The battlefield lay still, yet nothing felt settled.
In the absence of Obelion, a strange stillness lingered. Not peace—something else. The sensation of a world holding its breath. The flame-thread leyline twisted above Rei like a double helix of memory and possibility.
Velka stood beside him, her form now partially manifested in the physical plane. Her eyes, deep and molten, scanned the wreckage.
"One falls," she said. "But the others will not come blind."
Rei nodded. "Then we don't wait."
---
Elsewhere — Sovereign Cathedral: Shard of Sigma
Sovereign Alpha turned from the failing projection of Obelion's collapse. Cracks formed across its mask, not of damage—but of fury.
> "Second Deletion Confirmed."
Sovereign Sigma: "Obelion… unanchored. Timeline effect: cascading. Continuity breach projected."
Sovereign Alpha extended a digit into the lattice, and across dimensions, a sealed corridor unlocked.
A whisper followed: "Initiate Veyra."
Within the void archive, a feminine figure stirred. Cloaked in paradox and dressed in flowing chains of mirrored timelines, Sovereign Veyra stepped into motion.
She whispered to herself:
"Unravel. Rewrite. Remove."
---
Rei's Camp – Precursor Assembly
Mireille drew spirit maps in the air. The constellations had shifted. New stars had formed where Obelion once reigned—markers of memory no longer suppressed.
Eirenne lit incense at the edge of the scorched earth, watching Calen meditate. "You've seen them longer than any of us," she asked. "Will Veyra be different?"
He opened one eye. "Veyra doesn't fight."
Noira blinked. "Then how does she kill?"
"She erases what would fight," Calen said. "Before it remembers how."
---
Velka's Insight — The Price of Awakening
Rei sat across from Velka beneath the Spirit Willow, its branches alight with soft flame.
"You knew them all?" he asked.
"I was there when Sovereign Code rewrote the rules," she answered. "I was fire that defied their molds. They sealed me before they sealed time."
Rei looked at his hand, where runes now pulsed with twin scripts—his and Velka's.
"They'll come harder," he said.
"They'll come emptier," she replied. "Each Sovereign carries less memory than the last. They purge themselves to remain loyal to 'code.'"
Rei stood. "Then I'll carry memory for all of us."
> [New Trait Gained: Memory-Binder — User becomes resistant to timeline editing effects. Spirit allies cannot be rewritten while bonded.]
Karasu stirred. "Rei, another ripple. A Sovereign is forming near the Spirit Cradle. Coordinates fixed."
Rei turned to his team.
"Next front. Let's move."
---
Spirit Cradle — Arrival
The Spirit Cradle was not a place, but a moment—a still-point where time folded into birth. Accessed only by Flame Carriers and Spirit Wombs, it lay suspended between realms.
As Rei and his allies emerged, they were greeted by a paradox.
A world rewinding itself.
Birds flew backward. Flames unburned. Words re-entered mouths.
In the center stood a woman with no face. Just a smooth mirror where her identity should have been. Her voice echoed as memory undone:
"Rei Kazenari. The anomaly too stubborn to collapse."
"Veyra," Rei said. "Sovereign of Redaction."
"You carry fire," she whispered, "but also weight. That must be edited."
Velka hissed beside him. "Do not let her speak in full. Her words carry deletion."
Rei drew a sigil in the air, and Velka merged with him again—this time without command.
> [Synchronizing with Spirit: Velka — Defensive Flame Thread Engaged. Temporal Inversion Resistance Applied.]
Veyra raised her hand.
And across the cradle, reality itself folded.
---
Begin: Temporal Siege
All attacks reversed. Spells turned into thought. Even Rei's breath returned to his lungs before it left.
But Rei's flame pulsed at a deeper wavelength now—rooted in Velka's primordial coding. Each pulse emitted a counter-vibration of presence. A concept Veyra could not redact.
Rei spoke:
"I know your law. But I am the memory of fire. I do not end in silence."
He struck forward, each blow leaving not flame—but footnotes. Marks in the timeline that Veyra's power could not erase. His history was becoming anchored.
Veyra screeched—not in pain, but glitch.
"You should not exist!"
"No," Rei replied. "You shouldn't have forgotten me."
---
End of Round One — Veyra Retreats
As the cradle fractured from paradox stress, Veyra split into fragments, fading between moments.
Before vanishing, she hissed: "The Masked One comes next. He carries silence even you cannot burn."
The cradle collapsed. Time returned to its natural rhythm.
Rei fell to one knee, exhausted but whole. Velka manifested beside him, smoke rising from her shoulders.
"You scarred a Sovereign," she said.
"I'll burn the rest."
And behind them, a ripple moved again—this time silent, cloaked, faceless.