DU! DU! DU!

  The time world convulsed as a violent tremor rippled across its vast, frozen expanse. The very air shuddered, as if recoiling from the sheer weight of an unfathomable presence. Behind Emma, the black cocoon of thick, swirling smoke, twisted and deformed like a writhing void.. suddenly snapped open with an audible crack.

  Then, something stirred within.

  A deep, guttural roar erupted from the unraveling darkness, carrying a crushing chill that bled into every inch of space. A biting frost, so dense and oppressive seeped from the monstrous presence, thickening the very atmosphere, as if the world itself teetered on the brink of fracturing under its suffocating weight.

  Then, it emerged.

  A towering monstrosity, a massive feline beast... rose behind Emma, its sleek black fur rippling unnaturally, shifting like liquid frost in constant motion. Tendrils of dark mist coiled around its massive form, hissing as they met the air. Its once-golden, cat-like eyes had deepened into an unnatural, glowing blue, an unsettling, malevolent light brimming with unfathomable hunger.

  Rows of jagged, glistening fangs curled into something that almost resembled a smile.

  Emma remained still, her golden cat-like pupils narrowing as she fixed her gaze upon the six deer-like beasts before her. Their infinite strands of fate stretched across the air, shimmering like ethereal threads, weaving into a structure far beyond the grasp of ordinary sight. Before, locking eyes with them had meant instant erasure.. obliteration, as if she had never existed at all.

  But now, she saw differently.

  A subtle shift. A borrowed sight.

  Matana’s presence twisted the very laws of perception, allowing Emma to thread her vision through the very fabric of fate. Their glowing green eyes, once absolute in their lethality, now held no power over her. The devourer’s influence bled into her own, and with that, the battle changed.

  She inhaled.

  “Advance,” she commanded, her voice quiet, yet carrying an undeniable weight.

  Behind her, Matana moved.

  A blur.. faster than thought.

  Then, CHOMP.

  A sickening crunch echoed as his monstrous jaws closed around one of the beasts, his fangs sinking deep. A spray of thick, green mist burst from the wound, its ichor-like consistency dispersing into the frost-laden air. The creature writhed, its body shuddering violently in resistance, but Matana’s grip was merciless.

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  The remaining five lunged in retaliation.

  But before they could reach him...

  Slash! Slash!

  Something unseen sliced through the space between them.

  A piercing Muuuu! tore from one of the beasts as its infinite strands of fate began to fall, severed by an invisible force. Thin, glowing strings unraveled, cut mid-air, their remnants flickering out like fading embers.

  At a distance, Emma landed with a light thud, her boots skidding slightly against the smooth, box-tiled floor. Her golden pupils flickered as she observed the aftermath.

  She had been the one cutting the threads. Her sword of Fate moved with speed, severing strand after strand. Yet, it was an endless task. The strings, though unable to mend due to the dark frost she had imbued into her strikes, continued to grow anew... ceaselessly, infinitely.

  A whisper of frustration curled at the edge of her breath.

  "That's why it's called infinite," she muttered, shifting her stance.

  In the distance, Matana was already deep in the fray. His sheer presence overwhelmed the battlefield, his massive form weaving between the six towering beasts, tearing through them with relentless, raw brutality. They fought back with equal ferocity, but it did nothing to slow him down.

  One of the deer-like beasts abruptly opened its maw, the deep abyss within its throat igniting with a volatile, flickering absence light.

  BOOM!

  A beam of absence shot forward, ripping through the air like a void tearing reality apart. The sheer force of it distorted the very space around it, disintegrating everything in its wake as it barreled toward Matana.

  But the feline monstrosity did not move.

  Instead, his body, once solid suddenly shifted.

  His sleek fur dissolved into a swirling mass of dark frost, his entire form melting into an amorphous, shadowy mist. The beam of absence struck, or rather, it didn’t. It simply passed through the void-like vapor of Matana’s body, vanishing into the abyss of his form as if it had never existed at all.

  The attack had been devoured.

  And in that moment, Matana moved once more..

  The time world trembled, rolling through the world, deep and hollow, as if the very fabric of existence was unraveling. The dark oppressive frost thickened, swirling into a vortex of nothingness, and from within, Matana’s form loomed like an abyss given life. His massive feline body stretched wide, his maw expanding beyond logic, beyond space, swallowing everything... air, time, sound, even the light that dared touch him.

  The six deer-like beasts, those creatures with infinite fates, vanished into the void along with it.

  The world itself warped, bending toward the consuming darkness. A moment of absolute silence followed, a pause so deep that existence itself seemed uncertain.....

  But then..

  Duuuuum!

  A sudden pulse, like a heartbeat of the universe.

  The time world stabilized. The abyss retreated. And as if it had never been swallowed, the reality of this place rewove itself. The six deer-like beasts materialized once more, their mist-filled fur pulsating with an unsettling glow. Their deep green eyes, impossibly ancient, flickered like dying stars, and from their flaring nostrils, green misty smoke curled into the air. Silent, unwavering, ready to fight again.

  Emma stood unmoving in the distance, golden eyes half-lidded, watching. A small smile ghosted across her lips, though her expression remained unreadable. She could feel it.. Matana was strong, yes she already knew, and yet, even his oppressive frost could not erase them. Their infinite strings of fate remained untouched, unbroken. Above fate. Just like Matana.

  But…

  Her eyes flickered, rolling slightly as she let her thoughts settle.

  "What if…"

  She let the question drift in her mind, the pieces of possibility arranging themselves like a grand puzzle. What if there was a way to sever all infinite strings at once? To reduce the uncountable to one. To take something that could not be undone....

  And Undo It....