The sanctuary had grown quiet once more, but silence never meant peace in Rei's world.
He stood within the inner sanctum—his private domain. A place walled by sacred seals and living fire, where even the most restless spirits dared not tread uninvited. The walls glowed faintly with inscriptions older than any of the Three Factions. Symbols born not of divinity, but of something far more primal: the agreement between soul and flame.
In the center of the chamber floated the Second Fragment.
[System Notice: Second Flame Fragment — Located]
[Compatibility Index: 61% — Sync In Progress]
The fragment pulsed like a living heart. Deep red, but not from blood—it was a crimson born of memory, pain, and fury distilled. This one was different from the first. The heat wasn't violent—it was... sorrowful.
Karasu's whisper tickled his thoughts. "It remembers her. The one who held it last. She burned for love—and died for truth."
Rei closed his eyes. Images seeped into him like smoke:
A woman standing alone against legions of shadow. Hair like gold-fire, eyes wet with tears. Her final scream wasn't one of pain, but defiance. She shattered a throne. She turned an empire to ash.
And she died smiling.
Rei opened his eyes.
"I won't forget her either."
He reached forward, and the moment his hand touched the fragment, his knees buckled. The chamber spun. He collapsed, not from weakness, but from overload. The fragment wasn't resisting. It was mourning.
Hours passed.
Noira sat beside his unconscious form, arms crossed over her knees. Her sword lay by her side, untouched.
Eirenne leaned against the opposite wall, her ethereal hair dimmed. "It's been too long."
"He's still breathing," Noira muttered.
"That doesn't mean he's fine."
Mireille entered with a tray of fruit and silence. She placed it near them, then looked to Rei's still body. "He's dreaming."
"You say that like it matters," Eirenne replied, voice edged.
Mireille simply sat. "It does. Because the last time he dreamt like this... he didn't wake up alone."
Rei's dream was not a dream.
He stood in a hall of ashes. Every step he took left behind a footprint of flame. The sky above was broken—a dome of dying stars and black mist. Before him stood a throne, fractured down the middle. Upon it sat a ghost.
The woman from the memory.
"I knew someone would come," she said, her voice like a sigh carried by wind. "But I thought it would be him."
"Who are you?" Rei asked.
"A name isn't what matters. I was the Second Flame. My body died, but my soul anchored here, in memory. Waiting."
"For what?"
"For someone strong enough to carry my fire without being consumed by my sorrow."
She stepped down. Her form flickered, half-real. She reached out, touched Rei's cheek. "You've already lost someone, haven't you?"
His breath hitched. Images surfaced: a girl's laughter, the sound of glass shattering, the taste of blood. He didn't speak. He didn't have to.
"You'll lose more," she said gently. "Because the path of flame isn't about saving. It's about burning bright enough to change what cannot be changed."
"Then I'll burn," he replied. "I'll burn everything that tries to chain me again."
Her smile was sad, but resolute.
"Then my fire is yours."
The hall vanished in a vortex of light and pain and clarity.
[System Notice: Second Flame — Acquired.]
[Skill Unlocked: Phoenix Convergence — Passive Flame Revival, +60% Regeneration]
Rei awoke.
He gasped, sitting upright.
Noira didn't flinch, but her eyes softened. "Took you long enough."
He looked at her, then the others. "I saw her. The one before me."
Mireille nodded knowingly. "They all left something behind, Rei. These flames aren't tools. They're... inheritance."
He stood. The chamber glowed faintly as the fragment dissolved into his chest.
"I need to move," he said. "There's no time."
Three days later, they arrived at the Ashen Coast—a cursed beach on the edge of Underworld territory. It was rumored to be where the ancient Fallen first descended.
Lightning arced across the sky. The waves were ink, the sand silver. The ruin they sought lay submerged in the black tide.
As they approached, spirits screamed from beneath the waves.
"Something's wrong," Eirenne whispered.
Mireille unsheathed her blade. "We're being watched."
Indeed, from the cliffs above, figures emerged.
They wore cloaks made of stitched shadows. Their eyes glowed violet. And they bore no allegiance to Devil, Angel, or Fallen.
"Council of Ash," Noira said. "So they are real."
The lead figure removed his hood. He looked like Rei—older, harder.
"Kazenari Rei," he said. "You walk paths we burned ages ago."
Rei stepped forward. "I don't care who you were. I'm not repeating anyone's cycle."
The man chuckled. "You already are."
They raised their hands.
Magic unlike anything Rei had seen surged through the storm.
[Warning: Dimensional Containment Field Detected. Escape Impossible. Engage or Submit.]
Karasu flared inside Rei's soul. "Let's show them what rebirth really looks like."
Flames erupted from Rei's body—crimson, gold, and black. The spirit forms of Eirenne and Noira synchronized mid-air.
Mireille lunged first. Her blade sliced clean through space, tearing down the barrier for a second.
Rei roared.
The Second Flame awakened fully within him, and the battlefield ignited.
Even the sea caught fire.
The sky above bent, torn between dimensions as Rei's power surged beyond mortal containment.
And in that fire, something else began to stir.
Not from the enemy.
From Rei himself.
A third fragment.
Hidden.
Waiting.
Watching.