Chapter 68: Silent Exile: The End and the Beginning

The sky did not heal.
The cracks widened.
Light bled into darkness.

Reality itself screamed.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Broken Kanata shouted, clutching his dragon arms.

“What’s happening? We sealed Leviathan, didn’t we?!” A.R. Itsuha cried.

Broken Kanata’s voice trembled.
“Something’s wrong… something far worse than Leviathan is coming.”

Celestine turned to him, confusion in her eyes.
“What do you mean—worse?”

Broken Kanata’s expression hardened.
“The Alter Egos of the Dark Universe are on their way.”

The wind died.
Even the sea stopped moving.

“Alter Egos…?” Celestine whispered.

“They’re the evil reflections of every variant across the multiverse,” he explained darkly.
“They conquer, they devour, and when they grow bored, they destroy entire worlds just for amusement.”

A heavy silence fell.

Kanata from the future stepped forward, fists clenched.
“Then tell me—what have you done this time?”

Broken Kanata turned sharply.
“Don’t accuse me! This isn’t my doing. Something beyond every known world is pulling them here.”

Prime Kanata appeared behind them, his eyes calm yet burning with resolve.
“Then… there must be another way.”

Broken shook his head slowly.
“No. Not this time.”

Kanata closed his eyes.
When he opened them, they glowed with golden determination.

“I have an idea. A crazy one.”

“What kind of idea?” asked A.R. Celestine, hesitant yet hopeful.

Kanata smiled faintly.
“I’ll give each of you a fragment of my power… and the right to write your own story.”

Everyone stared.
Even Broken Kanata froze.

“What did you just say?”

“You heard me. You’ll each create your own world—a world that reflects your heart. If the universes must divide, let them be reborn through your hands.”

He raised his palm.
Golden spheres of light formed—warm, alive, infinite.
They floated gently toward the A.R. versions of everyone present.

The spheres sank into their chests.
A soft glow surrounded them.

A.R. Celestine looked at Kanata with tears in her eyes.
“Kanata… thank you.”

A.R. Kanata smiled beside her.
“I’ll take care of her in our new world.”

They clasped hands.
“Farewell.”

Light swallowed them both as their new world began to form.

A.R. Itsuha turned, her eyes glistening.
“Remember this, Kanata-kun—if you ever need us, just call our names.”
Her figure dissolved into light, rewriting her own universe.

Then came A.R. Nagisa.
She walked up to Naomi, Haqua, and Prime Kanata, wrapping them all in one final embrace.

“Thank you… for everything.”

Her tears shimmered as she vanished, carrying warmth instead of grief.

A.R. Caine smiled softly, his shadow stretching toward the horizon.
“In my world… there will be no more war.”
He raised his hand. “Only peace.”
And then he was gone.

Next, Kanata of the Future faced his prime counterpart.
“So this is how my story ends.”
He gave a small, proud smile.
“Then take it from here, my past self. Don’t make the same mistakes I did.”
Light consumed him.

Elyana turned to her twin daughters.
“Don’t be afraid. The day will come when your Kanata finds me again.”
She smiled, vanishing like stardust.

Only two remained.
Broken Kanata knelt, holding back the collapsing fragments of the sky.
Prime Kanata stepped forward.

The two locked eyes.

“Guess this is it,” Broken whispered.

Kanata nodded.
“Let’s fix it together… one last time.”

Their bodies glowed—light and shadow merging into one.
Blue and gold intertwined, spiraling upward.

“<Silent Exile>.”

The words echoed through creation.

A pillar of light erupted into the heavens.
The broken sky stitched itself back together.
The worlds realigned.

But the cost—was memory.

The light dimmed.
When the dust settled, the world was peaceful again.
No one remembered the battle.
No one remembered the name Kanata.

Alyana stood quietly amid the dawn, tears glimmering in her eyes.
“He’s gone… but he did it.”

Nagisa whispered softly,
“He said… five years, right?”

Alyana nodded.
“For five years, the world will forget him. Only four will remember: Rio, Naomi, myself… and Haqua.”

Haqua lowered her gaze.
“Then we’ll wait. No matter how long it takes.”

Alyana smiled gently.
“He chose to wander—to find something new.”

One year later.

A world reborn.
People lived their lives, blissfully unaware of what they had lost.

Far away, in the frozen north, a lone traveler walked through a snowstorm.
His coat flapped against the wind.
Golden eyes watched the horizon.

Kanata.

He lifted his dragon hands—now human again—and pressed them against a wall of ancient ice.
Cracks spread outward as the glacier trembled.

A cave revealed itself.

Inside, encased in crystal light, was a woman.

Kanata smiled faintly.
His breath fogged in the cold air.

“…I finally found you.”

Elyana—the first Ancient Elf.
The ancient ancestor of all magic.
And the one waiting for his return.