The night was thick with smoke and silence. Rei stood before the smoldering ruins of a battlefield, the wind carrying faint embers like dying stars across the twilight. Karasu knelt beside a cracked boulder, her eyes closed, calming the last ripples of power from her near-Inversion. Hoshino perched on a broken lamppost, licking a crimson lollipop as if the world hadn't nearly unraveled.
[System Status: Spirit Sync (Karasu) - Stable. Inversion Threat: 4%. Core Sealing Reinforced.]
Rei exhaled softly. His breath was visible—odd, considering the temperature wasn't cold. But that was the nature of spiritual turbulence: it warped everything, including the air.
The city of Kuoh remained oblivious. The veil held.
Karasu opened her eyes. "I lost control. Again."
"You didn't fall," Rei replied calmly. "That's what matters."
From above, Hoshino chuckled. "Next time, try not to melt the park fountain. I liked that one."
Karasu's cheeks flushed, but she didn't respond. She knew her instability was still a liability.
[System Reminder: Emotional Threshold Calibration Required. Recommend Reinforcement through Meditation or Authority Anchor.]
Rei turned his gaze toward the horizon. The sky above Kuoh was darker than usual, as if a storm were waiting beyond the clouds. Not a meteorological storm—something more profound. Something watching.
"Yoru's been quiet," he murmured.
"Too quiet," Hoshino agreed. "I hate when that shadowcat disappears without a word."
Suddenly, the shadows around Rei's feet rippled, and a figure emerged from the black ink of night. Yoru's feline shape shifted into her humanoid form—sleek, quiet, and vaguely ethereal.
"Something's coming," she said simply.
[System Alert: Incoming Distortion. Class: Spirit Manifestation. Estimated Manifestation Time: 48 hours. Domain Unstable. Emotional Reading: Undefined. Priority: High.]
Rei frowned. "That's two spirits in less than a week."
Hoshino whistled. "Feels like the system's accelerating."
Yoru nodded. "Whatever's coming, it's not like the others. The spirit's domain… it's blank."
Karasu tilted her head. "Blank?"
"Not corrupted," Yoru clarified. "Just… empty. As if it hasn't decided what to be yet."
Rei closed his eyes. "Then we'll decide for it."
[System Command: Prepare Sync Protocol. Expand Detection Grid. Monitor all shifts in emotional resonance across Kuoh.]
As the others dispersed to scout, Rei remained behind. He reached into his coat and pulled out a small charm—simple, unassuming, a remnant from his human life. A memory anchor.
He whispered, "I was just a man. Before all this."
The charm glowed faintly.
[System Acknowledgment: Anchor Detected. Emotional Resonance—Melancholy. Human Origin Confirmed. Reinforcing Ego Stabilization.]
Rei pocketed it again. He could still remember the pain of death. The searing heat, the sudden cold, the screaming in his ears. Then the voice. The system.
'Do you want power?' it had asked.
He never answered aloud. But the moment he opened his eyes again, power had answered for him.
Now, standing amidst spirits and gods, devils and angels, he was neither hero nor villain. Just a calm in the center of chaos.
He turned his gaze to the east, where a faint crimson light glowed on the distant horizon.
A new spirit.
And with it, another step into the unknown