The sky above Kuoh rippled like a fractured mirror, the distortion from Rei's last battle still hanging thick in the spiritual atmosphere. The fractured ley lines pulsed faintly, reacting to the resonance of the fragments he now held. From the base beneath the forgotten shrine, Rei stood before a ring of glowing symbols—etched into the floor in a forgotten dialect, binding the essence of Spirit and Flame.
Karasu's voice echoed within him. "Three Fragments. Three voices. The next will awaken a gate—one that even the heavens sealed."
Rei stepped forward, placing his palm atop the circle. Energy surged upward, flickering with hues of crimson and obsidian. The chamber groaned as walls shifted, revealing a stairway that had not been touched for centuries.
Behind him, Mireille, Noira, and Eirenne stood ready.
Eirenne asked quietly, "Is this where we find the Fourth?"
"No," Rei replied. "This is where we awaken what lies beneath them."
The descent was long and steep, lit only by the shimmering aura of the fragments hovering around Rei. At the bottom lay a chamber far older than anything built by the Three Factions. Floating symbols etched in midair pulsed with restrained chaos.
A figure awaited them there.
She was tall, cloaked in a veil of wind and starlight, her hair the color of ash. Her eyes flickered with the light of a dying sun. The moment Rei stepped forward, she smiled.
"You bear the echoes," she whispered. "You are the nexus."
> [Spirit Signature Detected: Fourth Spirit — 'Velstra, the Wind That Mourns']
Karasu murmured, "She is sorrow. She is storm. Her heart is shattered across time."
Velstra bowed her head. "And yet I remained... waiting for the one who would make the world remember."
Rei reached out. The moment his fingers brushed hers, the world tilted.
---
They stood in a memory not their own.
A world torn by spirit wars. Cities suspended in the sky, burning as titans of wind and fire clashed. Velstra wept in the ruins of her own people, clutching a crown made of feathers.
"I was not a warrior," her voice whispered across the illusion. "But I fought to be remembered."
Rei knelt before her. "Then let me carry that memory."
When the illusion broke, Velstra stood before him not as a phantom, but as a Spirit bound to him.
> [Spirit Pact Complete. Velstra Joined: Resonance Level 31%.]
Eirenne narrowed her eyes, sensing the shift. "Another piece of the system awakens."
Noira glanced toward the ceiling. "We won't be alone for long."
The sanctuary trembled.
---
On the surface, in the shadow of a crumbling bell tower, Azazel stood alone. His eyes, golden and calculating, stared into the evening clouds.
Beside him, a fragment of sealed EXE tech blinked.
"Rei Kazenari," he murmured. "How far will you fall to gather the old world?"
He turned, wings folding behind his coat. "And if I let him... will he burn the world cleaner than we ever did?"
A comm crackled.
"Sir," came the voice of a Grigori agent. "Sona Shitori requests audience. She says she met the one called Rei."
Azazel smiled faintly. "Then perhaps the game is further along than I thought."
He vanished into the sky, chasing an unseen line between gods and ghosts.