Cherreads

Chapter 71 - Names Buried, Flames Unbound

> [Location: Blue Star Academy – Buried Arena Core]

Host Entity: Nullflame Echo – Status: Bound (Stabilized)

Sparkbearer Sync: Jiang Han (64% Integration)

Flame Partner Link: Tian Xue – Anchor Level Stable

Incoming Alert: Sovereign Division Asset En Route – Code Name: Ash Viper

---

Beneath the Arena – Shadow Questions

The Nullflame Echo sat cross-legged in the center of the ruined chamber. Though it bore Ye Tianlei's form, it moved like mist over embers—alive, but untethered.

Jiang stood at a distance, Emberfang still pulsing at his back. Tian Xue watched the echo with narrowed eyes, her blade ready.

> "You said Long Chen feared you," Jiang said. "Why?"

The Echo didn't speak at first.

Then, quietly—

> "Because I remembered what the Sovereign Spark was… before they refined it."

Tian Xue frowned. "What do you mean?"

> "They turned it into a weapon. A badge. But it was once a soul. A will that chose freely. Before the system caged it."

> "Long Chen followed the flame's rules. I asked… what would happen if we broke them."

---

Memory Fragment – The Hidden Fight

The Nullflame raised its hand.

A fire ring opened, revealing a memory fragment Jiang and Tian Xue had never seen—not in history books, not in echo scrolls.

It showed Ye Tianlei on a cliff above Sovereign City, staring down as trialists ascended the Flame Path.

> "They think this climb makes them worthy," he said to someone unseen.

"But it's a leash. The flame binds them to a system designed to break them before they can break the world."

The memory flickered—then cut off.

> "He wasn't trying to destroy the spark," Jiang said slowly. "He wanted to free it."

The Echo nodded.

> "And now you hold the key he died for."

---

Aboveground – Trouble Arrives

At the north gate of Blue Star Academy, a ripple split the sky.

A woman stepped out—tall, cloaked in ash-grey robes, with two obsidian serpents curling around her arms. Her name wasn't on any registry. Her face never captured by trials.

> Ash Viper.

An elite Sovereign Candidate. Silent. Lethal. Hand-selected by the Division for one purpose:

> Eradicate anomaly-class flame threats.

A voice in her comm crystal crackled.

> "Target confirmed inside Buried Arena. Sovereign Spark Class. Secondary Link active."

She responded only once.

> "Permission to execute?"

> "Granted."

She vanished in smoke.

---

Below – The Echo's Request

The Nullflame stood.

> "I can't leave this place. But I can lend you something."

> "What?"

> "The truth. And the path to where this started."

A thread of black-flame light floated from its hand, sinking into Jiang's palm.

> [New Data Acquired: Flame Origin Scroll – Pre-Sovereign Era Archive Coordinates Unlocked]

Location: Charred Sky Monolith – Outer Ruins of Fallen Heaven Gate]

Jiang staggered. Tian Xue caught him.

> "Another gate?"

> "No," he said. "The first one."

---

Combat Approaches

Then a crack.

A real one.

The stone above fractured.

Ash poured in.

And from it—Ash Viper descended, her cloak unfurling like a serpent.

> "Jiang Han. Tian Xue. Step away from the Echo."

Jiang stood in front of the Nullflame.

> "I won't let you kill a memory."

> "Then you'll die with it."

---

System Trigger – Sovereign Clash

> [Combat Initiated – Opponent: Ash Viper (Sovereign Class – Suppression Protocol Active)]

Estimated Survival Odds: 34% (Without Nullflame Intervention)]

Option: Release Partial Nullflame Bind – Risk: Echo Autonomy Increase]

Tian Xue looked at Jiang.

> "Can we handle her?"

> "Not alone."

He turned to the Echo.

> "Help us… and I'll carry your truth."

The Echo smiled.

> "Then let's see what happens when you burn a lie."

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