The Sacred Forest Lake shimmered under the dusk light, its waters unnaturally still. Mist coiled across the surface like fingers trying to hold the moonlight down.
Shisui stood on the bank, heart steady, body alert.
Kurou had brought him here with no words, only a single sentence:
> "You've harmonized your Animus. Now prove it against what was born in it."
From beneath the water came a ripple.
Then a tremor.
Then the lake exploded.
A creature surged forth—scaled and serpent-like, with four clawed limbs and bright, alien eyes. It coiled in midair before landing silently on the grass, its gaze locked onto Shisui's.
"That's a Lesser Myrrkai," Kurou said. "It's not a monster. It's a beast with a name and a will."
Shisui nodded.
The Myrrkai spoke, voice like gravel and wind:
> "Another human seeking to control what is not his?"
"No," Shisui replied, voice low. "I came to understand it."
The Myrrkai bared its fangs. "Then fight me with truth. No borrowed power. Only your own."
Without warning, the creature lunged.
Shisui ducked, sliding under its swipe and retaliating with Lantern Palm. His strike landed on its ribs—soul fire flaring across its body. But the Myrrkai twisted with supernatural agility, tail slamming into Shisui's side.
He flew into a tree, breath knocked from him.
Pain blurred his thoughts, but training held his instincts firm. He tapped into his core, channeled Arch Flow into his legs, and burst forward with Soul Gesture: Spiral Flame—a new form he'd been crafting silently in meditation.
A helix of golden fire spiraled from his hand. The Myrrkai dodged left—but not fast enough.
The blast tore through one wing.
It roared—not just in rage, but laughter.
"Your fire carries your soul. I see it now. You are not here to conquer me."
Shisui collapsed to one knee, gasping, his body on the edge of burnout.
The Myrrkai stopped. "Then I will grant you a mark. If you survive the pact."
It opened its mouth wide—and a ring of Arch Energy flared into existence, rushing toward Shisui's chest.
He screamed as the energy scorched his Animus and wrapped around his Spirit Core like chains of light and memory.
And then, everything went black.