The silence was oppressive.
Kaizen stood in the void—no sky, no ground, no gravity—only a pale, pulsing thread of light before him. The Tether Plane. This wasn't a place meant for mortals. It was the bridge between existence and something beyond—something divine. And somehow… his bloodline granted him access.
As he floated forward, drawn by an unseen force, his mind began to split. Not in pain—but in perspective.
He could see flashes:
A girl with pale eyes screaming as flames engulfed her.
Ayaka weeping while gripping his bloodied hand.
Nerovar… sitting calmly in a throne of broken Bist skulls, watching, always watching.
Kaizen clutched his head. "What is this? Whose memories are these?"
A voice—neither male nor female, neither kind nor cruel—spoke from within the Tether.
"You approach the God Core. You were never meant to. But your veins remember… what the world forgot."
The thread of light cracked open like glass. A brilliant sphere hovered within, glowing with runes far older than language. A whisper crawled into Kaizen's ears:
"Touch it."
Against every instinct, Kaizen reached out.
The moment his fingers grazed the sphere, a thunderclap of agony flooded his senses. His vision went white. He was no longer Kaizen Ryouma. He was… hundreds.
---
Memories Not His
He saw a boy, centuries ago, who looked just like him—standing before a council of gods.
He saw the formation of the Bist race—created, not born.
He saw the First Flame, chained beneath the earth, screaming as mortals harvested pieces of its power.
He saw the truth:
> The Veinborn were not defenders of humanity. They were the flame's curse—avatars of balance. If too much of the world burned, one would be born to burn it back.
And Kaizen… he was the last one. The Final Flamekeeper.
The visions faded. The God Core's glow dimmed, and the voice returned, colder now:
"You have seen. You now understand. Creation balances destruction. If Nerovar wishes to unmake the world, only your fire can answer."
Kaizen breathed heavily, sweat dripping into the endless dark. "Then why does it feel like I'm becoming less human every time I awaken?"
"Because you were never fully human."
---
Meanwhile… In the Waking World
Outside the Tether Plane, Ayaka sat quietly beside Kaizen's unconscious body, her hands trembling. She had stitched every wound she could, but his fever—his skin was nearly glowing. Squad Umbra stood in a protective formation, watching the forest around them.
A shadow emerged between the trees.
Ayaka stood.
A tall woman with snow-white hair and two vertical scars over her eyes approached them slowly.
"My name is Rhena. I knew Kaizen's mother," she said, her voice like frozen steel. "And I'm here to warn you. The Tether Plane is waking the ancient laws. When he returns… he will not be alone."
Ayaka narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"
Rhena glanced at the sky, where a crackling red tear shimmered like a wound in reality.
"The gods that created the Bists are returning. Kaizen is their final gambit."
---
Back in the Tether
Kaizen floated before the fading God Core, his thoughts in chaos.
Then, without warning, the sphere whispered again.
"He's watching you."
Kaizen turned.
Nerovar.
Not in body—but in soul. Across the veil, in a parallel corner of the Tether Plane, Nerovar stood—smiling. His left eye glowed a cursed violet, his right one was a hollow void.
"Kaizen," he said softly, "you're opening doors even I feared to knock on. Are you prepared for what comes next?"
Kaizen gritted his teeth. "I'll burn down every realm you try to rule."
Nerovar's smile widened.
"Then I'll see you at the brink of the world. Ten chapters from now… perhaps?"
And just like that, he vanished.
---
Chapter End Scene
Kaizen's eyes snapped open in the real world. The forest around him was trembling, wind howling through the trees. Ayaka's face appeared above him—tears of relief sliding down her cheeks.
"You came back," she whispered.
Kaizen sat up slowly, his hand clenched.
"I touched the God Core… and now I know why I was born."
Behind him, the red tear in the sky widened slightly. A faint whisper echoed across the forest.
"Flamekeeper…"