The door didn't just open.
It breathed.
A gust of ancient air rolled out as the stone slabs groaned, revealing a vast chamber beyond—circular, towering, the walls etched with runes glowing faintly in their elemental colors.
Blue. Red. Yellow. Green.
A heartbeat pulsed beneath their feet.
None of them spoke. Not even Sayos.
Mizu stepped forward first. The others followed, blades and energy ready—but unsure if they were walking into a battle or something worse.
In the center of the room was a throne. Black stone. Twisted, yet elegant. As if the rock had once screamed, then fallen silent forever.
A man sat upon it.
Not moving. Not blinking. Cloaked in dark violet robes. Hands resting calmly. He wasn't large, wasn't armored, didn't even look armed.
But his presence… crushed the silence.
The tension thickened. Even Lucy growled low, her fur bristling.
His eyes opened.
They glowed—faint violet. Not blinding, but deep. Like looking into something that remembered too much.
Sayos broke first. "Okay, does this guy remind anyone else of a final boss who's been watching the whole game?"
Rika: "Shut up, Sayos."
The man stood slowly. "You've awakened your crystals."
His voice was like thunder trapped in velvet. Calm. Cold.
"You carry the marks of wind, fire, lightning, water. You believe you're chosen."
"Who are you?" Mizu asked, fists clenched.
The man ignored the question. Instead, he looked at them—one by one.
"You," he said to Sayos, "laugh to hide your fear. You deflect with humor, but you're terrified of being alone again."
Sayos flinched.
He turned to Honkai. "You carry guilt like armor. But it doesn't protect you. It chains you."
To Rika: "Your fire burns brightest when you're angry. You haven't yet learned how to forgive."
And then to Mizu.
"You, child of storms... you still think power will protect the people you've lost."
Mizu didn't respond. His gaze stayed locked.
The man nodded slowly.
"I am Tensaki."
Rika blinked. "Wait. The Tensaki? Kuga's mentor?"
Sayos lowered his voice. "The one who trained him when he was a kid… before he was taken by Ranshin."
Tensaki looked older now. Not just tired—broken.
"I trained Kuga. I raised him like my own. And I failed him. Because I couldn't stop him."
He said the name like it was poison.
Ranshin.
The chamber dimmed. The crystals in the wall pulsed once—then faded.
"You've been brought here not to win," Tensaki said, stepping down from the throne, "but to prove you are not like those who came before."
He waved his hand.
The ground cracked.
The walls began to shift, fold in on themselves. The entire room restructured—like it was alive.
Then—suddenly—they weren't standing together anymore.
They were alone.
Each of them in a different realm.
Sayos stood in a storm of endless wind.Rika walked through a city of fire.Honkai stood under a sky where lightning never stopped.And Mizu… floated in an ocean where the stars above drowned slowly.
Tensaki's voice echoed across all four realms, calm but thunderous:
"Face your element. Face yourself. Or fall like the others."
Sayos screamed. "Rika?! Mizu?!"
No answer.
Only the howl of wind, cutting deeper than a blade.
Rika growled, fists ablaze, but her flames flickered. The buildings around her looked too familiar. They were familiar.
She saw the ruins of her village.
Honkai tried to charge a bolt—but the lightning lashed back at him, forcing him to his knees. The sky laughed like a god.
And Mizu stood motionless, eyes wide, as shapes swam through the deep water around him—faces he had buried, memories he had locked away.
The crystals they carried began to glow.
Painfully.
Each of them faced not just the element—but the part of themselves they feared most.
Then—
From deep within each realm—
A figure appeared.
Not a monster.
Not a beast.
But a shadow version of themselves.
Smiling.
Waiting.
And every version of the shadow whispered the same thing:
"You are not worthy."