Cain awoke gasping, his lungs burning as if he had been drowning. The moment his eyes snapped open, he found himself somewhere new—not the golden city, not the abyss, but a place that felt like both.
The air here was thick with power, the kind that pressed against his skin, worming its way into his bones. He staggered to his feet, his golden flames flickering weakly around his hands, struggling to stabilize. His Titan Core was still roaring inside him, but it wasn't fighting anymore.
It was waiting.
Cain turned slowly, scanning his surroundings. The sky above was black and fractured, like shattered glass stretched across an endless void. The ground beneath him was cold, uneven, cracked with veins of flickering golden light. It wasn't a wasteland.
It was a battlefield.
Ruined weapons lay scattered across the ground—massive swords, shattered armor, remnants of a war long since erased from history. The more Cain looked, the more familiar it all seemed, like he had walked these grounds before.
A memory buried in time.
Then, a voice shattered the silence.
"You are awake."
Cain froze.
He knew that voice.
His body tensed as he turned to face the figure standing in the distance, draped in shadows that flickered like dying embers.
The man was waiting for him.
Tall, broad-shouldered, wrapped in a cloak that seemed to shift between light and dark, his presence was undeniable. The same golden eyes, the same quiet confidence.
It was like staring into a reflection of himself, distorted by something older and crueler.
"You have questions." The man's voice was calm, measured, too familiar.
Cain clenched his fists, golden energy flaring instinctively around him. "You think?"
The man gave a slow nod, taking a step forward. The ground trembled beneath his feet.
"Good. That means you are ready."
Cain felt his Titan Core flare violently, as if reacting to something beyond his control. "Ready for what?"
The man stopped a few paces away, watching him closely. His golden eyes burned like Cain's.
"To remember."
Cain's stomach twisted. He had been running from this since the moment he set foot in the abyss. The Forsaken had whispered it. The Titans had demanded it.
Now, this thing wearing his face was forcing him to face it.
He gritted his teeth. "I don't care about the past. I don't care about whatever was buried or erased." His golden flames surged around him. "I care about surviving."
The man smirked.
"That is why you have lasted this long."
Cain hated the way he said that. Like he already knew what Cain would do. Like he had seen this play out before.
Cain's flames flared violently, the pressure around him shifting. "You know what? Screw this. If you're just another trick of the abyss, I'm done playing your game."
The smirk didn't fade. The man didn't move.
"Then fight me."
Cain's heart pounded.
The words were spoken so casually. So final.
Cain exhaled slowly, forcing himself to stay steady. "Why?"
"Because you do not believe me."
Cain didn't respond.
"Because you will not accept the truth unless it is beaten into you."
Cain's pulse roared. His instincts were screaming at him—not to run, not to fight, but to listen.
But he couldn't.
Because this man, this thing wearing his face, was offering him something far worse than death.
"If you win," the man said, tilting his head slightly, "you can walk away, forget all of this, return to whatever life you think you still have."
Cain narrowed his eyes. "And if I lose?"
The man's golden gaze burned.
"Then you will finally know who you are."
The air cracked between them, golden flames clashing with shadows that pulsed like a second heartbeat.
Cain tensed.
Then—
The man attacked.
Cain barely had time to react before a fist slammed into his ribs, sending him hurtling backward. He crashed through the broken battlefield, golden embers scattering through the air as he dug his feet into the ground, stopping himself just before he could be thrown completely off balance.
He gritted his teeth, his hands shaking from the sheer force of that hit.
The man hadn't just struck him.
He had touched his Titan Core directly.
Cain coughed, his breath sharp. "Okay," he muttered, wiping blood from his lips. "So that's how this is gonna go."
The man watched him, waiting.
Cain rolled his shoulders, golden flames rising around him, and launched forward.
Their fists collided, sending out a shockwave that tore through the battlefield. The air split apart, golden fire and shifting darkness twisting violently around them as Cain attacked again and again, each strike faster, stronger—
But the man matched him blow for blow.
Cain wasn't just fighting an enemy.
He was fighting himself.
Every movement, every counter, every instinct was perfectly mirrored. He threw a feint—the man dodged without hesitation. He shifted mid-air—the man was already adjusting.
Cain growled, frustration mounting. "You're mocking me!"
The man smiled. "I am showing you."
Cain twisted sharply, golden flames bursting outward as he forced the battlefield itself to shift, using the force of his Titan Core to change the terrain—but it didn't matter.
Because the man didn't move like an opponent.
He moved like someone who already knew how this fight would end.
Cain's golden flames exploded outward as he pushed himself beyond his limits, his Titan Core screaming as he lashed out one final time—
And missed.
The man was suddenly behind him.
Cain's breath hitched as an iron grip closed around his throat.
He barely had time to react before the man slammed him into the ground.
The battlefield shook violently, golden energy scattering like shattered stars as Cain gasped for breath, his vision blurring at the edges.
The man knelt beside him, golden eyes burning.
"You have always been strong."
Cain struggled against his grip, but he couldn't move.
"But you were never whole."
Cain's Titan Core pulsed erratically, his golden flames flickering weakly—
"Let me fix that."
The shadows around them collapsed inward, swallowing them both whole.
And Cain's mind shattered.