The civil war had begun.
But it was not chaos without purpose.
Someone had wanted this.
Safuu.
She knew that the three men would never willingly leave their positions.
General VAREK.
ZARQEN.
Minister NAREV.
They were too protected.
Too confident.
Too surrounded by their own systems of power.
If Safuu wanted them in the open...
she needed to give them a reason.
And there was only one thing powerful enough to force them out.
War.
So she had pulled the first thread.
And Odania had begun to tear itself apart.
The streets were no longer recognizable.
People who had lived beside one another for years were now running in opposite directions.
Gunfire echoed between buildings.
Smoke covered the sky.
Vehicles crashed into abandoned streets.
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Windows shattered.
People screamed.
The peaceful image of modern Odania had disappeared beneath violence.
Safuu stood at the center of it all.
She had been waiting.
Not for the war.
For them.
Then she felt it.
Three familiar presences.
Safuu slowly raised her head.
Three figures emerged through the smoke.
They did not look like soldiers.
They did not need to.
The moment they saw her...
they recognized her.
Safuu looked at them calmly.
A faint smile appeared on her face.
“Long time no see.”
For a moment, none of them spoke.
Then General VAREK narrowed his eyes.
“The one that got away.”
ZARQEN stared at her.
“The princess who refused the throne.”
Minister NAREV remained silent for several seconds.
Then his expression changed.
“I am certain I killed you.”
Safuu's smile disappeared.
The air around them became heavy.
None of them understood how she was standing there.
But they knew one thing.
The woman they thought had disappeared...
was alive.
And she had brought them here.
Far away from them...
Safsan was running through the streets.
He had no idea what was really happening.
He only knew that people were in danger.
His instinct told him to save them.
So he moved.
One person.
Then another.
He pulled someone away from a collapsing building.
He carried another person out of the path of gunfire.
He kept moving.
He didn't think about himself.
He only thought about the people around him.
Then...
silence.
Safsan stopped.
The street was empty.
Too empty.
He looked around.
Bodies were lying everywhere.
People who had been running only moments ago...
were now dead.
Blood flowed across the streets of Odania.
It covered the asphalt.
It ran between broken pieces of glass.
It filled the cracks in the roads.
Safsan's breathing became heavier.
He slowly turned.
And then he saw it.
A sword.
Made of blood.
It was floating in the air.
Pointing directly at him.
Safsan froze.
His body understood the danger before his mind did.
The sword moved.
Fast.
Far too fast.
There was no time to run.
No time to think.
The blade came toward him.
And then—
GREEN THUNDER.
A flash tore through the street.
Safsan disappeared.
The blood sword struck nothing.
A massive crack of thunder echoed across Odania.
Safsan was suddenly standing far away from where he had been.
He looked around in confusion.
His heart was pounding.
He had no idea what had just happened.
Then he saw him.
A young man stood nearby.
He had appeared as suddenly as the thunder itself.
Safsan stared at him.
The stranger looked back.
For a brief moment...
neither of them spoke.
Safsan did not know who he was.
He did not know where he had come from.
He did not know why he had saved him.
But somewhere beyond Safsan's understanding...
this moment had already been decided.
The stranger was Kairo.
And he had come from the future.
But Safsan did not know that.
Not yet.
Back in the center of the war...
Safuu stood alone.
The three men surrounded her.
General VAREK stepped forward.
ZARQEN moved from the opposite side.
Minister NAREV watched carefully from behind them.
Safuu looked at all three.
For the first time in centuries...
the past had caught up with the present.
And the three enemies of modern Odania...
were finally standing in front of the woman who had escaped them.
Safuu raised her hand.
The battle began.