Cain's Titan Core convulsed violently, golden flames roaring out of control as the void around him trembled. The presence before him—his other self, the version of him that had been sealed away—stood calmly, watching as the world began to collapse.
Cracks spread beneath their feet, golden fissures snaking through the abyss, pulsing in rhythm with his Titan Core. Cain could feel it, the third chain, buried deeper than the others, resisting its own destruction.
This was different from the first two.
This wasn't just power.
This was memory.
Cain's breath came hard and uneven, his golden fire flickering as his body threatened to buckle under the weight of what was coming.
The third chain wasn't just locked—it was fighting to stay intact.
His other self exhaled slowly, stepping forward. The throne behind him flickered, its form unstable, half fading into the abyss, half merging with the golden fractures now spreading outward.
"You were never supposed to make it this far," his counterpart said, voice steady but filled with something that almost sounded like… respect.
Cain gritted his teeth, golden flames surging in response. "Then why did you leave a way back?"
The other him tilted his head slightly. "Because I had no choice."
The words hit like a hammer.
Cain's Titan Core staggered, reacting to the truth buried beneath those words. No choice.
A deep, shuddering pulse echoed through the void.
The cracks in the abyss widened. The throne split apart, pieces floating in the air, orbiting the two of them like shattered fragments of a broken past.
Cain's instincts screamed at him—whatever had been hidden behind the third chain, it wasn't just locked away.
It was actively resisting him.
His counterpart watched him, golden fire smoldering in his gaze. "The first two chains were easy to break," he mused. "They were just barriers, holding back what was already inside you."
Cain exhaled sharply, forcing himself to remain standing. "And this one?"
His counterpart's expression darkened slightly. "This one is different."
The void shuddered violently, as if the very fabric of this place was unraveling.
Cain's Titan Core reacted instantly, golden flames bursting outward to stabilize himself, but something was wrong.
The fire wasn't listening.
The golden energy he had always relied on, the power that had carried him through every battle, every fight, was refusing to obey.
His body locked up.
A sharp, unnatural pain lanced through his chest, like something was pulling him backward, away from this place, away from what was about to be revealed.
Cain staggered, gripping his ribs as his Titan Core fought against itself.
His counterpart watched, expression unreadable. "You're not ready for this."
Cain forced himself up, ignoring the fire burning beneath his skin. "I don't care."
His other self shook his head, golden flames flickering. "You should."
Cain didn't hesitate. He pushed forward, reaching deep into his Titan Core, his golden flames roaring to life despite the resistance. If the third chain was trying to hold him back, then there was only one way forward—
He would break it himself.
The void erupted.
The moment Cain made his decision, the golden cracks exploded outward, splitting the space apart, shattering the last remnants of whatever had been keeping this place intact.
The abyss collapsed.
Cain's Titan Core snapped violently, golden fire pouring out uncontrollably, his body wracked with unbearable force. It wasn't just energy. It was everything he had forgotten.
The third chain had broken.
And something else broke with it.
Cain barely had time to react before his vision fractured, memories flooding into him all at once.
He saw himself—not as he was now, not as the version standing before him, but something else entirely.
A Titan standing on the edge of oblivion.
A being whose fire burned not just for power, but for destruction.
A ruler—not of the Titans, but of something much worse.
Cain gasped, falling to his knees as the visions overwhelmed him, his body no longer his own, his mind split between past and present.
Then, amidst the chaos, he saw it.
The face of the enemy he had been fighting all along.
Not a Forsaken.
Not a ruler from the floating cities.
Not an outsider.
It was himself.
A version of him that had lost everything.
A version of him that had burned the world down in his grief.
Cain's chest tightened, his Titan Core howling in agony.
And then—
A voice, sharp and familiar, cut through the chaos.
"Now you understand."
Cain snapped back to reality, gasping as the abyss collapsed entirely.
He was falling.
The past had broken through the present.
And he had finally seen the truth.
The third chain was gone.
And now, there was nothing left to stop him from remembering what he had done.