The Spiral storm had passed.
Yūgen's sky still trembled with residual resonance, but the battlefield was still. Ruins smoldered. Echo fragments slowly dissolved into glowing mist.
Ren stood motionless, breathing heavily, blade cracked at the edge. Beside him, Rei was crouched over Kael, who had taken a brutal hit protecting Yumi from a spatial rupture. Her hands glowed faintly as she stabilized his spiral rhythm.
Yumi sat with her sketchbook open, drawing protective seals to slow the bleeding air.
Aki stood apart from them.
His eyes were different.
Gone was the soft focus. Instead, sharpness—like someone who had stopped blinking altogether.
A faint smile played on his lips.
He cracked his neck once.
Then came the voice.
> Zenthros: "Tch. Mortals whining again. Can't handle a skirmish without bleeding like popped grapes."
Everyone turned sharply.
Yumi stiffened. "...That wasn't Aki."
Aki turned to face them, but didn't step closer. His stance was relaxed—too relaxed. Like someone at home in chaos.
> Zenthros (through Aki): "You call this a fight? I've swallowed entire continents that put up more resistance. And that girl—" (he pointed lazily at Rei) "—still swings like a soggy leaf."
Rei's blade was instantly up. "You're back."
Ren narrowed his eyes. "Zenthros."
Aki's body twitched. He gripped his head for a second, wincing. "N-not now… not this soon…"
But the voice kept slipping through.
> Zenthros: "Let me speak, vessel. Let me remind your playmates what a real presence feels like."
Aki dropped to one knee, trying to fight back. Spiral threads flickered violently around him. Ren stepped toward him, hand extended, but Aki snapped his head up—
> "TOUCH ME AND I'LL TURN YOUR FACE INTO ART—UGLY, PAINFUL ART."
A moment of silence.
Then he blinked.
"…Sorry. That wasn't me. Not fully."
Yumi stepped forward cautiously. "He's… merging faster?"
Aki stood, wiping blood from his nose. His voice was his own again—raspy, exhausted.
"He's angry. Amused. He likes the conflict. The Spiral battles, the awakening of the Ministers. He's waiting for them. Wants them to notice."
> "He's calling them," Aki added, quieter. "Like it's a damn game."
---
The Shift
Later, in the temporary sanctuary beneath Sector Refract, the team tried to regroup. Kael was healing. Rei was silent. Yumi scribbled notes furiously—she was the only one who could still sketch protection seals that worked on Aki.
Ren stared at the map—twenty symbols now glowed faintly, the positions of the Ministers. But one was pulsing brighter than the rest. Approaching them.
Aki sat alone by the cave mouth, the wind howling outside.
Ren joined him, quietly.
"You okay?"
Aki didn't look up. "Would you be?"
Ren said nothing.
Aki finally spoke.
"When I let him speak… I feel powerful. Beyond human. Beyond fear. Like I could remake the Spiral into whatever I wanted."
He chuckled, but it wasn't happy.
> "But I also feel him watching… all of you. Measuring. Mocking. He called Yumi a 'spark with breasts' the other day. I didn't even mean to say it."
Ren raised an eyebrow. "And what did she do?"
Aki smiled faintly. "Drew a giant mallet and hit me in the head. Twice."
A beat of silence passed between them.
> "We'll stop him if we have to," Ren said. "Even if he's inside you."
Aki's smile vanished. His voice dropped an octave.
> Zenthros: "Oh, I dare you."
A flash of power exploded from Aki's chest, cracking the ground. His eyes glowed white for a second—and just like that, he was normal again.
Breathing hard.
"Sorry," he said. "He doesn't like threats."
---
Meanwhile…
Far away, across a shattered realm stitched together by void tunnels, a shadowed figure watched a flickering orb.
The orb showed Aki.
The voice was faint but layered.
> "The Vessel is waking."
Another voice, heavier, colder:
> "Then the Ministers must move."
The chamber shimmered with twenty seated forms—blurred, cloaked, faceless. Each had a Spiral shard embedded into their throne.
But one stood.
The First Minister.
> "The Divine Art stirs again. The Spiral System isn't stable enough to hold him. Let's remind them why we were sealed."