly observed each of them.
"This..."
"...is a world that belongs only to me."
He reached out and lightly tapped Raizen's forehead.
Then Hiroshi's shoulder.
Then Haruto's chest.
Not to harm them.
Simply to demonstrate.
He looked upward.
Even the light from the outside world had become still.
"The universe continues to exist."
"It simply waits..."
"...for my permission to move again."
Kronos slowly closed his hand.
Time resumed.
Whoosh.
Dust fell.
Torches flickered.
The ancient sanctuary breathed once more.
Raizen instinctively stepped backward.
"...What?"
Hiroshi immediately looked around.
"...No one moved."
Haruto frowned.
"...Yet it felt..."
"...like someone was standing in front of me."
Kronos calmly lowered his hand.
"I was."
Ayame's gentle smile faded.
"You touched us."
"I did."
"...And none of us noticed."
"No."
Yurota's usually calm expression became serious.
"...A terrifying ability."
Raizen crossed his arms.
"So there really isn't a way to avoid it?"
"There is."
Everyone looked at Kronos.
He continued in the same calm voice.
"My power is absolute."
"...But my body is not."
He extended his right hand.
It trembled slightly.
"The longer time remains frozen..."
"...the more energy I consume."
"My body bears the burden."
He clenched his fist.
"If I remain inside stopped time for too long..."
"...my muscles weaken."
"...my reactions slow."
"...and my body enters what I call..."
"...Time Debt."
Kaizen nodded.
"So even perfection demands payment."
"Everything does."
Kronos answered.
"I cannot stay forever."
"I cannot perform endless attacks."
"My body still moves as it normally would."
"I simply move..."
"...while the universe cannot."
Haruto asked,
"And your greatest technique?"
For the first time...
Kronos' eyes sharpened.
"...Final Frame."
The name alone caused the atmosphere to become heavier.
"I stop time completely."
"I mark every movement."
"Every strike."
"Every step."
"When time resumes..."
"...all marked actions occur simultaneously."
Raizen smiled.
"So if someone survives..."
"...you're vulnerable."
"Correct."
"My body enters severe Time Debt."
"If I fail..."
"...I may lose."
The sanctuary fell silent once again.
Ayame quietly spoke.
"Even the strongest ability..."
"...requires faith in the user."
Kronos nodded once.
"Power without judgment..."
"...is merely self-destruction."
He turned toward the sanctuary entrance.
"The day will come..."
"...when someone moves inside my frozen world."
Raizen laughed loudly.
"I'd like to see that."
Kronos looked toward the distant horizon beyond Stonefang Highlands.
His expression remained unreadable.
"...So would I."
Somewhere far away...
Yura suddenly paused during her training.
A strange chill ran through her body.
She instinctively looked around.
"...Why..."
"...did I suddenly feel..."
"...like time itself was watching me?"
She couldn't explain it.
But somewhere...
A destiny had quietly begun.
A battle that would one day decide whether speed...
Could surpass time itself.