The Boy Who Stole Time

Some time earlier, Zoah and Cecilia were locked in battle against what was believed to be the strongest monster they had ever faced.

Sweat streamed down Cecilia’s face as her breaths grew heavier and heavier. The pressure on her shoulders was crushing, yet she kept pushing forward—protecting the friends she cherished most. She had been chosen as the group’s defender not only for her sense of duty, but because she possessed the most powerful ability among them all. She had once explained her power: spatial rupture. By using her hands or a weapon to strike a chosen target, she could shatter the very fabric of space at that point, exponentially amplifying the damage inflicted.

Back in the battle, the spear-wielding monster lunged again and again, its blows fueled by terrifying strength. Every strike Zoah intercepted with his sword sent a shockwave of pain through his arms. The force was overwhelming—each block felt like being slammed by a raging tempest. He couldn’t help but wonder how he had managed to defeat a similar beast in the past.

“Hey! You two! How about lending a hand here?!” Zoah shouted in the midst of the chaos.

Ken—the once-courageous blonde of the Akk group—was now cowering in fear, his eyes wide with panic, stripped of the bravery he once wore so proudly. The other, a thin, bespectacled boy with neatly combed black hair, now disheveled after days of fighting, had once been the group’s intellect, guiding them through their studies. But now, both stood useless, frozen on the sidelines.

It was only Cecilia—once the timid girl who used to hide behind Akk whenever she met strangers—who stood firm, holding the line.

With no other allies willing to fight, Zoah placed all his trust in her. The tension in the battle was suffocating. One sword alone wasn’t enough. He thought of his ability—the power to forge weapons from bodies. But the limit was strict: he could only wield one type of weapon from a single body at a time. Switching would trigger a cooldown before he could use his sword again. It was why he hadn’t risked changing.

The climax struck when the monster thrust its spear straight at him. Summoning the full might of his sword’s power, Zoah unleashed a devastating slash. The collision erupted in a violent explosion, sending him flying. Pain wracked his body, blood trickled from his lips, but he kept his eyes fixed on the beast. Cecilia, meanwhile, struggled to hold it back, buying Zoah precious seconds.

Tightening his grip on the sword, Zoah roared and charged. His strikes came fast and hard, each one ringing through the battlefield with a metallic symphony. The monster matched his ferocity, spear clashing against steel in a deadly rhythm. Rage, strength, and unyielding will fueled their every move.

From the shadows, Cecilia struck—delivering crushing blows that shattered space itself, forcing the monster to stagger. For the first time, it hesitated. Its movements faltered. Zoah seized the opening, shouting as he brought his blade down upon its head.

The beast roared in fury, counterattacking with a devastating horizontal slash. Zoah grabbed Cecilia by the collar and hurled her into the air to save her. With unshakable resolve, he blocked the blow head-on. The impact sent blood splattering like rain across the ground. He was hurled into a cliffside, his strength nearly spent. Those hiding behind him were cut down instantly.

As the monster raised its spear to finish him, Cecilia appeared, her spatial rupture strike blasting it back. Zoah forced himself to his feet, eyes burning with determination, and drove his sword through the creature’s abdomen. Its agonized scream echoed far and wide—loud enough for Akk, somewhere far away, to hear.

In that moment, a horde of mid-tier monsters emerged, surrounding them. And then Akk appeared—plunging a blade through King.

Once, Akk had been the bright, kind-hearted boy who smiled despite Cid’s constant criticism. He had wished for nothing more than for everyone to stay happy in their colorless world. He and the others had once been inseparable friends, promising to join the academy together and never drift apart. The laughter of their childhood still lingered in memory.

But everything changed when they turned sixteen—the age for the Purification Ritual, when each received a special ability. From that day on, Akk grew distant, his demeanor darkening. Rumors spread that a second personality had taken control. Yet strangely, Akk could still answer any question—even those only the real him should know. Cecilia worried, but was met only with a cold, unreadable gaze.

At Sky Striker Academy, he became more detached, speaking with a somber tone that felt far older than his years. His words wounded Cecilia; Ken and Cid only criticized him further. Akk reacted to none of it—completely indifferent.

Back in the present, King swung at him in fury, but Akk dodged, vanishing before reappearing behind Kleith, plunging a poisoned dagger into his back. Though Kleith struck back, Akk disappeared once more.

The Crow, anticipating his own demise, began to retreat—but Akk reappeared, stabbing poison into his spine, dropping him instantly.

Zoah and Cecilia arrived just in time to witness it all. Cecilia cried out in anguish:

“What’s wrong with you, Akk? This isn’t who you are! Where’s the Akk I knew?!”

Zoah stepped forward, eyes heavy with disappointment.

“I thought you were someone I could trust…”

The girl clutching a teddy bear tried to join the fight, but the swarm of monsters was too great. Akk stood before Zoah and Cecilia, closing his eyes as strange fragments of memory flooded in.

“Do I have to do it again?” he whispered.

Visions tore through his mind—a blade driven into his abdomen. His own desperate voice calling out to a golden-eyed girl, answered only by another stab from someone beside her. Pain, sorrow, and tears followed. In another scene, a desolate land and the grim news that Sky Striker had failed its offensive. Behind him stood a boy his age—Cid—who swung his blade, severing Akk’s head, plunging the world into darkness. The agony repeated, again and again, hundreds, thousands, millions of times, etched into his soul.

Another memory—Cecilia trying to comfort him, his eyes sunken with exhaustion. He had spoken coldly to her, and she had walked away, heartbroken. She sought out Cid and Ken, begging them not to treat Akk so harshly, even if it was under orders. That night, Cecilia took her own life. When Akk came to apologize, all he found was a soaked bed, and Cecilia—naked, in a pool of her own blood, her wrists slit. Akk had held her lifeless body and wept, ready to end his own life—until the golden-eyed girl appeared.

“You are only to use your ability for your work. Return.”

Akk’s voice was hoarse, broken.

“Return? After everything that’s happened?”

Cid entered, smirking and shaking his head. Akk trembled with rage, unable to speak.

Back in the present, Akk looked at Cecilia.

“Let’s escape this hell together. Will you come with me?”

Confused, she asked, “Where? We’re going to the academy, aren’t we?”

“I don’t think I have time to explain…” he murmured.

Akk revealed that everything—the chaos, the Crow’s defeat—had been orchestrated by him. He had set the stage so that no one here could stop him from leaving. He would not face hell again. His ability, one of the rarest—control over time—had allowed him to erase the original timeline where all those horrors occurred. He had fought to create this new one, a world where his friends could be happy. On the surface, his demeanor had changed, but deep down, his wish remained the same.

Part of it was for his friends. The rest—for the world. Though the meaning behind that was unclear, he believed one day they would understand. He told Cecilia that nothing he would do from now on was wrong—though to them, it might seem senseless.

His final words to her before departing:

“Goodbye, the girl I loved so deeply.”

In an instant, every monster in the area fell dead. Akk vanished—watched by a golden-eyed girl from a distant screen. Tears streamed down Cecilia’s face as she whispered, voice trembling yet full of conviction:

“As long as you’re still the Akk I knew, no matter where you go—no matter how far—I’ll find you… and I’ll tell you… I love you more than anything in this world.”