Southern Wastes – Two Hours Later
The sky had split open like torn flesh.
A second Vein Rift burned through the horizon—blood red, screaming.
From it walked a boy, no older than sixteen.
His hair shimmered silver-white, and his eyes were hollow—like Kaizen's... but inverted.
He walked barefoot across ash.
Behind him came Ten Flame Priests—robed, chanting, wearing masks made from scorched bone and obsidian flame.
They called him one name in unison:
> "Nerovar."
"The Reclaimed Flame."
Ayaka stood frozen atop the southern wall.
Her heartbeat pounded like war drums.
Nerovar looked up… and smiled directly at her.
---
Meanwhile – HQ Undercore, Infirmary
Kaizen jolted awake.
His eyes burned gold and black.
Flame symbols shimmered briefly on his neck, then faded.
> "You saw him, didn't you?" whispered a voice.
Kaizen turned.
Standing in the shadows was Captain Tsura—his left arm still bandaged, face pale.
> "The other you," she added.
"The Flameborn no one talks about."
Kaizen sat up slowly, his voice hoarse. "He's real. He called himself… Nerovar."
Tsura sighed. "Then the prophecy is in motion."
> "Two flames born of the Skyburner's will."
"One will burn the world to cleanse it."
"The other will burn the world to rule it."
Kaizen looked down at his hands.
> "Which one am I?"
---
South Outskirts – That Same Night
The villagers had no warning.
One moment, they were watching stars.
The next, they were burning alive.
Nerovar walked through their town like a ghost, his bare feet sizzling against the ground, leaving trails of red-hot ash.
He didn't lift a hand. He didn't speak.
The ten priests behind him chanted a single phrase:
> "Ashes to recall the true king."
"Ashes to open the gate."
A sigil burst beneath their feet.
A Vein Gate opened in the sky above the village—
A rippling red-black rift, swirling with veins of flame, blood, and ancient symbols.
And then came the Shriekers.
Deformed Bist creatures twisted by fire, crawling out of the rift like insects.
Their screams weren't from mouths—they were thoughts, burning into minds.
---
Back at HQ – War Council Room
General Okabe slammed his fist on the table.
> "A second Veinborn? You're telling me there's another Kaizen?"
Tsura nodded grimly. "Worse. He's not just another. He's the one meant to survive."
Silence fell.
A holographic projection hovered over the table: the destroyed village, burning red under the night sky.
Kaizen entered the room slowly, everyone turning to face him.
> "Let me face him," he said.
"This isn't a war we can win with soldiers."
Okabe's jaw tightened. "And if you lose?"
Kaizen didn't blink.
> "Then burn me with him."
---
Ayaka – Southern Wall Watchpoint
She sat quietly, knees drawn up, gazing at the Vein Rift.
Her fingers trembled.
In her hand was a burnt scrap of an old scroll—taken from the hidden archive in Chapter 66.
On it, she had found a chilling line:
> "The Twin Flames will be bound by a soul tether — when one dies, the other begins to unravel."
She whispered, "Kaizen…"
Suddenly—
A figure appeared next to her.
Nerovar.
Not teleported. Not snuck in. He simply appeared—as if the world accepted him being there.
He sat beside her, mirroring her posture.
> "He still doesn't know, does he?"
Ayaka's breath hitched.
> "That you saw me… the night his village died."
She turned sharply.
> "That you begged me to spare him," Nerovar continued. "And I listened."
He looked at her, and for a moment, there was no malice.
Just something... broken.
> "You always loved him more."
---
Flashback – 8 Years Ago
Ayaka—barely 10—stood in a burning forest.
Two infants lay side by side.
One was crying.
The other was silent, eyes wide open—already watching everything.
A hooded figure stood beside her.
> "You may save one," it said. "One flame. One fate."
She stepped forward, tears in her eyes.
And picked up Kaizen.
The other child stared at her... and didn't cry.
> "You chose wrong," the figure whispered.
---
Present – Southern Wall
Nerovar rose to his feet.
> "He'll remember soon."
"And when he does… he'll burn everything. Even you."
He disappeared in a flicker of black flame.
Ayaka collapsed to her knees.
---
Final Scene – Inside the Shard Prison (Last Frame of the Chapter)
Kaizen stood alone in the mirror chamber from his Trial.
But this time, one mirror didn't show him.
It showed Nerovar.
The boy stepped forward… and spoke from inside the mirror.
> "I'm not your enemy."
"I'm your proof that you were never human."
Kaizen's hand trembled.
> "Then what are we?"
Nerovar smiled.
> "We're the same broken flame."
"But I'm the half that remembers why we were made."
The mirror shattered.
And Kaizen fell to his knees—
screaming not in pain… but in awakening.