Standing in the center of the swirling blue vortex was a figure wrapped in tattered, obsidian robes. A Void-Stalker. These creatures fed on the moments people held dearest, erasing their pasts to fuel their own dark existence. The monster hissed, raising a clawed hand that dripped with stolen memories.

The rift was closed, but the night was still young, and his pocket watch was already ticking backward again.

Kaito's blades sliced through the core with a resonant ring. The Void-Stalker let out a silent scream as its physical form dissolved into pure, white light. The stolen memories burst free, floating gently out of the warehouse to return to their rightful owners across the city.

Below him, the city hummed with the sound of hover-trains and the distant chatter of millions. But Kaito only heard the static of the Temporal Rift opening in the alleyway across the street. A surge of cerulean energy pulsed through the air, distorting the reflection of the skyscrapers against the low-hanging clouds. He closed his eyes and leaped.

The wind bit at his face as he plummeted, but he didn't feel the fear of falling. With a sharp flick of his wrist, he pulled a glowing thread of golden light from the air. He anchored it to the ledge he had just left and swung gracefully through the sky, shattering the glass of an abandoned warehouse directly above the rift.

He landed in a roll, glass crunching beneath his combat boots.

He lined up his blades with the core of the monster and clicked the watch again. Time slammed back into motion.