🏚️ Temporary Safehouse – 2:14 AM
They found shelter in a ruined karaoke bar on the city outskirts. Kiyomi had fried the building's cameras and Zephyr cloaked them in an old spell circle that pulsed like a lazy heartbeat.
Ren sat in the corner of a ripped booth, hoodie pulled tight over his face. His fingers kept tracing the Mark glowing faintly on his palm.
"Everyone thinks I'm the villain now," he muttered.
Zephyr sipped vending machine coffee. "Villain, hero, fugitive… Same job description: survive long enough to change the story."
Kiyomi dropped beside Ren with a thud. "You're not the villain. You're just the guy who got kicked into a cosmic war with no warning."
Pause.
"…Which makes you kind of an idiot. But not a bad one."
Ren cracked a tired smile.
Then — a knock.
Not on the door.
On the barrier.
🚪 Jin's Unexpected Visitor
Jin stood in the back alley of his ramen shop, cigarette between his fingers. The city was boiling. But something worse just arrived.
A man stood in the fog.
Tall. Burn scars on his cheek.
Wearing the same white coat Ren had seen in his dream.
> "You're supposed to be dead," Jin said.
The man gave a weary smile. "So are a lot of us."
> "What do you want, Nathaniel?"
The man held out something — a black key with a spiral insignia.
> "I want to finish
what we started."
🕳 Aya's Message From the Rift
Ren jolted up from sleep. The karaoke booth was dark. Silent. But in his mind—
A voice echoed. Aya's voice.
> "Ren… look left."
He turned — just in time to dodge a spectral blade slicing through where his chest was moments before.
A reflection crawled through the cracked window — not the Mirror Vessel, but something else.
A fake Kiyomi.
Ren blasted it with raw energy, vaporizing the illusion.
Then he heard Aya again.
> "The Rift is leaking. And I'm starting to remember… what I am."
🌀 The Flashback – Aya's Secret Origin
Inside the crystal, fragments of her memories were waking up.
She saw herself at age 4 — holding a glowing cube.
Her parents arguing.
The cube cracking — light pouring into her eyes.
A Rift shard. Implanted into a child.
She wasn't just a genius.
She was born partially Rift-bound.
💥 Team's New Mission
Ren, Kiyomi, and Zephyr gathered around the map.
Zephyr spoke first. "Aya's communicating through memory projections. That's high-tier skill."
"She's trying to guide us," Kiyomi added. "But the place she's trapped in? Not just another Rift pocket."
Ren nodded. "It's a Labyrinth. That's what the fake me said — the real fight hasn't even started."
Zephyr rolled out a scroll.
> "Then it's time to break into the Labyrinth Realm."
🔚 Meanwhile – The Watcher & Nathaniel
In a twisted cathedral of Rift bone, the Watcher stared at a floating orb — Ren's last fight playing on loop.
Then, behind him:
Footsteps.
Nathaniel entered, holding a glowing shard.
> "He's not ready yet," Nathaniel said.
The Watcher turned.
> "That's the point. If he unlocks the Seventh Gate before he's strong enough, he'll tear this world apart from the inside."
> "You don't want that?"
> "I want him to be the one to choose it."
Nathaniel frowned. "You're playing a long game."
The Watcher grinned beneath his mask. "We're gods. That's the only kind of game we can play."
End of Chapter 17
🌌 Bonus Lore Drop – The Seven Gates
> In ancient Rift prophecy, seven energy points — "Gates" — exist within a Seal-Bearer.
The First awakens instinct.
The Second unlocks memory.
The Third opens power.
The Fourth corrupts identity.
The Fifth reveals the Labyrinth.
The Sixth fractures time.
And the Seventh…
...reshapes reality.
Re
n has only opened two.
🔥 Chapter 18 Teaser:
> Ren and team prepare to enter the Rift Labyrinth. But someone among them is hiding a deadly secret. Meanwhile, Aya begins to fight back — from inside the crystal. And in the darkness, a new enemy wakes: a girl who claims she's Ren's sister… and that she died for him once alread
y.