The night sky above the sanctuary was thick with violet clouds, heavy with unspoken omens. A wind, cold and laced with spirit energy, swept through the valley, whispering tales of forgotten names and battles yet to come. The fractured moon above bled faint red light across the peaks, casting the stone corridors of Rei's fortress in ominous glow.
Rei stood in the newly fortified command chamber, his gaze fixed on a levitating map made from raw spiritual code and honkai essence. The contours shimmered faintly, showing fractures in the dimensional seams between realms—places where the veil was thin, where something ancient stirred.
"That's the fifth location," Noira said, her obsidian flame aura flickering with tension. "And the most unstable one yet."
Eirenne, arms folded and wearing a short violet robe that hummed with chaotic spirit energy, frowned. "It's near the former boundary of the Fallen Citadel. That leyline was sealed after the War of Trinities."
Rei didn't look away from the map. "Not sealed. Bound. There's a difference. Someone's unbinding it."
> [System Update: Temporal Rift Identified — Designation: Crimson Veil Node]
Karasu's voice crackled like dry leaves in his mind. "You're being drawn in. The ones behind the scouts… they want you to touch the Veil. They want the spirits to remember their origin."
Rei narrowed his eyes. "Then we'll go."
---
The team assembled near the portal nexus chamber. Their journey would require slipping through a semi-collapsed dimensional corridor—a place neither bound to the Three Factions nor entirely outside reality. Mireille adjusted her uniform with practiced grace, then handed Rei a reinforced charm scroll inscribed with Spirit-Circuit runes.
"It's a ward against reality bleed," she said. "The last time someone crossed a Rift without this, they came back… less than human."
Rei took it. "Define 'less'."
"No soul," she replied calmly. "Just the shape of a man."
Eirenne smirked. "And here I thought you were exaggerating before."
Rei walked ahead, voice steady. "Let's see what's worth crossing blood and void for."
---
[Crimson Veil: Rift Coordinates Established]
Crossing the rift was like being dropped into an ocean made of memories and voices. Color bled into sound, and sound into weight. Time fractured. For a moment, Rei saw himself—bleeding, broken, standing before a mirror version of himself who wore the robes of a monarch and the eyes of a god.
Then he was through.
The Crimson Veil stretched before them like a desolate battlefield frozen mid-battle. Weapon remnants and shattered constructs lay half-buried in the ethereal soil. The air vibrated with latent hatred and sorrow.
Noira touched a ruined column. Her expression darkened. "This place... I remember this. But I never lived it."
Eirenne's aura flared. "This is a memory. A collective echo of every Spirit born and erased."
A voice called out.
"You're late."
From the mist emerged a woman cloaked in white and crimson. Her body shimmered like a dream held together by flame and sorrow. Long hair draped down her back like a river of blood silk. Her eyes—piercing amethyst—settled on Rei.
"You carry the seed of the First Flame. And yet, you've not been tested."
> [System Alert: Spirit Signature — Uncatalogued. Matching Prototype: Kureha — Flame of Mourning]
Rei stepped forward. "Who are you?"
"I am the one who chose not to ascend," she replied. "Because to ascend meant forgetting. And forgetting meant betraying those I failed."
Karasu stirred uneasily. *"She's one of the Originals. A Spirit who rejected sealing. The core of your system is patterned after her."
Mireille's stance shifted subtly, protective. "She's also unstable."
Kureha's laughter echoed across the veil. "Unstable? Perhaps. But what is sanity to a Spirit born from the death of millions?"
She raised her hand. The battlefield changed—memories surged. Rei and his team were pulled into a shared vision.
---
They stood amid a city on fire. Screaming mortals ran through the streets as an army of armored spirits descended upon them. The scent of betrayal was heavy in the air. And at the center of it all stood Kureha, her blade dipped in blue and gold flame, slicing through both enemies and allies.
"This was the first rebellion," she said. "We fought not for freedom, but to remember. The Spirit System—they tried to overwrite us. Remove our will. You, Kazenari Rei, walk the same path. Your system gives spirits autonomy. Choice."
Rei gritted his teeth. "And that's why they fear it."
The vision dissolved. They were back on the veil's surface.
Kureha stared at him. "You will reach the Nexus eventually. But not without pain. Not without sacrifice. The next fragment lies in a place even gods fear to tread."
"Where?"
"The Grave of Echoes. Beneath the ruins of the Old Vatican."
She stepped closer. Her hand briefly touched Rei's chest, right over the flame fragment embedded near his heart.
"This power will demand more from you than you know. Remember this, Kazenari Rei—fire is not just destruction. It's memory. Passion. Loss."
Then she vanished, her form dispersing into red butterflies that burned away one by one.
---
Back in the sanctuary, the team emerged from the portal nexus, weary and changed. Rei remained silent for long minutes before finally speaking.
"Prepare everything. We leave for Europe in three days. I want full analysis of the Grave's perimeter."
Noira nodded, but her expression was grim. "We're getting close, aren't we?"
"Yes. Too close."
Eirenne looked at Rei with searching eyes. "You've changed. Did you see something we didn't?"
He didn't answer.
Only walked toward the flame chamber, where the next test would come.