As Tokyo Bay's morning mist lingered, the Reverse Scale Squad's hovercar parked on the Glyph Research Institute's rooftop. Lanye gazed at the Glyph Tree beyond the glass curtain wall, its canopy's seven-color petals growing visibly, each new leaf shimmering with the same purple-gold light that accompanied the eighth knot's awakening.
"Captain, the timeline monitor exploded." Xiaotao rushed into the cockpit with a smoking tablet, star meteorite blue pulsing at her fingertips. "All historical nodes are overlapping—Dragon-Locking Abyss three hundred years ago, Chaoyan's mother yesterday, even..." She paused. "Even our childhoods."
Lanye's Reverse Scale Core burned hot. Ancient blood words appeared on its surface—the eighth knot's prophecy:
"The deepest rift hides the warmest light."
Meanwhile, in Tokyo Bay's old district, an eerie scene unfolded: Su Jiuli in dark green armor knelt at an alley, bandaging Coalball, her neck birthmark oozing purple mist that overlapped with Chaoyan's Core patterns—this was Su Jiuli from three hundred years ago, repeating the same scene as modern Chaoyan.
"Li?"
The maiden looked up. A bronze-armored teen (Lin Yuan) stood at the alley, holding a bleeding maiden (Yue Kui). His face overlapped with Lanye's, her tears falling on his hand, resonating with his current pain.
"General," the maiden sobbed, "It hurts."
"Pain is good." He pressed her hand to his chest. "Pain proves we're alive."
The scene distorted. Modern Su Jiuli and Lanye clutched their heads, their Cores flaring—memories overlapped, three-hundred-year-old pain tearing through their bodies.
"This is..." Su Jiuli's voice shook. "A timeline 'rift'."
In the institute lab, Chaoyan's Core hovered, its surface now etched with fine patterns—the Dragon-Locking Abyss map from three hundred years ago, each groove matching a modern Tokyo Bay street. Strangely, the map ended at the institute's underground Level 3 "Confinement Room".
"Confinement Room?" Sakura leaned in. "Isn't that where abandoned Glyph Cores are stored?"
The berserk guardian's phantom appeared, his Core purple-gold like the galaxy: "The eighth knot's key lies in the most painful memories."
The Confinement Room's iron door was carved with seven-color patterns like the Reverse Scale Core. As Lanye touched the handle, the door opened, releasing bone-chilling cold.
At the room's center stood a chained maiden with Su Jiuli's light blue birthmark and Yue Kui's tear mole—Su Jiuli from three hundred years ago, pierced by black chains inscribed with "Oblivion", "Betrayal", "Despair".
"You're finally here." Her voice was hoarse. "I am the eighth knot's 'vessel'."
"Who are you?" Su Jiuli reached out trembling.
"I am the part of love abandoned." Her tears fell, corroding black holes. "Three hundred years ago, when Yue Kui sealed contamination with the Reverse Scale Core, she locked the most painful love in my body. She thought to protect everyone, but didn't know..." Her fingertip traced the chains. "This pain would crawl back through time, gnawing at all who believe in love."
Lanye's Core vibrated violently. He felt something torn from his soul—Yue Kui's tears wiping the berserk guardian's blood, Ming Yuan's blood blocking a blow, A Jiu's crow feathers on her face...
"So this pain never faded." Lanye's voice shook.
"They've been waiting." The maiden's chains snapped. "Waiting for someone to admit love brings pain, to reignite light for this pain."
Su Jiuli placed her hand on Lanye's, their Cores flaring. Where light flowed, chains broke, her figure fading—her face overlapped with Yue Kui, Chaoyan, Xiaotao, Sakura, A Jiu... finally settling as Lanye's own face.
"So..." Lanye's eyes reddened. "I am the eighth knot."
"No." Her voice softened. "You all are the eighth knot. Everyone who's hurt for love, who's persisted for love—you're all part of this knot."
As first light broke, the Glyph Tree bloomed with brightest seven-color flowers, each petal holding silhouettes: Chaoyan and Coalball wrapped in love, Sakura and the child supporting each other, A Jiu and her crows side by side, Su Qinghuan and Chaoyan, Lanye and Su Jiuli...
"Rifts exist to let more light in." Xiaotao pointed at star trails, tears in her eyes.
"And every rift hides the warmest light." Su Jiuli's hand joined Lanye's, their Cores forming a tiny star.
Chaoyan cheered, running to her mother with the yellowed letter: "Mom! The stars are making a heart for us!"
Su Qinghuan looked up as the brightest star—Yue Kui's Core from three hundred years ago—fell as gentle light onto her lap.
In a dark vortex beyond sight, the last trace of contamination dissolved, not in struggle but as a wisp of light joining the galaxy's embrace.