The world did not immediately understand what had happened.
But it felt it.
Every leyline twisted.
Every spirit-woven pact trembled.
Every celestial formula etched into the firmament began to hum with unstable resonance. And for the first time in eons, the very boundaries between divine authority and spiritual inheritance cracked.
Grigori Headquarters, Underground Chamber of Forbidden Analytics
Azazel slammed a tome onto the obsidian table, the pages still glowing with aftershock readings.
"It wasn't just a spike. That was a dimensional dislocation," he growled. "Reality actually shifted at a point just outside Kuoh."
Across from him, Penemue traced symbols mid-air with her fingers, her eyes wide with disbelief. "We registered a pulse on the same wavelength as the Old Thrones... but it wasn't them. It was something newer. Wilder. Personalized."
"Rei," Azazel muttered. "You mad bastard... what did you open?"
A hush fell over the room as a new waveform rippled across the monitors.
[Spirit Protocol Crosslink Detected: Pattern Identifies Rei Kazenari — Status: Unknown Class.]
Azazel stared.
"He's not in our ecosystem anymore."
Kuoh Outskirts, Hill of Fractured Roots
The landscape had changed.
Where once there had been quiet forest, now stood a ring of burned symbols, etched into the very bedrock, still glowing faintly with multicolored flame. Rei stood at its center, eyes closed, as the last echo of the fusion faded into silence.
Mireille approached slowly, eyes cautious.
"Rei?"
His body turned, but his gaze took a moment to focus. His eyes were no longer human. They bore constellations inside them—like someone who had stared directly into the creation code of the universe.
"I remember them all," he said, voice softer than before. "All the versions of myself who failed. All the ones who didn't survive the gate."
Noira appeared beside Mireille. "But you did."
He shook his head. "No. We did."
The fragments behind him hovered silently, but now glowed with a unified pulse. They no longer fought for dominance. They had become one shard—a fused embodiment of rebellion, memory, and unresolved godhood.
Eirenne stepped forward, eyes misted. "What did you see on the other side?"
Rei looked up at the sky, now subtly tinged with an unfamiliar aurora.
"I saw that heaven is not what they told us. It's not peace. It's obedience. And I saw what happens to those who refuse it."
He turned to them, and his voice hardened.
"I intend to be the exception."
Elsewhere: Dimensional Gap
Great Red circled slowly, ripples of temporal distortion trailing behind its massive body. But instead of roaring or thrashing, it stilled.
A whisper had reached even here.
"The Shard breathes. The Gate has spoken. One walks who remembers too much."
The dragon's eyes shimmered.
Then closed.
Spirit Network, Fragmented Realm Node 77-Delta
The Choir stirred.
"He has returned with more than power," one voice said.
"He carries will."
Another replied, "Should we intervene?"
The answer came from the void itself:
"Watch. Learn. Mourn, if you must. But do not touch him."
The node went silent.
Nightfall, Same Day — Rei's Shelter beneath the Forgotten Shrine
The group reconvened.
Mireille had drawn up several older scrolls, now glowing faintly under Rei's proximity.
"These weren't readable before," she murmured. "Now they almost translate themselves."
Eirenne sipped tea silently, gaze locked on Rei. "Whatever you've become... it's not finished yet."
He didn't deny it.
Noira set a new map down. "Spirit trails are converging east of Kuoh. Something's calling. It's either the Sixth Fragment... or something mimicking it."
Rei stood.
"Then we go."
Karasu's voice returned, faint and awed. *"Rei... you're no longer just the wielder of fragments. You're becoming a fragment yourself. A living contradiction."
Rei smiled faintly. "Then I'll teach the world how to house contradiction without collapse."
And with that, they moved eastward, toward the calling.
Toward whatever dared awaken next.