“Joseph, don’t—!” Lyra’s voice cut through the air, sharp and desperate, but it was already too late.
Her fierce, almost unreadable expression made him look away, his heart pounding in his chest. The revelation—this cryptic, unexpected connection between him and Lyra—was something Joseph had never seen coming. His mind raced with confusion and a swirl of emotions, unsure of what to make of it all.
His heart pounded, his thoughts spiraling out of control. What did he mean? Why her? Why now? The cryptic connection between them felt impossible—like a puzzle with too many missing pieces.
The archdemon, however, remained calm, as if he had already seen the entire path laid out before them. His power radiated through the air, overwhelming and unyielding. The silence that followed his revelations was thick, heavy with the weight of everything he had said. It was clear that the archdemon wasn’t just a formidable enemy; he was a being who had already seen their futures, who knew how their stories would unfold.
But Joseph, Lyra, Yoshi, and Kokoro were still determined. They had to face him, no matter what fate the archdemon had glimpsed. The future, as the archdemon said, might be inevitable, but it was still theirs to challenge. And in that challenge, they would find out just how much control they truly had over their destinies.
***
It was Lyra who stepped forward, her voice steady despite the tension rippling through her. “I don’t care what you’ve seen,” she said, her eyes locking onto the archdemon with a defiance that burned brighter than his shadow. “The future isn’t written in stone. Not for us.”
The archdemon’s lips curled into a faint smile, though his eyes remained sharp and calculating. “How amusing,” he said softly, his gaze sweeping over the group. “You still believe you have control. Very well. Let us see how far your defiance carries you.”
"Hey! Enough with the spoilers already!" Joseph’s voice rang out, breaking the tense moment like shattering glass.
Everyone turned to him, even Lyra, her expression flickering between exasperation and disbelief.
Joseph threw up his hands. “Seriously, this guy! You’ve seen everything, huh? The rise and fall of kingdoms, the death of stars—what else? My browser history?” He smirked, though his heart was still racing.
The archdemon, with his omniscient knowledge of their fates, continued his revelations. To Yoshi, he ominously predicted that death would come for his household—another grim forecast that left the group uneasy. But the archdemon wasn’t done. He casually disclosed that he knew of his own inevitable death, though he would toy with them, drawing out their struggle for as long as he could before the inevitable defeat.
Then, the archdemon’s attention turned to Joseph. His eyes gleamed with an unsettling recognition. "Ah, the Unkillable Demon Lord," he said, as if savoring the weight of the title. "A being who transcends all known titles, ranks, tiers, and deities. The savior of worlds and realms."
"Oh, oh! I like where this is going," Joseph said with a mischievous grin. "So, 'Unkillable Demon Lord'—is that what they’re calling me in the future?"
The archdemon arched a brow, unimpressed. “I fail to see the humor in your denial, Unkillable Demon Lord.”
The title hit Joseph like a sucker punch, but he refused to let it show. “Not bad. Has a nice ring to it. Way better than, I dunno, ‘Doomed Hero Number Five.’”
He leaned forward, mockingly pensive. "Are you saying this despite the fact that you also mentioned your defeat by us?" he added, a sharp gleam in his eye. "And you’ll still try to fight us, even when you know you’re going to lose?"
“You mock the inevitable,” the archdemon said, his voice colder now. “Even as you march toward your own demise.”
Joseph’s grin sharpened. “I mean, yeah, but here’s the thing: if you’ve already seen us take you down, why even bother?” He tilted his head, the sarcasm dripping from his voice. “Is it the drama? The whole ‘fate’ angle? Do you want us to win, or are you just into long, drawn-out fights?”
For a moment, the archdemon said nothing. His eyes bore into Joseph like twin daggers, but Joseph held his ground.
The group exchanged uncertain glances, but Joseph’s playful grin never faltered. "I like this guy!" he said briefly, turning to look at his companions with an expression that was a mix of amusement and anticipation.
“Your arrogance will be your undoing,” the archdemon said finally, his voice like a growl.
“Maybe,” Joseph shot back, his grin never faltering. “But let’s be honest—undoing me is everyone’s side quest these days. Get in line.”
Behind him, Lyra sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Joseph, for the love of—can you stop antagonizing the archdemon for five seconds?”
“Not a chance,” Joseph said without missing a beat. He glanced back at the archdemon, his smirk softening into something far more dangerous. “You say the end is inevitable? Fine. But let me make something clear: we decide how we get there. Not you.”
The archdemon’s smile returned, faint and full of malice. “We shall see.”
But the next words from the archdemon caught Joseph off guard. The archdemon called him a ranker breaker and a disruptor of hierarchy, someone whose very existence would make even gods and supreme deities tremble, desperate to challenge him just to keep him in check.
"You've great potential," the archdemon said, "but as of now, you are weak. The seal on your head is holding back your true purpose. Only you have the potential to challenge the infinite tier."
Joseph raised an eyebrow at the mention of the "infinite tier." "Infinite tier? Everyone keeps bringing it up. What exactly does that mean?"
"Or who exactly are they?" he asked.
The archdemon’s expression was filled with a mix of frustration and begrudging respect. "I cannot see beyond certain boundaries," he admitted. "The relic of time prevents me from seeing into the future where these beings, these infinite tier entities, exist. What they are... I cannot say. Beings, forces, or something else entirely."
Joseph processed this, his mind racing with the implications. He had always known he was different—powerful beyond measure—but this infinite tier was a whole new level of mystery, something even the archdemon could not comprehend.
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With a cruel smirk, the archdemon gave them an ultimatum. "You have two choices," he said, the weight of his words settling into the air like an inevitable storm. "You can walk away now. I will spare you and barely touch your responsibilities, keeping you safe as I acquire all the treasures and relics for myself. Or... you can die trying to stop me, defying the future that is already set in stone."
Joseph’s grin only widened. "We go for the second, cause the future has decided," he declared boldly.
Without another word, the group charged toward the archdemon. But just as they closed the distance, Kokoro’s blast, still suspended in the air, was suddenly manipulated by the archdemon’s power. He enhanced and replicated her magic with terrifying precision, sending the blast hurtling toward the group with far more devastating force. The explosion scattered them in all directions, the shockwave knocking them off balance.
Before they could regroup, the archdemon took to the sky, his power pulsing in the air. With a simple snap of his fingers, their companions—Yoshi, Kokoro, and the others—were frozen in place, immobilized by the archdemon’s overwhelming control over time and space. They were locked in a stillness that made it impossible for them to intervene.
Now, only Joseph and Lyra remained standing, facing the archdemon alone. The ground beneath them cracked with the power that radiated from their enemy, but Joseph’s resolve was unshaken. Lyra’s fierce gaze met his, and there was an unspoken understanding between them. They would face this trial together—whatever the cost.
"Well," Joseph muttered, cracking his knuckles and grinning at Lyra. "Guess it's just you, me, and the big bad archdemon now. Let's give him a fight he won't forget."
With that, they lunged at the archdemon, ready to defy fate itself. The battle had only just begun, but the stakes had never been higher.
***
The battle between Joseph, empowered by the XPT, Lyra, and the Archdemon was fierce and relentless. Despite their advanced strategy, the Archdemon remained unfazed, his mastery over time allowing him to anticipate their every move. In the thick of combat, Yoshi, having been immobilized by the Archdemon’s spell, broke free with the full force of his aura, though weakened. His resilience fueled his determination, and he joined Joseph and Lyra in their struggle against the formidable foe.
The Archdemon, with effortless control, manipulated time itself, reducing their magical attacks to mere dust and erasing their efforts as if they had never existed. Harnessing the power of the Time Relic embedded in his forehead, the Archdemon rewound time, attempting to trap them in an endless loop. However, Yoshi and Lyra, working in unison, shattered the time manipulation, and the battle escalated as they fought not only in the present but also in the past—where they first encountered Joseph. The shockwave from Joseph’s past self created a tear in the space-time continuum, propelling them into a desolate, distant future.
As they continued to battle through different timelines, the Archdemon's power seemed insurmountable. But Joseph, having hidden in the pocket dimension of his XPT, managed to escape the Archdemon’s time loop. Reappearing unexpectedly, he attacked with ferocity, momentarily surprising the Archdemon. In the chaos, Joseph reached for the Relic of Time, and a violent struggle ensued across the infinite expanse of time itself, even plunging them into the Time Domain. Finally, Joseph succeeded in splitting the Relic of Time in two.
Collapsing into the void, Joseph, now holding one half of the relic, used its power to challenge the Archdemon. The battle raged on as they fought their way back into the present timeline. Just as they reappeared, Yoshi and Lyra, ever vigilant, combined their powers to immobilize the Archdemon. Despite their efforts, they struggled to hold him at bay, allowing Joseph to capitalize on the opening. Channeling the full might of his XPT, he unleashed a devastating blast that tore through the Archdemon’s chest, sending the Relic of Enhancement tumbling to the ground.
Yoshi, showing quick reflexes, kicked the Relic of Enhancement aside, while he and Lyra strained to keep the Archdemon contained. In that moment, Joseph grabbed the relic of enhancement, infused it into his XPT, and charged with renewed determination to deliver the final blow. However, the Archdemon, in a desperate attempt to regain control, unleashed a powerful time blast from the other half of the Relic of Time. The blast caught them off guard, stunning them and throwing them aside with overwhelming force.
While Joseph shielded himself with his newfound power, the shockwave of the time blast rippled through the entire city, erasing everything in its path. Yoshi and Lyra, despite their best efforts to shield themselves, were on the brink of being wiped from existence. It was only Joseph’s timely intervention that saved them. While he resisted the blast, he cleverly dispatched a time remnant to deceive the Archdemon, snatching the other half of the Relic of Time from him in one swift move.
With Yoshi and Lyra saved at the last possible moment, Joseph fused both halves of the relics. As the two relics merged, time itself froze, leaving the Archdemon suspended in a moment of utter stillness, untouched and powerless.
As Joseph gazed into the swirling maelstrom of possible and impossible events, he caught fleeting glimpses of the Archdemon’s cryptic words and saw beyond the veil of time itself. Yet, one enigma eluded his understanding: the true identity of the Infinite Tier. The sight of it disrupted his time vision, a force so immense that it obscured its true form from his eyes. For a moment, he was locked in a paradox, unable to grasp the full scope of what lay beyond the bounds of time.
The Archdemon, now paying the price for his reckless abuse of the Relic of Time, began to crumble. His body aged at an alarming rate, peeling away and turning to dust, each moment an agonizing reminder of his past transgressions. Weak and barely able to speak, the Archdemon realized Joseph had seen beyond the limitations of time, beyond even his own sight.
His voice cracked, filled with disbelief as he rasped, “None can alter the fate of time…” He recalled the words of the late city lord he had killed—fate, once sealed, could not be undone. Yet, the Archdemon sensed something in Joseph that made him question what was possible. Despite his decaying body, he clung to the hope that Joseph could indeed perform the impossible.
In response, Joseph formed a gauntlet from the energy of his XPT. The Relic of Time pulsed with blue energy, positioning itself in the center of the gauntlet. The power surged around him, and the Archdemon’s fading form watched in fear.
“Tell me, who are you truly?” the Archdemon croaked, desperate to understand the nature of the force that stood before him.
Joseph’s voice was calm, filled with a quiet resolve. “I’m Unkillable.”
With that, he snapped his fingers, and the Archdemon’s rapid aging accelerated. His body disintegrated in a flash, reducing him to dust, completely erased from existence. Time itself, once frozen in its grip, snapped back into motion, as if the very fabric of reality had been rewritten.
But Joseph, knowing the power of the Relic of Time, used it to trick Yoshi and Lyra. With a subtle manipulation, he created a time remnant, an aged version of himself that rapidly decayed in front of them. The illusion led Yoshi and Lyra to believe that Joseph had perished, his meddling with time having caught up with him. The paradoxes he had created had apparently undone him.
In truth, Joseph had traveled back in time to alter the course of events, each attempt spinning time into further chaos. He sought to prevent the rise of the Archdemon, even killing the mysterious figure before encountering the Relic of Enhancement. In doing so, he set off a chain reaction, forcing the Archdemon to acquire the Relic of Time and creating a timeline where history itself was rewritten. Each change he made brought about an even greater disaster, threatening not just his own existence but that of his companions. Yoshi and Lyra, along with others, perished as the consequences of his meddling grew more dire.
Joseph, not realizing that higher powers were intervening to prevent him from altering the fate of time, continued to rewrite history, over and over. But eventually, he came to a painful realization: he could not change the flow of time. He was forced to restore the timeline to its original path and let things play out as they were meant to. In doing so, he returned to the present, finding that the world had corrected itself, and things were as they should be.
For Yoshi and Lyra, the moment was nothing short of jarring. As they processed the shock of Joseph's death, a sudden, chilling presence loomed behind them—Joseph himself, standing as though death had never touched him. Startled, Lyra instinctively reacted, her hand darting to seize both the Relic of Time and the Relic of Enhancement from his grasp. Her expression hardened with resolve as she held the powerful artifacts just out of his reach, daring him to make another move.
“This isn’t a toy to be meddled with,” she reminded him, her voice resolute.
Joseph, his eyes meeting hers, understood. The weight of his actions, the power he had wielded, had cost him dearly, but some things—like the flow of time—were not meant to be tampered with.