"Ren… there are two of you?"
Under normal circumstances, two Rens would've meant double the joy for Korys.
But not now.
The Shadow Duelist's hood was blown away by the blast of phoenix fire, revealing a face identical to Ren's own.
Though the same in features, the fatigue beneath those dark-ringed eyes and the pale lips lacking color clearly bore the marks of time.
"How… how is that even possible?!"
Compared to Korys, the one most shaken was Ren herself, left staring blankly, questioning her own existence.
The Shadow Duelist—the one who had attacked her and Aisha, the one who cost Edigo his Spirit Eyes… was now revealed to have her face.
Anyone would struggle to accept this.
"Nice expression."
The flames of destiny scorched the Shadow Duelist's fair skin, peeling away under the heat. Yet even in the face of death, she smiled weakly… as if liberated.
She was laughing at herself.
Laughing at the naïve girl who once believed HEROes could never run away, who faced every hardship head-on, who loved HEROes with all her heart.
"I always wanted to see that look… the moment your faith in justice crumbles… What kind of eyes would you have then?"
"Myself? You mean yourself?" Ren stammered in disbelief. "That's impossible! I'd never become someone like you—someone who uses the Earthbound Immortal's dark power to attack the people I care about!"
The truth was too twisted to grasp.
If the one who had wielded the Earthbound Immortal ten years ago was her… why would she attack Aisha and Edigo? And more importantly… how could there be two of her?
"Ten years apart in time. When a Duelist's obsession burns strong enough, the power of the Earthbound Immortals can distort life and space itself."
Just as the nameless Shadow Duelist had dueled Miles and Krista, twisting life and death through an Earthbound Immortal's power—so too had the Ren before her bent space with her will.
"Because of the Earthbound Immortal's power, I crossed ten years from that hellish future and returned once more."
"From ten years… in the future?"
Future Ren had crossed time twice.
The first—to change the future.
The second—after realizing nothing could be changed.
Amid the burning flames of destiny, Future Ren looked down at the half-burned Hero Signal at her feet.
"Axet will be destroyed in this catastrophe. If you want to live, you must flee. I don't know why you, the second-year version of me, ended up here."
"Axet… destroyed?" Ren gasped. "Then… Miles failed?"
"No." The name stirred something in Future Ren's hollow eyes. She shook her head slowly.
Her body and soul battered from the Shadow Duel, she no longer had the strength to stand, sitting down on the scorched ground.
"In my future, there is no one named Miles. I've never known anyone by that name. As I've said—human efforts are nothing but fleeting ripples. They cannot alter the current of fate."
"That's not true!" Ren cried out, her voice fierce. "Miles' existence alone proved it! He fights bearing everyone's hopes—the will to live! With Aisha and Krista by his side, he'll stop the leyline's explosion! The future will change!"
"You said… Aisha is with him?" For the first time, surprise flickered in Future Ren's crimson eyes. "Aisha… tried to stop the Magic Stone's explosion? That shouldn't be possible."
"And why not?" Ren shot back immediately. "The very things you don't know—that's the proof the future can change!"
"Do you even realize?" Future Ren's voice wavered through the flames, tinged with sorrow. "That hellish future… Aisha was the one who caused it. Aisha Carlos destroyed the future with her own hands."
"Aisha… destroyed the future?"
Those words hit Ren harder than the revelation that her other self was from the future.
She knew Aisha better than anyone—the clumsy, pure-hearted girl who was kind to a fault.
That Aisha… destroy the future?
"No. No way. That's impossible."
Seeing her younger self's disbelief, Future Ren continued.
"Because of Aisha, the balance between light and darkness, good and evil across the Spirit Continent completely collapsed. Humanity faced despair like never before. That is the future that truly happened. I crossed time to prevent it."
Using the Earthbound Immortal's power, Future Ren had once crossed time, intending to seize young Aisha's Spirit Eyes through a Shadow Duel.
However, that first attempt had been stopped—by Edigo Austin.
Ten years ago, Edigo had said the same words then as he once did now:
"'The future can be changed, Ren.'"
During that Shadow Duel, Edigo had already realized the truth… that the person before him was his future sister.
Yet even then, he stood in her way without any shred of doubt.
"'Ren, to condemn someone for a crime not yet committed… that's not justice.'"
Even ten years apart, the older brother still lectured his little sister.
Future Ren failed.
Her first attempt to cross time and destroy Aisha's Spirit Eyes ended in failure… or rather, in her giving up.
She couldn't bring herself to harm the Aisha of the past, despite what she knew of the future.
Returning to her time, she kept fighting.
Years passed, exhaustion deepening—a hopeless war with no end.
Then came the second time leap, one even she didn't fully understand.
The Earthbound Immortal's power of "obsession" had activated again, sending her back to the day the Axet Republic was destroyed.
Disoriented and lost, Future Ren wandered among the fleeing crowds.
And then, she met her past self.
The Ren from ten years ago… whose eyes still shone with hope, who still believed that her beloved HEROes could protect the ones she loved.
She lost. Completely.
Struck down by her past self's unwavering will.
The Ren who had despaired before fate could not defeat the Ren who still believed in the future.
"I just wanted to see the look in my eyes when my justice finally crumbled…"
Yet, Future Ren never saw it.
Because when the name "Miles" was spoken, Ren's eyes held no despair at all.
That pure, unwavering faith that the future could be changed—it was so radiant, so sincere, that even her future self felt envy.
"Miles… What kind of person is he? If I'd met him too… maybe even that hellish future could have changed."
At last, Future Ren understood.
She understood why the Earthbound Immortal had sent her back to this day, ten years in the past, to the day of Axet's fall.
"You…"
Sitting on the scorched ground, Future Ren reached out a shaking hand toward her younger self.
"Hm?"
As if drawn by instinct, Ren took the hand without a second thought.
Though the flames of fate still burned on their skin, Ren felt no pain—only a strange, familiar warmth, as though this was her destiny.
"Let me see it… just once. A future without destruction or sorrow… a future that's been changed."
Now she knew—the Earthbound Immortal had brought her here because her "obsession" had always been to change that hellish future.
This day would be the divergence point.
If the infernal future could be altered here, now—then her obsession would finally find peace.
"I don't belong to this time… still, I want to stay and witness the new future. Please… I'm counting on you."
Even the Earthbound Immortal's power couldn't maintain the time distortion forever.
Both crossings had proven that… it would last only long enough for a single Duel.
But she was tired… tired of the hopeless future.
Rather than return to that hell…
"What's this…"
Through her future self's hand, cold even as it burned, Ren felt a card pressed into her palm.
[Super Polymerization]
"Let me see it too… that future full of hope."
The radiant light of [Super Polymerization] flared between them, enveloping both Rens.
The souls separated by ten years merged as one.
But since Future Ren's spirit was already worn and fractured from countless battles, even merging their souls couldn't affect Ren's consciousness.
Even after the fusion, she would likely never sense her future self's presence.
But that was enough. Future Ren only wanted to see, at last, the future she had longed for—a future without sorrow.
Until that day came, her weary soul would simply rest quietly in the corners of Ren's heart.
"Finally… I can rest."
"You… I…"
"Oh, right… I'll leave you my HERO Deck. I won't be needing it anymore."
On the Spirit Continent, even in Shadow Games, one could only take a single card from an opponent.
Even so, within the light of [Super Polymerization], an entire HERO Deck appeared in Ren's hands.
After all, what rule could possibly forbid leaving your own Deck to yourself?
When the light faded, only Ren remained standing on the field.
"Ren?" From where she stood, Korys couldn't even begin to comprehend what had just happened.
All she saw was that, after the fusion of souls, Ren's right crimson eye had grown deeper in hue.
Her mismatched gaze shimmered… beautiful, yet vaguely sorrowful.
"Watch closely," Ren whispered softly. "I'll show you… the greatest future."
...
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