Cain felt himself disintegrate.
Not in a physical sense—his body was still there, still burning with golden fire—but his mind, his sense of self, his very existence was unraveling. The moment the last chain fractured, something inside him shifted, a change so profound that it rewrote everything he thought he knew about himself.
Memories poured in like an unstoppable tide, slamming into his consciousness with the weight of an entire forgotten life. He saw himself, not as the broken survivor, not as the struggling warrior, but as something greater and far more terrifying.
He had not simply been a Titan.
He had been the Titan.
A ruler, a conqueror, a being so powerful that even his own kind had feared him. He had led the Titans in their final war, standing at the edge of existence, and when the world turned against him—when even the Titans themselves sought to stop him—he had refused.
He had fought them.
And he had won.
Cain staggered, clutching his chest as his Titan Core surged wildly, no longer just his own power but something else entirely. It was no longer resisting—it was welcoming.
The entity stood before him, watching patiently as Cain struggled against the inevitable.
"You are remembering now."
Cain gritted his teeth, golden embers crackling around him as he forced himself to stay standing. His mind felt like it was being ripped apart and rebuilt at the same time, fragments of his past and present fusing together into something new.
"Shut up," he snarled.
The entity tilted its head, golden eyes burning. "Why do you resist? This is who you are."
Cain took a slow, unsteady breath.
His Titan Core was different now. The energy inside him no longer pulsed like a heart—it raged, like a storm barely contained. The moment the last chain had broken, it had unleashed something ancient, something raw and untamed.
And it was still growing.
Cain could feel it.
He was stronger.
Far, far stronger than before.
But at what cost?
The entity took a slow step forward. The space around them shook, the world they stood in barely able to contain their presence now.
"You locked yourself away because you feared this power," it said. "You thought breaking the chains would set you free. But freedom is an illusion."
Cain's golden flames flared violently, reacting to the words in ways he didn't fully understand.
The entity smiled.
"You never locked yourself away to stop your enemies."
Cain's heart pounded.
"You locked yourself away to stop yourself."
The words hit like a physical blow.
Cain froze, something deep inside him trembling.
The truth had always been there. Buried beneath layers of chains, beneath fragmented memories and half-truths, beneath the lie he had told himself for so long.
He had thought the world had feared him.
But the truth was—he had feared himself.
A sharp, searing pain lanced through his Titan Core, his golden flames flickering, destabilizing.
He looked at his hands, at the fire burning around him.
Had he made a mistake?
Had breaking the chains not freed him, but unleashed something far worse?
The entity stepped closer.
"Now, there is nothing left to hold you back."
Cain's breath was sharp and uneven.
Because he realized he didn't know what would happen next.
The world shook violently, the space around them splintering apart, as though the universe itself was rejecting what Cain had become.
A voice—**a different one this time, distant yet powerful—**echoed through the void.
"He is awake."
Cain's blood ran cold.
The sky fractured.
Something was coming.
Something that had been waiting for him to break the final chain.
Cain clenched his fists, golden fire erupting violently around him.
Whatever was coming, whatever he had awakened—
It was already here.