📍[Veylor Rift – Arcana Cup Semifinal Announcement]
Nico leaned in toward the screen as the next bracket locked.
"Semifinal: Phantom XI vs Lamentis Vale."
Eren raised an eyebrow. "That's not even a football name. That's a death poem."
Lyra checked their dossier.
"No highlight reels. No recorded goals. No footage."
Ash looked up. "That's impossible. They're in the Top Four and no one's seen them play?"
Kaien was silent.
He remembered that name.
From the old Cup.
Lamentis Vale — The team that made captains retire mid-match.
📍[The Night Before the Semifinal]
Kaien sat alone, staring at an old memory loop.
His final match before he died. He remembered collapsing.
But there was something before that.
A single touch on his shoulder.
A whisper.
"What do you regret the most, Kaien?"
He never saw the player who said it.
Just the number on their jersey: 0.
📍[Lamentis Arena – Match Day]
The stadium had no lights.
The audience wore veils.
The field was gray glass, and instead of a whistle, a bell rang.
The opposing team stepped out slowly.
Their kits were pale, almost colorless.
Their captain wore no number.
Just a single word across his back: Echo.
Referee drone:
"Warning: Lamentis Vale plays using licensed Arcana Effect Soul Echo. Proceed with mental defenses."
Eren: "Wait, what's Soul Echo?"
Kaien: "…It turns your worst memory into their strategy."
📍[First Half – The Collapse Begins]
Lyra went first.
She took the kickoff—and froze mid-pass.
Her eyes glazed.
Ash shouted, "LYRA!"
But she wasn't seeing the pitch.
She was back in a hospital. A woman's hand slipping from hers.
Tears. A promise she broke.
On the real field — she dropped the ball. Literally.
Goal. Lamentis Vale. 0 – 1.
Ash charged.
Then stopped.
He saw an empty stadium. His father turning his back. "You'll never be better than second place."
He shanked the shot wide.
Kaien shouted from the back.
"They're using our past against us! Don't listen!"
But it was too late.
Another goal.
0 – 2.
📍[Kaien's Echo Awakens]
Then it hit Kaien.
The field disappeared.
He was back at the betrayal.
Ren turning.
Injecting the Arcana poison.
The betrayal hurt—but worse was the voice behind him.
"You should've known better."
A girl's voice.
His old vice-captain.
The one who warned him, and whom he didn't believe.
She disappeared.
He fell.
Back then... and now.
But before the illusion swallowed him whole—
He pulsed the Rhythm.
Beat. Beat. Beat.
A silver ripple exploded from his foot.
And shattered the illusion.
Kaien stood straight.
"Your power is real. But I've already lived it."
📍[Counterattack – Phantom XI Finds Their Anchor]
Kaien ran forward.
Snatched the ball.
His rhythm echoed outward.
Touched Ash.
Lyra.
Nico.
Each of them blinked, came back to the present.
Ash gasped, "How did you—?"
Kaien: "You can't fight regret with strength. Only with truth."
He passed to Lyra.
She caught it clean.
Dribbled.
Cut inside.
Shot.
Goal. 1 – 2.
Lamentis Vale twitched.
Their illusions weakened.
Kaien smiled.
"You steal from the past. We play for the future."
📍[Final Minutes – The Broken Captain]
Echo, Lamentis' captain, stood at midfield.
He hadn't moved all match.
Now, he did.
His aura darkened the sky.
"You're the one who came back from death. The Emperor."
Kaien: "Not yet. Just the composer."
Echo lunged forward — and the entire field turned black.
Kaien's teammates vanished.
The world was just him.
And her.
The vice-captain he failed.
She touched his face.
"Why didn't you listen?"
Kaien didn't run.
He stepped toward her.
Held out his hand.
"Because I was afraid. But I'm not anymore."
Light erupted from him.
The field returned.
Echo stumbled.
Kaien passed forward—Ash finished it.
Goal. 2 – 2.
📍[Tiebreaker – Final Echo]
Lamentis Vale's last play.
Echo lined up a penalty.
Kaien stood in goal.
Echo's voice cracked. "This power… all it's ever done is remind us how we failed."
Kaien looked at him, steady.
"Then play for something that hasn't happened yet."
Echo blinked.
Kicked—
Kaien dove—
Saved.
Crowd erupted.
Match over.
Victory: Phantom XI. Finals bound.
📍[Veylor Rift – One Day Before the Final]
Ash was sharpening his cleats in silence.
Nico juggled the ball. "Whole realm's watching. If we win this… we're legends."
Eren: "If we lose, we vanish like all the others."
Kaien didn't say a word.
He had just received a message. No sender. Just a name:
> "The Mole is inside your team."
And a single image.
It showed a drone. Hidden. Filming their practice from within their dorm.
---
📍[Midnight – Kaien Investigates Alone]
Kaien snuck into the dorm's storage hall.
He found the drone. It carried a team crest—
But not Phantom XI's.
It was marked with a silver crown.
> Ordo Celestia.
And as he looked closer…
He saw access logs.
Someone had activated the drone from inside their locker room.
Time-stamped. Traced.
Kaien froze.
The name that flashed across the panel—
> "Lyra. Last login: 3 hours ago."
---
📍[The Confrontation]
Kaien waited until the rest were asleep.
Found Lyra outside the field, alone.
He didn't yell.
Just held up the drone.
> "Why?"
Lyra turned slowly.
Her eyes glistened. "Because I thought… I could protect you."
Kaien: "By feeding our enemies?"
Lyra: "By trading one match for your life."
She opened her palm.
A mark pulsed there — a divine curse.
> "Ordo Celestia never plays fair. They mark the one they fear. You. I was trying to lift it. I didn't want you to die again."
Kaien stared at her.
Then looked up at the night sky.
> "You should've told me. We win together — or we lose alone."
She dropped to her knees.
He walked away.
But his heart was heavier than ever.
---
📍[Final Match – Ordo Celestia's Arrival]
The stadium floated above the clouds.
Thrones of light encircled the pitch.
The audience? Angels. Saints. Judges of the Arcana Realm.
Then came the opposing team.
Clad in white-gold kits. No names. Just titles:
Judicant
Seraph
Oracle
The Choir
And their captain—
The Fatebearer.
He walked like time moved for him, not with him.
Kaien whispered, "He's the one who wrote the prophecy. The one that said I'd fall."
---
📍[Kickoff – Power Beyond Reason]
Ordo Celestia didn't play football.
They commanded it.
With every pass, the ball obeyed like a law of reality.
Every tackle was a judgment.
Every goal, a sentence.
Kaien tried to sync his rhythm.
But their field muted it.
Beatless.
Soundless.
Void.
0 – 2.
At halftime, Phantom XI looked broken.
Ash was bleeding from a cracked shin.
Nico's hands were shaking. "This isn't a match. It's execution."
Kaien sat quietly.
Then stood.
> "They erased our rhythm."
> "So let's make noise loud enough to bring it back."
---
📍[Second Half – Resistance Reborn]
Kaien kicked off.
Not with rhythm—
But with rage.
Each touch, a declaration.
Each pass, a defiance.
He moved differently.
Not clean. Not perfect.
Human.
But every play reminded his teammates who they were.
Ash: "I'm not your sacrifice."
Nico: "I'm not your pawn."
Lyra: "I'm not broken anymore."
Goal. 1 – 2.
---
📍[The Fatebearer Moves]
The Fatebearer stepped into midfield.
Reality bent.
Kaien saw his own death flash in front of him.
Not the match.
Not the betrayal.
But something else.
A deal.
Years ago, the Fatebearer offered him a choice:
> "Lose your soul, or lose the game."
Kaien had chosen to play.
And paid the price.
Now?
He smiled.
> "Thanks for reminding me."
He stepped forward.
Broke the illusion.
Fired a pass to Ash.
Ash curved it to Nico.
Back to Kaien.
> One touch.
> Beat.
> GOAL. 2 – 2.
---
📍[Final Shot – Rewrite Fate]
Extra time.
Final minute.
Penalty shootout.
Kaien walked to the line.
The Fatebearer stood in goal.
"You cannot win," he said. "I've seen your thread. It ends here."
Kaien held the ball.
Then whispered—
> "Then I'll write a new one."
He stepped back.
Breathed.
Tapped—
Beat.
Beat.
Shot.
The ball screamed like a comet.
It tore through the Fatebearer's aura.
Shattered the divine net.
And struck the back wall like thunder.
---
> Final Score: Phantom XI – 3 / Ordo Celestia – 2.
> CHAMPIONS.
---
📍[Post-Match – Epilogue Begins]
Crowds roared.
Angels wept.
Kaien knelt.
Not from pain.
But peace.
Lyra approached him quietly. "Will you forgive me?"
He looked up.
> "You were trying to save me. But I don't need saving anymore."
He rose.
Looked at the sky.
> "I came back for this."
> "But I'm staying… to build something even greater."