?The revelation from Elis’s phantom hit Haruto with the force of a physical blow. Inside his mind, the mental processors that usually hummed with surgical precision went into a frantic, chaotic spin. The "Memories of Multiple Futures" flickered like a dying lightbulb, showing him glimpses of a world he thought he had saved—a world that was, in reality, merely on a slow-motion countdown to extinction.

  ?The root of the rot had a name: Dr. Lyzer. The man had hidden in the long shadows of the past, a parasite feeding on the future Haruto had bled to protect.

  ?Before Haruto could even process the weight of this betrayal, Gemini’s voice cut through the internal noise with a cold, logical edge.

  ?"Warning. Nago, initiating the space-time displacement sequence to the provided coordinates. However, be advised of the causal implications. If you resolve this incident and successfully correct the history, the necessity for Elis to ever summon you from the future will be erased. The causal link will be severed. Your meeting with her—and the bond you share—may vanish into the void of paradox."

  ?"A total reset," Haruto muttered, the words feeling heavy in his throat.

  ?The thought of it sent a phantom pain through his chest—the sensation of his very existence dissolving into a mist of 'might-have-beens.' If he succeeded, he wouldn't just be saving a world; he would be erasing the only meaningful connection he had left in the universe. He would become a ghost in a timeline that no longer remembered him.

  ?Yet, as he looked at the phantom of Elis, she didn't flinch. Her compassionate smile remained steady, illuminated by the dying amber light of his subconscious.

  ?"Don't worry, Haruto," she said, her voice a soft melody against the rising roar of the temporal engines. "You are already an Absolute Observer—an existence that has stepped outside the cycle. You transcend the paradox. Helping me corner the culprit in the past... that was always the true destiny we were meant to share, across every branch of time."

  ?She reached out, her fingers ghosting over the ORION unit on his left arm. Digital runes flowed from her touch, etching the coordinates into the device—a point in time just days before Dr. Roche’s tragic 'accident.'

  ?"One final warning," she whispered, her image beginning to fade. "You must never meet my past self. If you make contact, the temporal friction will cause this entire request system to suffer a logical collapse. Avoid me at all costs, Haruto. Solve the mystery. Save the future. I believe in you."

  ?She closed her eyes, and her form shattered into a thousand particles of light. They didn't vanish; they were absorbed into the ORION, igniting a forced protocol that bypassed every safety limit the device possessed. Haruto’s vision was bleached by prismatic noise, and a crushing, suffocating pressure assaulted his psyche as the world turned inside out.

  ?When Haruto finally opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was the smell. It wasn't the stale, recycled air of his apartment or the scent of dust from a dead world. It was the sharp, metallic tang of ozone and high-density energy particles.

  ?He was standing in the shadows of a narrow alleyway at twilight. High above, gargantuan skyscrapers made of glass and shifting light pierced the cloud layer. Gravity-controlled transports glided through the air with nothing more than a faint, rhythmic hum.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  ?This was the Holy City at its zenith. The civilization he had once known only as silent, overgrown ruins was here, pulsating with vibrant, arrogant life.

  ?"So," Haruto breathed, his eyes tracking the flow of the city. "This is the past. This is the world that was stolen."

  ?"Current time: 18:42," Gemini reported, its voice now sharp and clear, free from the interference of the future. "We have 46 hours remaining until the scheduled 'accident' involving Dr. Roche. We must move quickly, Nago. The target, Dr. Lyzer, is currently at the Roche Research Institute. He is performing final adjustments on the Energy Convergence Furnace."

  ?Haruto looked down at his clothes—modern Earth attire that stood out like a sore thumb. He tapped the ORION, and a holographic field shimmered around him, materializing a long, charcoal-grey coat that mimicked the local utilitarian style.

  ?"The goal is clear," Haruto said, his voice hardening. "Assess the facility. Identify the 'logical trick' Lyzer used to sabotage the furnace and kill Roche. If it’s a virus, I’ll purge it. If it’s a mechanical fault, I’ll fix it. And if Lyzer gets in the way..."

  ?He didn't finish the sentence, but the cold light in his eyes spoke for him.

  ?As he moved toward the mouth of the alley, a massive street monitor on the opposite building flickered to life, broadcasting the evening news.

  ?"...The countdown to the completion of the next-generation Energy Convergence Furnace has begun," the announcer’s voice boomed. "Dr. Roche and his right-hand man, Dr. Lyzer, are scheduled for a joint press conference tomorrow to discuss the dawn of the New Energy Era."

  ?On the screen, a middle-aged man appeared. He had a sharp jawline and eyes that seemed to catch the light like polished flint. He was smiling—a confident, predatory expression that radiated authority. This was Lyzer. The architect of the Great Ruin.

  ?"Gemini, analyze the feed. Give me his micro-expressions."

  ?"Scanning facial muscle movements... cross-referencing with biometric psychological profiles. Analysis complete," Gemini responded. "Nago, he shows no signs of tension, guilt, or anxiety. His facial micro-movements indicate a state of 'absolute conviction.' He isn't worried about the furnace failing. He is waiting for it to happen. He looks like a ruler watching his script play out perfectly."

  ?Haruto stared back at the giant image of the man who would destroy everything. "He thinks he’s the only one who knows how the story ends," Haruto whispered. "If he thinks everything is proceeding according to his calculations, then I'll just have to rewrite the fundamental equations of his reality."

  ?He turned to leave, but his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

  ?A group of researchers walked out from a side entrance of the research complex across the street. They were laughing, clutching stacks of physical documents—a luxury in this era—and debating the thermal efficiency of the new core.

  ?In the center of the group was a young woman.

  ?She was vibrant, her hair catching the twilight sun, a bright laugh spilling from her lips as she joked with a colleague. She looked younger, more carefree—a girl who hadn't yet been forced to become the soul of a machine or the guardian of a dying species.

  ?It was Elis.

  ?Haruto froze. Every instinct he possessed screamed at him to run to her, to call her name, to warn her. The "Memories of Multiple Futures" surged, showing him her face in a dozen different ways—crying, dying, fading. Seeing her here, so full of life, was a torture he hadn't prepared for.

  ?His hand twitched toward his hood, but Gemini’s voice sharpened in his ear, like a dash of ice water.

  ?"Do not move, Nago. Her biometric sensors are sophisticated even at this age. If you make contact, the temporal feedback will be catastrophic. To her, you are a ghost that should not exist. You are a shadow in her periphery. Stay in the dark."

  ?Haruto gritted his teeth, his knuckles turning white as he clutched his coat. He fought the iron urge to step forward. He watched as she walked past him, mere meters away, never knowing that the man she would one day trust with the fate of the world was standing right there, shivering in the shadows.

  ?He pulled his hood lower, shielding his face, and waited until the sound of her laughter faded into the distance.

  ?"Let us go, Nago," Gemini said softly. "Your lonely battle begins here."

  ?Haruto didn't look back. He stepped out of the alley and melted into the crowd, a single, silent variable headed straight for the heart of the lie.