The sanctuary was silent, too silent.
It had been two days since the battle with the sentinels of the unknown council—two days of patching wounds, of repairing spirit circuits, of quiet reflection. Even the spirits themselves, usually unpredictable in their energy, had withdrawn into a deep, contemplative slumber within the ethereal nexus Rei had created deep below the sanctuary's heart.
Rei stood at the central balcony, eyes drifting across the valley now shrouded in grey morning mist. His hand traced the stone railing, rough and ancient, carved by those who knew the art of harmonizing power and architecture. The wind carried with it whispers—whispers not from any living creature, but from something else.
Something old.
Behind him, Mireille approached without a word, the sound of her soft footsteps disappearing into the cold wind. She brought no tea this time, only her presence.
"They're stirring," she said quietly.
Rei didn't turn around. "The spirits?"
She shook her head. "No. The names. The ones sealed beneath the soil of this world."
He finally looked at her, his golden-red eyes calm but sharpened by understanding. "The ones who remembered what came before this era?"
Mireille gave a single nod. "And they remember you. Or at least, the part of you that still carries their stain."
He closed his eyes.
"The past never really dies." Karasu's voice rumbled within, distant, as if even the Spirit System was keeping its breath shallow.
Down in the spirit garden, Eirenne sat with her knees hugged to her chest beneath the blooming twilight sakura, her hair cascading like a silver stream. Noira sat a distance away, sharpening her blade not out of necessity, but ritual.
"Do you think… he's scared?" Eirenne whispered.
Noira didn't stop her motions. "Of course he is."
"Then why does he walk forward like he's already seen the end?"
Noira looked up, her obsidian eyes reflecting the spirit lights above. "Because that's what he was made for. Walking through the end and choosing what to carry back."
Eirenne shivered, not from cold, but from understanding.
In the underground sanctum, Rei stood before the third fragment—this one not of flame, but ice.
[System Notice: Second Fragment Acquired — Icebound Silence. Compatibility Index: 59%]
Karasu spoke again. "Unlike the Flame, this one remembers loss, not rage. Handle it gently."
He reached out, and the world cracked.
He was standing in a snow-covered field, hundreds of spirit shards embedded into the earth like fallen stars. Above him, the sky bled lightless aurorae, and before him stood a woman in mourning black robes, her face veiled.
"Will you carry their silence?" she asked.
Rei stepped forward.
"I'll carry it until it becomes a voice again."
The woman wept, and then dissolved into frost.
When he opened his eyes again, Mireille was standing across from him. She had waited silently.
"What did it show you?" she asked.
"Not what was, but what could be."
That evening, a signal was triggered. Not from the outside world, but from a coded transmission embedded within the Spirit System itself. It bore a symbol Rei hadn't seen in two lives: a sigil made of wings broken and reformed.
[System Alert: Cross-Factional Contact Attempt Detected. Initiating Secure Channel. Origin: Kuoh Town.]
Rei's expression hardened.
Kuoh.
"Looks like the devils have taken notice," he said quietly.
Karasu's voice was unusually quiet. "Not just devils. The ones gathering there… they're not ready for you."
"But they're ready to meet me."
He turned to Mireille. "Prepare the transport construct. I'm going to Kuoh."
"You'll be walking into the territory of two High-Class Devils. Possibly more."
Rei's smile returned—sharp and soft, like silk hiding a blade.
"Then let them see who walks with silence and flame."
Far away, in Kuoh Academy, Rias Gremory stood in the student council room, eyes narrowed at the sudden spike of spiritual energy that pierced the town's borders.
"What… was that?" she murmured.
Sona Shitori adjusted her glasses. "Not an angel. Not a devil. Not even a fallen."
Then, with a voice touched by both awe and dread, she added, "Something older."
They all felt it.
The arrival of the man who no longer belonged to any world but could shape them all.