He stared at the dusty sword.

Upon his senses triggering, he had found himself in his attic after 20 years. 

"It was... supposed to be safe."

How could fate from the bottom of the Earth jump to the top? It made no sense. His intuition had failed; the invasion had started. Just like it did 25 years ago. How did GRS make it up here? How was the gate holder up here? It felt like a bullshit reality twisting itself to make sense, as if a plot was forcing things to happen.

Nevertheless, it did make sense. GRS didn't stop at the 6th layer. Why would they stop at the 7th? The infestion he failed to stop would keep spreading through the layers again. He rushed up here in hopes to escape a bullshit destiny, and so did the others. 

In the end, it was all due to his negliance and failure to carry out his duty.

As he stared at the sword, he wondered.

"Can he really do it? I didn't train him enough."

He thought about the 20 years that he lived on the surface and the 20 years he lived beneath the surface.

"Will he get to where I did? Will he make the same mistake as I did? I wonder."

It's up to them. It's up to them. It's up to them.

When he had uttered those lines 22 years ago, what did he mean? He would throw the future generations with the burden that he had carried? Who could have had such cruetly occur? 

And worse of all, he dug his face into the sand, pretending magic would resolve the issue. He had thought Earth was a magicial, fantasy place that could wrap fate into a choosable destiny. That's why he worked so hard to become used to Earth and even place his children there, neglecting all forms of their training.

He clenched the sword that collected dust, unsheathing it to reveal its blade. Made from lumiant hellstone, it was one of the rarest swords in the entire 8 layers of the world. It was meant for one of the heros of CHK, the one that participated and won the CHK-GIRUS war 20 years ago.

He was no hero. He made that choice 22 years ago. But just for today, he decided to enact as one. 

Even though he couldn't undo time, even though he couldn't undo his mistakes, he knew that he was going to fix them.

"Ayato Hinode. My son's fate who I cursed. The rest will be up for you."

"Ayaka... 

"Step closer, I'll kill you."

"You really think you can kill me? Ha. Don't make me laugh."

With a snarl, Khosrow took a step forward. Kazane's hug on my neck got tighter.

"You don't have a shield. You're not actually strong, are you?"

"You'd be a fool if you think I only relied on the shield."