The earth convulsed.
Just as Rei and his companions emerged from the rift between realms, the sky above Kyoto splintered with lines of jagged crimson light. Clouds spiraled away, baring a silver gate that tore through dimensions like a blade.
From within it descended Icarion.
Sovereign of Bound Flame. Sentinel of lost truth. And now, executioner.
The massive figure touched the ground with silence—thirty meters tall, wings composed not of feathers, but of tethered law. Its presence disobeyed reality. Trees withered in its wake. The shrine's ancient barriers cried out and cracked.
Rei looked up at the titan.
"So," he murmured, eyes gleaming silver-blue. "You're what the Sovereigns send when they run out of rules."
Icarion's voice echoed in perfect neutrality:
> [Flame Anomaly Detected. Containment Override Required. Flame Sovereign Rei Kazenari: You are in violation of all Sovereign Directives.]
Rei stepped forward.
"I didn't violate anything. I redefined it."
---
The Battle Begins
Without warning, the sky ignited. A beam of pure order—coalesced from hundreds of spirit threads—descended on Rei. He barely dodged, warping sideways in a flame burst.
"Noira! Eirenne!" he shouted.
"On it!" Noira flanked right, blade glowing with a new wind-forged resonance. Eirenne's shields unfolded like silver wings, intercepting a second beam. Mireille unleashed spell matrixes along the terrain, manipulating leyline flow.
But Icarion adapted instantly.
One sweep of its arm and a field of nullification erased all spirit presence within fifty meters.
Mireille staggered. "It's canceling entire elements!"
Rei exhaled. "Then we burn deeper."
---
Layered Flame Resonance
Rei opened his arms.
The Eighth Flame pulsed, spiraling with fragments of other spirits within him. Unlike traditional spirit users, Rei didn't summon—they fused. Echoes of Artea's wrath, Iridia's silence, Shivan's fury—all responded.
He channeled them through Layered Resonance, a new technique born of the Memory Palace.
A crimson-white spear formed in his hand, etched in living runes.
"Let's see you erase this."
He hurled it.
Icarion caught the weapon, but staggered back as the runes tore through its construct armor, peeling away one law-binding at a time.
Rei charged next.
With every step, the ground burned with astral frost. He reached the titan's chest, leapt, and plunged both hands into the sigil embedded there.
> [Synchronicity Achieved — Sovereign Flame Mirror Engaged.]
Flashes of memories—not Rei's, but Icarion's—filled his mind. Once a protector. Once human. Once betrayed.
Karasu's voice pierced through: "Rei, if you go deeper, you risk becoming him!"
Rei gritted his teeth. "No. I pull him back instead."
---
Inside the Sovereign Core
Rei's consciousness plunged into the inner construct.
He stood on a reflection of the world, everything frozen in glass. Icarion stood opposite him—not as a titan, but as a man. Barefoot, eyes blindfolded.
"You were never meant to fight me," Rei said. "You were meant to end what you couldn't forgive."
"I am Code," Icarion replied.
"No. You're memory wrapped in law. Let me prove it."
Rei offered his flame.
It touched the mirrored heart of Icarion.
And for a moment, the code broke.
Icarion's hands trembled. His blindfold fell. Tears, silver and slow, dropped onto the mirrored world.
> [Synchronization Rising… 80%... 92%... FLAME BIND BROKEN.]
---
Reality — Return and Collapse
Back in the physical world, Icarion screamed—not in rage, but release. The titan's armor shattered in radiant silence, revealing a human form within—a man with ash-blonde hair, kneeling.
Rei landed, breathing heavily. Noira and the others rushed to his side.
"He's… he's human again?" Eirenne asked.
"For now," Rei answered. "But he remembers everything."
The man raised his head. "My name… was Calen. I was the first Flamekeeper. They turned me into Icarion."
Mireille's eyes widened. "Then the Sovereigns… didn't build the system. They hijacked it."
Rei looked to the stars. "Then it's time we take it back."
But as the dust settled, a new ripple surged through the leyline sky.
Karasu hissed, "They're coming. The rest of the Sovereign Code. We've just passed the point of no return."