The journey to Vatican Rift began at dusk, but dusk never ended.
The skies above Rome had been torn by inversion—sunset locked in perpetual bloom. Celestial clouds spun counter to time, their edges burning with Scripture not found in any Bible. And below, where St. Peter's Basilica once stood, a vortex of gold and void churned silently.
> [Codex Warning: Domain Breach Detected. Entity Signature: "Kavaleroth." Classification: Fallen Sovereign. Risk Level: Absolute.]
Rei stood at the edge of the coliseum-turned-warp-gate. Beside him, Mireille finished decoding the resonance glyphs.
"It's a temporal inversion node. The Sovereign here isn't just corrupting time—he's rewriting doctrine."
Eirenne exhaled, her armor shimmering with mirrored scripture. "Then we sever the heresy."
Noira cracked her knuckles. "I've always wanted to punch a false prophet."
Karasu ruffled his feathers. "Blasphemy fights back harder when it's self-aware."
---
Inside the Vatican Rift
They descended into a spiral cathedral of fractured stone and reversed light. Every stained glass window replayed moments in reverse:
Angels falling.
Priests denying salvation.
Flames consuming holy water.
In the center knelt Kavaleroth, armored in gilded bone, wings folded like a judge's gavel.
"You've come," he said without turning.
Rei stepped forward, unblinking. "I've come for your creed."
Kavaleroth rose, his voice echoing in three tones—Faith, Doubt, and Silence.
"I was once Sovereign of Conviction. Now I am the proof that belief decays."
He raised a sword forged from broken commandments.
"You carry Flame unbound. But do you carry purpose?"
---
Trial of Faith — Sovereign Combat Begins
The battle did not begin with movement, but confession.
Kavaleroth demanded a truth from each member:
Mireille: "Why do you fight when logic says you will fail?"
Answer: "Because someone must record that we tried."
Eirenne: "Why do you guard him if fate says he'll break?"
Answer: "Because I believe he chooses fate, not the other way."
Noira: "Why do you stay when death is promised?"
Answer: "Because I've never been promised anything—until now."
Kavaleroth turned to Rei.
"And you? What binds your fire, when no god claims you?"
Rei's flame surged in silence. Then he spoke.
"Because I saw a world without story. And I won't allow that void to spread."
Kavaleroth charged.
> [Boss Encounter: Kavaleroth — Fallen Sovereign of Creed Unwritten]
His attacks struck with doctrine—each blow a rewritten gospel:
"Let flame kneel before scripture."
"Let doubt become blade."
"Let faith consume itself."
Rei parried with layered flame threads—combining Lysandrel's Echo, Vaelstrom's Anchor, and the Momentless Truth.
The field warped. Scripture cracked. Eirenne and Noira pierced his shields. Mireille disrupted his dogma with recursive incantations.
Rei delivered the final strike, not to destroy, but to unwrite the corruption.
> [Codex Message: Creed Stabilized. Thread Redeemed — "Ashen Conviction." New Trait Acquired: Absolute Resolve — Immune to Sovereign-induced fear or doubt.]
Kavaleroth fell to one knee.
"Your faith is not born of gods. It is born of choice. Perhaps that... is stronger."
He disintegrated into ash and golden threads.
---
Post-Battle: The Shattered Basilica
With the Sovereign defeated, the inverted Vatican collapsed into ruins—but the air cleared. The sky turned to honest blue.
Azazel appeared through an EXE Rift Relay. "Hell just got colder. Vatican's cleared. But the east? The east is burning."
Karasu turned his beak.
"Velstra's fragments are awakening. The East Arc is next."
Rei watched the ashes fall and turned toward his team.
"We've redeemed silence. We've redeemed doubt. Now we redeem remembrance."
The Codex shimmered.
> [Next Location: Silk Requiem, Realm of Forgotten Threads. Estimated Resistance: Sovereign-Class Fragment — Xindaros.]
Noira smirked. "Sounds like a nice vacation."
Rei closed his eyes, breathed in the scent of ash and scripture, and said only:
"Let's move."