The fire in Kaizen's eyes had changed.
It wasn't wild.
It wasn't vengeful.
It was controlled.
Like a dragon that had finally accepted its wings.
The Seer stepped back, watching him with what could only be described as… awe.
"You've stabilized your Veinborn flare," he muttered. "No tantrums. No madness. You shouldn't be able to—"
Kaizen interrupted, "You were wrong about me."
He turned slightly to Ayaka, who stood beside him, blade drawn, a flicker of her own unstable flame at her fingertips.
"You were wrong about her too."
The Seer tilted his head. "The girl of crimson threads… yes. I misjudged your bond. Or perhaps, I feared it."
Ayaka's voice was calm but cold. "What did you do to his mother?"
The Seer's mask seemed to twitch, as if recalling pain.
"I warned her not to love a Veinborn. Especially not the one who carried the First Flame within him. But she did. And then… she tried to change fate."
Kaizen's voice lowered. "And you killed her."
The Seer didn't deny it.
"I had to. She was about to awaken something that would have unraveled both realms. But I failed. Because in her final breath… she sealed it inside you."
---
The sky above the Hollow Veins cracked.
A pulse of pressure burst outward.
Reality trembled—as if a boundary had been pushed, warped, or worse, bruised.
Sora stumbled forward. "Something's wrong. It feels like… someone is calling."
Rei's voice cracked over the comms. "Bists. Hundreds. No—thousands. Marching. All moving toward the Wastes."
Tsura's face twisted. "They're converging on this location."
Ayaka narrowed her eyes. "They're after Kaizen."
The Seer gave a hollow laugh. "No, child. They're not after him."
He looked up at the sky.
"They're coming to kneel."
---
Moments later, the ground cracked open at the edge of the valley.
From the scar emerged a beast larger than any Umbra soldier had seen. Not General Krovar. Not even Zar'Vok. No—this was something else.
An ancient creature of twisted scale, molten bone, and glowing glyphs carved into its ribcage.
> It was the Ashen Fang.
One of the Seven Obsidian Heralds of the Bist Highborn.
It stopped in front of Kaizen… and bowed.
A deep, grinding voice emerged from its burning throat.
"We answer the call of the Veinborn Sovereign."
Kaizen froze.
"What did you call me?"
The Ashen Fang lifted its head. Its eyes—if they could be called that—glowed the same hue as Kaizen's veins.
> "The flame has chosen you.
The blood has bound you.
The pact, forgotten by the world, now binds again."
> "We are yours to command, Shard Heir."
---
The others were speechless.
Ayaka's hand trembled. "Kaizen… what is this?"
The Seer stepped forward, voice heavy with a grim truth. "This is the secret we buried. Long ago, when the war between humans and Bists began—there was a third force. The Flame Pact. A binding agreement made by the First Veinborn to unite both species… under a single ruler."
Kaizen looked stunned. "Me."
"You," the Seer confirmed. "You are the flame reincarnated. And whether you want it or not… they recognize you as their king."
Tsura cursed. "You're telling me he has command authority over the Bist army?!"
The Seer nodded. "Yes. But only if he accepts it. Right now, the bond is awakening. If he rejects it… the war resumes. If he accepts… he must lead both sides."
---
Kaizen's fists clenched.
"Why me? Why now?"
The Seer looked at him with eyes filled with centuries of regret.
"Because your time has come. The Abyss stirs. Nerovar isn't just trying to open the Gate—he's trying to reverse the pact. If he succeeds, the Bists will become slaves to his will. Their minds twisted. Their blood rewritten."
Ayaka whispered, "And you're the only one who can override it."
Kaizen looked at the Ashen Fang, then at Ayaka, then back at the sky, where the cracks of the Gate were beginning to show again.
He could feel it.
The pull.
The flame wasn't just inside him anymore. It was everywhere. In the soil. The wind. Even in the silence between breaths.
He closed his eyes… and saw everything.
His mother's dying face.
His father's burning fists.
Squad Umbra's loyalty.
Ayaka's unwavering gaze.
And his own reflection—standing alone at the center of it all.
He took a step forward.
The Ashen Fang lowered its head further.
Kaizen raised his hand—and fire flowed like breath.
"Then I accept."
"But I won't rule with fear."
"I'll burn a path forward—with them."
---
And then…
The sky exploded.
A rift tore open above the Hollow Veins—a portal dripping with darkness and shrieking whispers.
A new figure descended, suspended in mid-air, wrapped in shadows and lightning.
Tall.
Elegant.
Eyes glowing red like twin dying stars.
Nerovar.
He smiled.
> "And so, the Sovereign awakens.
Just in time to see the world fall."
> "Let's finish what your parents couldn't."