Lightning stitched across the heavens—thin lines at first, then glowing fractures that spread like veins of fury.
The Shardspire responded with a deep, groaning hum. Its runes lit up in sickly green and deep crimson. The earth beneath Kai's feet began to pulse, like something beneath was waking.
The Twin-Faced Sovereign raised both arms to the heavens. "It begins again!"
From his back, black vines whipped out—twisting, writhing, and stabbing into the ground. They fed from the earth, from the flame circle, even from the air itself.
Kai stood firm, but sweat ran down his face.
"He's draining everything."
Ayaka slashed at the vines, but they healed instantly. "This power… it's like he's linked to the World Seed itself."
"No," Ren said, fists clenched. "It's like he's feeding it."
Then Kai saw it.
High above—hovering between the clouds and the Shardspire's tip—a shape began to form. A second orb. Darker. Colder. Twisted. A corrupted mirror of Kai's own.
Kai's eyes widened. "He's created an echo seed…"
The Sovereign's voice rang out.
> Your orb was only the beginning, boy. My seed is built from pain, rot, and survival."
He raised his hand—and the echo orb responded, crackling with black lightning.
But just before he could strike—
> CRACK!
The sky snapped open. A second thunderclap split the clouds—this time not from the Sovereign.
But from something older.
A third presence had arrived.
The storm turned golden.
From above descended a cloaked figure riding the wind like a throne—his aura ancient, his blade sealed in roots.
Kai whispered, "Who…"
Ayaka lowered her sword slowly. "That's… impossible."
Ren took a step back. "A Heaven-Binder."
The Sovereign's eyes narrowed. "So the old ones rise too."
And suddenly—three powers stood beneath the broken sky.
The flame-born.
The rot-bound.
And the root-sealed.
> The war for the true world… had finally begun.