Yūgen didn't just shake—it bled.
After the Spiral Reaper vanished and the Burn Fragment erased half a region, the entire realm became unstable. Spiral maps glitched. The air itself seemed to echo with lines from battles that hadn't happened yet. Spiral storms appeared in peaceful zones. Something had shifted in the code of the world.
And everyone could feel it.
---
Ren stood atop a cliff overlooking the erased zone.
Behind him, Aki sat quietly, his eyes flickering with red and black Spiral residue. The others—Kael, Rei, Yumi—had started setting up protective runes. No one spoke for a while. Not after what they'd seen.
Aki was the one who finally broke the silence.
"They let us live."
Ren didn't respond immediately.
Aki's voice dropped into a whisper, though the Hollow God's tone bled through.
> "It wasn't mercy. It was a warning. A demonstration."
Ren's hands tightened around the creation pen. "They're testing us."
"No," Aki said. "They're measuring us."
---
Elsewhere in Yūgen, Rei and Kael had found a message encoded in Spiral dust near the burn zone's edge. It wasn't a full message—just a symbol, the same spiral eye from before.
Yumi studied it. "They're leaving marks now."
Kael narrowed his eyes. "Like a hunter tagging prey."
Rei's dagger trembled slightly in its sheath. "Then let's become something they don't want to chase."
---
That night, the team gathered in the Spiral Forge again. But something was different.
A portal opened within the forge—stable, unlike the wild rifts before.
> "New Domain Unlocked: Spiral Sanctuary – Codename: HALCYON NEXUS"
Ren read the text hovering above the gate. "A sanctuary?"
Yumi stepped toward it cautiously. "More like a trap. Or a gift we didn't ask for."
But Kael, ever forward, cracked his neck and said, "If it's a trap, we spring it before it grows teeth."
They entered.
---
The Spiral Sanctuary – Halcyon Nexus
It wasn't like the zones before. This place didn't resemble a battlefield, or a ruin. It was... peaceful.
Too peaceful.
Blue skies. Still ponds. Floating scrolls hung from the air like leaves suspended mid-fall. And in the center: a giant crystal prism suspended above a throne of empty Spiral threads.
Ren looked around cautiously. "This isn't real. It's an echo. A memory."
Yumi nodded. "One preserved so perfectly, it doesn't know it's dead."
Suddenly, one of the scrolls opened mid-air.
And a voice spilled out—slow, calm, but filled with dread.
> "We see your curiosity, Divergents. But your rebellion is statistical noise."
It was him again.
Minister Two.
But still, no body. Just a voice, projected from the crystal.
Aki stepped forward, arms crossed. "You just erase and observe. What are you waiting for?"
The crystal dimmed. Then the voice responded.
> "We wait for confirmation of failure. Organic Spiral fluctuation… may lead to higher entropy."
Ren shook his head. "You speak like code, but this isn't math. It's life."
Minister Two responded almost... sad.
> "Life was our first failure. You are simply echoes of it."
The prism pulsed. An image appeared within: a massive Spiral Tree burning from its roots.
Yumi gasped. "That's the Memory Root… but older. Before Spiral Delta…"
Minister Two continued.
> "We have no wish for conquest. We are maintenance. You are the corrosion."
Kael finally snapped. "Then come down here and erase me yourself."
The prism paused.
And this time, the voice was colder.
> "That would be inefficient. But you are now... marked."
Suddenly, Kael's chest glowed.
A Spiral mark—red and jagged—burned into his skin.
He dropped to one knee. "Agh—! What the hell is this?!"
Yumi rushed to him. "It's a trace mark! It's going to copy your Spiral signature!"
Rei lunged at the crystal and threw her blade—but the moment it touched the prism, the image of Minister Two vanished.
The voice whispered one last time:
> "Next time, the Ministers won't send a Reaper. They'll send a judgment."
---
Aftermath
Back at camp, Kael lay unconscious. The Spiral trace mark hadn't faded. Worse, it spread slightly each time he tried to use his powers.
Ren and Aki sat nearby, debating.
Ren whispered, "They're setting traps inside our own power."
Aki's voice was quiet, almost… conflicted.
"Hollow God thinks it's a test."
Ren frowned. "Of what?"
"Of identity," Aki said. "Whether we remain Seekers… or become something else."