CHAPTER 278: CHAPTERS 278: HER BRILLIANT, STUBBORN BROTHER

Atlas’s chest was heaving with strange, uneven breaths, each one rattling through him as though his lungs were filled with glass. He felt like he had lost everything.

He still couldn’t save them... not her, not anyone. He was a big failure. First, he lost her—his lifeline—and now, he was losing his little sister too.

Atlas’s knees gave way, the fight draining from him. His body trembled as he crawled towards his little sister’s body, every movement heavy, as though the weight of the world was pressing him into the ground. His vision swam. The past was repeating itself right before his eyes.

He still remembered that day. The day he lost her—his lover, his wife—to cruel fate. He had been too late then too. All he could do was hold her cold body in his arms and weep, their crying child pressed between them, a living reminder of the love that had been ripped away.

Now... now it was the same pain all over again. The same helplessness, the same cold in his veins. Only this time, the body was of his little sister. His baby sister. The one he had loved more than himself, the one he had sworn to protect no matter what.

Atlas’s voice shook as he whispered, "Aeris... wake up. Forgive your brother..." His fingers brushed her hair back, trembling, as though the gentleness might coax her back. But no matter how much time passed, she didn’t stir. Her chest didn’t rise.

The silence pressed on him until something inside him snapped. Slowly, a resolve began to form in his mind, unshakable. No. He wasn’t going to just sit here and watch her be taken from him like before. He wasn’t going to let history repeat itself.

Even if it cost him everything—his life, his soul—he was going to bring her back. He would tear the heavens apart if he had to. He would not wait for some miracle. He would make one.

A low hum rippled through the air. Then, without warning, a colossal clock materialized behind Atlas, its hands starting to tick backwards. A pale white mist spilled from its edges, curling like ghostly tendrils around him and the lifeless form of Aeris lying at his knees.

Liora’s breath caught. Her feet wanted to move forward instinctively to see what her brother was attempting. Yet her body couldn’t move. She knew the lengths Atlas was willing to go for the people he loved... and she feared the price.

Her heart pounded. Don’t... Don’t take it too far. Don’t throw yourself away for her.

The sight in front of her was almost unbearable. Atlas—her brilliant, stubborn brother—was hunched over Aeris’s still body, his face streaked with tears that dripped freely onto the cold.

Liora’s chest ached. She had seen him cry before, but never like this—never so openly broken, unable to accept the truth. He wasn’t simply mourning. He was rejecting reality itself.

On the other side of the fog, her gaze flickered toward Kazren’s unmoving form. The conversation between him and Atlas from earlier still echoed in her mind, but the words refused to piece together into something she could fully grasp.

Why had Atlas been urging Kazren to "snap out of it"? What was the connection between the two? And how... how could Kazren wield such a terrifying ability, tearing open the dimension rift, summoning monsters from dimensions that should never touch theirs?

So many questions clawed at her thoughts, each one sharper than the last, yet none with answers. And now... this.

Atlas’s clock pulsed again, each vibration bending the very air. The white mist thickened, spiraling faster, wrapping tighter around him and Aeris. The glow from the clock’s hands intensified until Liora could barely make out their silhouettes.

"What... is he trying to do?" She whispered to herself.

She took one more step forward, desperate to watch, to understand, but the world before her shifted—not in sound or light, but in clarity.

A strange, pulling force wrapped around her, tugging her back. Her vision blurred, as though a veil was descending over the scene. The fog was no longer part of the ability; it was swallowing everything.

Her pulse quickened. "No... no, wait! I can’t see—what’s happening to him?!"

The mist thickened until even the clock’s glow dimmed. She was no longer certain if Atlas was still standing or if Aeris’s body was still there. The scene dissolved into shapeless shadows.

Her voice shook. "System! What is this? Why can’t I see anymore? Is the time already over?"

"Yes, host," the system’s calm, mechanical tone replied inside her mind. After this point, the memories I retrieved are incomplete. Beyond this, the sequence becomes unstable and cannot be fully reconstructed. I cannot maintain your presence here any longer. We must exit.

"No!" She tried to protest, but the pull became stronger, dragging her away.

The world tilted violently. The ground beneath her feet vanished, replaced by an endless void that stretched in every direction. She fell, weightless and powerless, tears streaming hot and fast down her cheeks.

Her heart splintered. My baby... Xu Kai... and my dear brother...

She had left them. She had left all of them without explanation, without goodbye, in a way so cruel it made her soul ache.

Somewhere in the blackness, a voice called her name. A familiar warmth gripped her shoulders, shaking her gently but firmly. The void shattered like glass, and she was slammed back into her body.

Her eyes fluttered open, blurred with tears, and met the deep, stormy gaze of Xu Kai. He was leaning over her, worry etched in every line of his face, his hands still resting on her arms.

The moment she saw him, the dam broke. A sob ripped from her throat. "I’m sorry... I’m so sorry, Xu Kai..." Her voice cracked between gasps. "You suffered because of me... I left you alone... I—I abandoned you and our baby..."

The words tumbled out in broken fragments, almost incoherent between her sobs, but the guilt in her voice was impossible to miss.

At the mention of baby, Xu Kai froze. His breath hitched, his fingers tightening around her arms. Slowly, his eyes widened, as if those words had pierced deeper than any blade.

"...Baby?" He whispered, his voice trembling.