Year 2147.

High above the clouds floated the city Astra Nova.

From the ground, it looked like a shining paradise.

Clean towers.

Flying transport lines.

Artificial sunlight.

But below the city…

Far beneath its perfect streets…

Was a place forgotten by the future.

The Rust District.

Broken pipes dripped water from the ceiling.

Old machines rattled endlessly.

Electric wires hung like spiderwebs across narrow streets.

This was where the people lived who the future didn’t need anymore.

And among them…

Was a boy named Kai.

⸻

Kai sat on top of a broken metal container, staring up through a hole in the ceiling.

Through the crack, he could see the floating city far above.

“Must be nice up there…” he muttered.

A little kid nearby asked him:

“Hey Kai… do you think I’ll become a pilot?”

Kai smiled slightly.

“Maybe.”

“But the Future Scan will tell you.”

Every citizen in Astra Nova had to take The Future Scan when they turned sixteen.

The scan revealed everything:

• Your future job

• Your lifespan

• Your destiny

It was powered by the most powerful machine on Earth.

The Chrono Core.

A machine capable of seeing every possible future.

⸻

Today was Kai’s turn.

A loudspeaker echoed across the Rust District.

“Citizen KAI-117.”

“Report to Scan Station 9 immediately.”

Kai sighed.

“Well… guess it’s time to see my glorious destiny.”

The little kid laughed.

“Maybe you’ll become a hero!”

Kai jumped down from the container.

“Or maybe a garbage collector.”

⸻

Scan Station 9 looked nothing like the rich city scanners.

This one was old.

Rusty.

Barely functioning.

A tired technician sat inside.

“Name?”

“Kai.”

“Age?”

“Sixteen.”

The technician pressed a button.

The scan chamber opened.

“Step inside.”

Kai walked in casually.

The door sealed shut.

Machines began to hum.

Lights flickered.

A robotic voice spoke.

“Beginning future analysis.”

⸻

Inside the control room, monitors started filling with data.

The system analyzed billions of possibilities.

Normally, results appeared within seconds.

But this time…

Something strange happened.

The screen froze.

The technician frowned.

“Huh?”

The machine beeped again.

Then a warning flashed.

SYSTEM ERROR

“What the…”

The technician started typing.

The machine attempted the scan again.

But instead of showing Kai’s future…

The screen printed a single message.

⸻

FUTURE NOT FOUND

⸻

The technician stared in shock.

“That’s… impossible.”

He immediately contacted central headquarters.

Up in the floating city, inside a massive control room, dozens of scientists watched the system alerts.

One scientist shouted:

“We have a scan anomaly!”

The director of the Chrono Core program turned slowly.

“What kind of anomaly?”

The scientist swallowed.

“The system cannot detect the subject’s future.”

The room went silent.

“That has never happened before…”

The director whispered.

“What is the subject’s name?”

The scientist checked the file.

“Kai… from the Rust District.”

The director’s eyes narrowed.

“Bring him in.”

⸻

Back in the scanner chamber, the door opened.

Kai stepped out.

“So… what’s my destiny?”

The technician looked nervous.

“Uh… we need to run more tests.”

Kai raised an eyebrow.

“What? Am I going to become the president or something?”

The technician didn’t laugh.

Instead, soldiers suddenly burst into the building.

Kai blinked.

“Okay… that’s new.”

The commander pointed at him.

“Citizen Kai.”

“You are coming with us.”

Kai stepped back.

“For what?”

No one answered.

The soldiers moved closer.

Something about the situation felt wrong.

Very wrong.

⸻

Suddenly the lights went out.

Everything went dark.

Then—

CRASH.

A window exploded.

Smoke filled the room.

Someone grabbed Kai’s hand.

“Run!”

Kai was pulled through the smoke by a girl wearing a dark hood.

They ran down the hallway.

Alarms blared everywhere.

Kai shouted while running:

“HEY! Who are you?!”

The girl didn’t slow down.

“Someone who knows what happens if you get caught.”

They burst outside into the night streets.

Soldiers were already chasing them.

“How do you know where to go?!” Kai yelled.

The girl turned left into a narrow alley.

“Because I’ve done this before.”

Kai stopped.

“What?”

She finally turned to face him.

Her eyes were strange.

Almost sad.

“My name is Mira.”

“And in my timeline…”

She looked directly at him.

“You destroy the future.”

Kai blinked.

“Yeah… I think you grabbed the wrong guy.”

Mira shook her head.

“No.”

“You destroy the Chrono Core.”

“And when you do…”

“The entire world changes.”

Kai laughed.

“Okay, that’s insane.”

Mira stepped closer.

“But before you succeed…”

Her voice became quiet.

“You die.”

Kai’s smile faded.

At that moment soldiers surrounded the alley.

Weapons raised.

“Don’t move!”

Mira sighed.

“See?”

Kai whispered:

“…See what?”

She looked at him seriously.

“This is exactly how it happened last time.”

Then she grabbed his hand again.

“Let’s try not to repeat it.”

And suddenly—

A massive explosion shook the street.

⸻

END OF EPISODE 1

Smoke filled the alley.

The explosion Mira triggered had destroyed the soldiers’ armored truck. Metal pieces were scattered everywhere.

Kai coughed, waving the smoke away.

“What was that?!”

Mira grabbed his arm.

“We don’t have time. More soldiers will arrive in thirty seconds.”

Kai stared at her.

“How do you know that?”

She didn’t answer.

Instead, she started counting quietly.

“Twenty-eight… twenty-seven… twenty-six…”

Kai frowned.

“Are you serious right now?”

Then suddenly—

SIRENS.

More military vehicles turned into the street.

Kai’s eyes widened.

“…Okay that’s creepy.”

⸻

They ran through the dark streets of the Rust District.

The ground trembled as drones flew overhead searching for them.

Red scanner lights swept across the buildings.

Kai jumped behind a pile of metal scraps.

“Why are they chasing me?!” he whispered.

Mira looked at him seriously.

“Because the Chrono Core can see everyone’s future.”

“But it can’t see yours.”

Kai rubbed his head.

“So what? Maybe the machine is just broken.”

Mira shook her head.

“That machine has predicted every war, every disaster, every major event for the last fifty years.”

“It doesn’t make mistakes.”

Kai stared at her.

“So you’re saying I’m… what? Special?”

Mira hesitated.

“No.”

She looked down.

“You’re dangerous.”

⸻

Suddenly a spotlight lit the entire street.

A loud voice echoed from a drone.

“Citizen Kai. Stop resisting.”

“Failure to surrender will result in force.”

Kai whispered:

“…Great.”

Mira pulled something from her pocket.

A small glowing device.

“What is that?”

“A memory disruptor.”

Kai blinked.

“A what?”

Mira pressed the button.

FLASH.

The drone above them suddenly lost control and crashed into a building.

Kai stared in shock.

“Okay… who ARE you?”

Mira looked at him.

“I told you.”

“I’m from the future.”

⸻

Kai laughed nervously.

“Right. And I’m the king of the galaxy.”

Mira sighed.

“You destroyed the Chrono Core in my timeline.”

Kai crossed his arms.

“Let me guess. I’m also super rich and famous there?”

“No.”

She looked at him quietly.

“In my timeline… you’re dead.”

Kai stopped smiling.

⸻

Before he could respond—

BOOM.

The ground shook.

A massive armored vehicle crashed through the street.

The doors opened slowly.

Three soldiers stepped out.

But behind them…

Someone else walked forward.

A tall boy wearing a black combat coat.

His eyes were calm.

Cold.

He looked directly at Kai.

“So you’re the anomaly.”

Kai whispered:

“…Who is that?”

Mira’s face suddenly turned pale.

“…This is bad.”

“Very bad.”

Kai frowned.

“What?”

She stepped back slowly.

“That’s Arin.”

“The strongest Fate Hunter.”

⸻

Arin spoke calmly.

“The Chrono Core predicted this encounter.”

He looked at Mira.

“You shouldn’t exist here.”

Then he looked at Kai.

“And you…”

“You’re the error destroying the future.”

Kai shrugged.

“Nice to meet you too.”

Arin raised his hand.

Suddenly his weapon transformed into a glowing blade.

Kai blinked.

“…Okay that’s not normal.”

Arin pointed the blade at him.

“My job is simple.”

“Eliminate timeline anomalies.”

He took one step forward.

“So please…”

“Stop existing.”

⸻

Before Arin could move—

Mira grabbed Kai again.

“RUN!”

They sprinted into the darkness.

Behind them Arin watched calmly.

He didn’t chase.

Instead, he activated a small device.

A holographic screen appeared.

It showed multiple possible futures.

Every path Kai could take.

Arin studied them silently.

Then he whispered:

“…Found you.”

⸻

Meanwhile Kai and Mira ran across an old metal bridge.

Kai was breathing heavily.

“Okay… explanation time!”

“Why does that guy want to kill me?!”

Mira looked back at the city lights.

“Because if you survive…”

“You destroy the system controlling the future.”

Kai frowned.

“And that’s bad?”

Mira didn’t answer.

Instead she asked him something strange.

“Kai.”

“What?”

“If the entire future of humanity depended on it…”

“Would you destroy the world’s most powerful machine?”

Kai laughed.

“Of course not.”

Mira stared at him sadly.

“…That’s not what happened last time.”

⸻

Far away in the floating city…

Inside the Chrono Core control room…

Scientists watched the data.

One screen showed Kai’s location.

Another showed something terrifying.

The machine was calculating millions of futures.

But every simulation ended the same way.

The director whispered quietly:

“…Impossible.”

The scientist asked nervously:

“What is it?”

The director pointed at the screen.

“In every future…”

“That boy reaches the Chrono Core.”

“And when he does…”

The screen flashed red.

SYSTEM TERMINATED

Kai and Mira stopped running when they reached an abandoned train tunnel beneath the Rust District.

The tunnel was dark.

Old rail tracks stretched endlessly into the shadows.

Kai leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.

“Okay… I seriously need answers now.”

Mira stayed silent.

Kai looked at her.

“You said I’m supposed to destroy the Chrono Core.”

“Yes.”

“And that guy Arin wants to kill me because of that?”

“Yes.”

Kai crossed his arms.

“But I don’t even know what the Chrono Core looks like!”

Mira looked down at the ground.

“That didn’t stop you last time.”

Kai groaned.

“This ‘last time’ thing is really annoying.”

⸻

Far above them…

Inside the floating city Astra Nova, the Chrono Core continued calculating millions of futures every second.

The giant sphere of light pulsed in the center of the control chamber.

Scientists watched the monitors nervously.

One of them suddenly shouted:

“Director! The anomaly is changing the predictions!”

The director stepped closer.

“How?”

The scientist zoomed in on the timeline simulations.

“Every time the boy moves… the system loses thousands of possible futures.”

Another scientist whispered:

“That’s impossible.”

The director looked serious.

“No.”

“It means the system is trying to correct the timeline.”

⸻

Back in the tunnel, Kai sat on the old train tracks.

“So let me get this straight.”

“You came from the future.”

“Yes.”

“I destroy the Chrono Core.”

“Yes.”

“And then I die.”

Mira nodded slowly.

Kai stared at the ceiling.

“…That’s a terrible future.”

Mira sat beside him.

“In my timeline… the world became free after the Chrono Core was destroyed.”

Kai looked at her.

“Then why stop it?”

Mira hesitated.

“Because before that happened…”

“Millions of people died.”

Kai froze.

⸻

Suddenly—

A loud metallic sound echoed through the tunnel.

CLANG.

CLANG.

CLANG.

Footsteps.

Slow.

Heavy.

Kai stood up.

“Please tell me that’s not—”

Mira’s eyes widened.

“He found us already…”

A tall silhouette appeared at the entrance of the tunnel.

Arin.

He walked calmly toward them.

“How did you find us?!” Kai shouted.

Arin held up a small holographic device.

“The Chrono Core predicts your movements.”

He looked at Mira.

“You changed the timeline slightly.”

“But not enough.”

Mira stepped in front of Kai.

“You shouldn’t be here yet.”

Arin tilted his head.

“Interesting.”

“In most futures… you die in the next three minutes.”

Kai whispered:

“Wow, this guy is cheerful.”

⸻

Arin suddenly moved.

In one blink he crossed half the tunnel.

His energy blade slashed toward Kai.

Kai barely jumped back.

“HEY!”

The blade sliced the metal tracks like butter.

Kai stared in shock.

“That was expensive metal!”

Mira pulled Kai away.

“You can’t fight him yet!”

“Yet?!” Kai shouted.

Arin walked forward slowly.

“Running again?”

“Predictable.”

He raised his blade.

But suddenly something strange happened.

The lights in the tunnel flickered.

The air began to vibrate.

Arin stopped.

“…What?”

Kai felt something strange inside his chest.

A strange pressure.

Like time itself was slowing down.

The falling dust in the tunnel…

Stopped moving.

Kai blinked.

“…Why is everything slow?”

Mira looked shocked.

“No way…”

Arin looked directly at Kai.

For the first time his calm expression changed.

“Interesting.”

“So it finally awakened.”

Kai looked at his hands.

“What awakened?!”

Mira whispered:

“Kai… you’re bending time.”

Kai blinked.

“I’m WHAT?”

Arin smiled slightly.

“So that’s why the Chrono Core can’t predict you.”

He pointed his blade at Kai.

“You’re not just an anomaly.”

“You’re a time fracture.”

Kai stared at him.

“I have no idea what that means.”

Arin stepped forward again.

“But now I understand something.”

Kai swallowed.

“What?”

Arin’s eyes sharpened.

“If you live…”

“The entire timeline collapses.”

The tunnel began shaking violently.

Mira grabbed Kai’s arm again.

“We need to leave NOW!”

But Arin blocked the exit.

“There’s no escape this time.”

Kai felt the strange power building inside him again.

The world slowed further.

Dust froze in the air.

Mira looked at him.

“Kai…”

Kai whispered nervously:

“…I think I just broke time.”