There are some sounds the human soul isn't meant to hear.
One of them was the roar of the Abyss Gate awakening.
The entire earth trembled. Deep under the Headquarters, in the ruins of the old Sanctum, a tear opened — a circular rift of darkness ringed with ancient shard-symbols glowing crimson. Winds screamed from within, carrying whispers in forgotten tongues.
Kaizen stood before it, Squad Umbra behind him, Ayaka at his side, her hands glowing faintly with defensive glyphs.
"I thought… the Abyss Gate was sealed centuries ago," said Rei, clutching his weapon, eyes wide.
Kaizen nodded. "It was. By the First Pact. But Nerovar just forced it open. And we don't have long before something comes through."
Ayaka's voice was calm, but her expression betrayed fear. "Not something. Many."
A sudden crack split the air—followed by a spike of obsidian shooting out of the rift and impaling the ground inches away from a soldier.
"They're scouting us," Kaizen whispered.
"Who?" whispered Sora, knuckles white.
Kaizen turned, eyes now glowing with flickers of gold and black.
"Bists who were exiled… not just from this world, but from existence itself. The Forgotten Breed."
Before anyone could respond, a voice hissed from the rift.
Not loud. Not human.
But felt deep inside their bones.
> "He returns."
"The Flame with no leash."
"The Pact shattered… the cycle begins anew."
From the Gate stepped a figure. Unlike the grotesque forms of previous Bists, this one wore humanoid armor fused with veins of crystal. Its face was wrapped in living bandages, and from its back extended six bone-like wings twitching unnaturally.
Rei gasped. "That's not a general…"
Kaizen stepped forward. "No. That's a Herald."
The being raised its arm and pointed directly at Kaizen.
> "Flameborn… awaken us."
And then—chaos.
The walls cracked open. Vein-creatures poured out, silent as shadows, faster than any Bist before. Squad Umbra launched into battle, Ayaka erecting a barrier as five of the creatures lunged at them with shrieking mouths.
Rei was the first to strike, twin daggers flashing. Sora followed with a pulse-blade blast, but these monsters absorbed energy and kept moving.
Ayaka's glyphs cracked under pressure. "These aren't soldiers. They're corruptions. Living echoes of what fell into the Abyss."
Kaizen gritted his teeth. "Then I won't hold back."
His flame erupted—a storm of red and white that burned through the creatures' flesh, exposing bone and shard. He leapt into the center, slicing three apart mid-air, but more replaced them immediately.
The Herald floated above, arms wide.
"Every death feeds us."
One of the Umbra members, a girl named Lira, screamed as tendrils dragged her into the rift.
Kaizen launched forward to grab her—too late.
She vanished.
Ayaka's voice cracked, "They're trying to pull us in… one by one."
Kaizen's eyes flared. His voice echoed with something deeper than human:
"Then let them see what I really am."
He raised his hand—and for the first time, without a shard, without a seal, without control—he channeled the First Flame directly.
The ground cracked. The air burned. The rift screamed.
And from Kaizen's heart erupted a pillar of flame shaped like a dragon, coiling into the sky, striking the Herald with all its fury.
The Herald shrieked—its wings disintegrated in the blast—but it did not die.
Instead, it laughed.
> "You burn well, prince of ash. But you forget… we are born from flame."
It lunged—and Kaizen was struck in the chest.
Everything blurred.
He flew back, crashing through a stone pillar.
Ayaka screamed, "Kaizen!!"
Blood poured from his mouth. He tried to rise—but the Herald stood over him now, hand poised to pierce his heart.
Then—
BOOM!
A sniper shot—a perfect glyph-round—blasted the Herald back. From the shadows appeared a new figure—Captain Tsura of the Frost Division, his rifle still glowing.
"Move," he growled. "We're not done yet."
Behind him, reinforcements poured in—Frost soldiers, healers, and flame-tech units. A full counter-offensive.
Kaizen staggered to his feet.
Ayaka caught his hand. "Don't die on me. Not yet."
Kaizen looked into the rift.
It was closing—slowly—but more Heralds stood in its depths.
And beyond them…
A throne of eyes. A shadow in chains. And something whispering his name.
He whispered back:
"I'm not ready to be your king. But I will be your end."
The Gate pulsed one final time—and sealed.
For now.
But the war had begun.
And Kaizen knew…
The Abyss would open again.
Soon.