"You can open this gate and take their power," his mother said. "Or close it and lose the chance to save your father."
Itsuki stood in between the gate and its guardians, between the voice of blood and the voice of conscience. Then another voice was heard.
"You are not alone."
Reina appeared in that misty world. She reached for Itsuki's hand, and for a moment, the mist cleared.
"I believe in you. Not because of your blood, but because of who you really are."
Itsuki looked at Reina, then at Yurina. And he made his choice. With a heavy breath, he raised his hand, channeling energy not to open the gate, but to seal it again. Light surged from his body, enveloping the cracked gate, forcing it shut with a loud echo that reverberated through the dimension.
Yurina screamed. "You… you reject us?!"
Itsuki staggered, blood dripping from his nose. But he looked at his mother with steady eyes.
"I'm not rejecting you. But I won't sacrifice the world just for family. If my father is truly alive, I will find him my own way."
The Second Gate closed completely. And in the real world, the light from the ritual circle slowly faded. The sky turned dark once more. The moon shifted from red to silver.
Itsuki collapsed to his knees. His body was weak, but his spirit was strong. That night, the world was safe—for now. But deep within the spirit realm, new voices began to stir. The Third Gate remained untouched. And behind it, true darkness awaited. And this time, it would not come alone.
—
The next morning brought a suffocating silence. No wind, no birdsong, as if the world held its breath after the events of the previous night. But that peace was fragile, like the surface of a lake before a storm.
Itsuki sat on the front porch, gazing at the horizon. His spiritual wounds hadn't fully healed, but something else disturbed him: the vision he saw when sealing the Second Gate. Something—or someone—had shown him a glimpse of his father. A silhouette of a man with a scarred face, chained in a place shrouded in red mist.
"He's still alive…" Itsuki whispered. "And he's suffering."
---
In the temple's basement, Hana and Reina spoke with a restless Akito.
"The Third Gate can only be opened by the Third Eye," said Akito. "And only one person ever possessed it fully… Itsuki's father."
Reina narrowed her eyes. "You're sure he's alive?"
"Yes. Yurina wouldn't open the final gate without him. Because he is the Body Key. Yurina is the Soul Key. And Itsuki is the Spirit Key."
Hana was silent for a long moment before she said, "If all the keys are united..."
"Then the boundary between the human world and the spirit world will collapse completely."
---
That afternoon, a mysterious visitor arrived at the temple gates. A young woman with silver hair and heterochromatic eyes—one pitch black, one shimmering blue. She carried an old wooden staff carved with sigils.
Her name, Lira.
"I come from the East," she said, her voice flat but heavy with pressure. "Sent by the Order of the Restrained Shadow. We felt the tremor from the opening of the Second Gate. Balance is beginning to falter."
Itsuki looked at her with suspicion. "What do you want from me?"
Lira gave a faint smile. "I want nothing. But I know where your father is imprisoned."
Everyone tensed.
"And I know who the traitor among you is."
Silence. Even the crickets stopped.
"You mean one of us?" Hana asked coldly.
Lira nodded. "Someone in this place has made a pact with the being behind the Third Gate. They've been feeding it information. And that person is in this room."
Itsuki's eyes swept the room: Hana, Reina, Akito, and Lira herself. A chill crept down his spine.
Akito stepped forward. "Then test us."
Lira nodded and raised her staff. At its tip, a blue light flared and formed a third eye, floating and scanning each face.
"This eye does not see the present, but the truth within one's soul," Lira said softly. "And truth cannot be hidden."
One by one, the light passed over them.
Reina… clean.
Hana… clean.
Lira… clean.
The light turned to Akito. The eye began to tremble. The glow turned red. The air around Akito shifted. His form shook.
"No, this is wrong! I… I didn't—"
Suddenly, a symbol on Akito's chest ignited. He collapsed, screaming, as a foreign aura exploded from his body. Black energy shot from his mouth like living smoke.
Everyone stepped back. Lira struck her staff to the ground and sealed the aura there.
"He was influenced. But he's not the source. He's only a vessel."
Reina froze. "If not him, then..."
"…there are two traitors," Lira said quietly. "And the other has yet to reveal themselves."
—
Night fell quickly, bringing thick mist that blanketed the temple. Lira sat cross-legged in the center of a protective circle drawn with bone ash and spirit ink, while Itsuki stood beside her, nervous but resolute.
"Tonight," Lira said softly, "we will unlock the memory sealed within you since childhood. The memories of your father. Yurina hid them—not to protect you, but to control you."
Itsuki swallowed. "What will happen to me?"
"You will see the truth," Lira replied, "and it may destroy you—or awaken something stronger."
---
The ritual began.
The circle glowed gold. Itsuki's body lifted slightly off the ground. His eyes opened wide, pupils turning white. Foreign whispers crept into his mind—echoes from a locked past.
Then, he saw it.
Once, he was a small child playing in a garden with his mother. Yurina smiled, singing a song in the spirit tongue. But behind that smile, another figure lurked—a man in a black robe with sharp eyes. His father.
He was no ordinary man. He was a guardian between dimensions, a messenger of the Black Emperor who chose to live in the human world and start a family.
But when Yurina began to be influenced by the Shadow, conflict broke out between them. In the memory, young Itsuki saw the argument, the house on fire, ancient symbols appearing in the air, and finally his father being dragged into another realm by a force he couldn't resist.
Before vanishing, his father looked at Itsuki with eyes full of pain and hope.
"One day, you will have to choose: to be a bridge… or a doorway to destruction."
Itsuki gasped. The ritual ended. He fell to the ground, breathing hard, eyes glistening.
"Now you know," Lira said calmly. "Your father wasn't defeated. He was betrayed. Yurina opened a small gate that night and trapped him."
Itsuki clenched his fists. "I'll save him."
---
Meanwhile, in an unknown place, Yurina stood before the still-sealed Third Gate. Beside her, a massive, many-eyed creature whispered.
"Your son remembers. And he will come."
Yurina smiled. "Let him. I want him to see who I've become."
The creature hissed low.
"And if he rejects you?"
Yurina gazed into the distance. "Then I'll destroy him myself."
---
After the ritual revealed the truth about his father, tension in the temple grew. Everyone now realized: the enemy didn't just come from outside. Yurina wasn't the only threat. There was still a second traitor—someone who had always been close to Itsuki.
That night, Reina stood in the temple's main hall with Hana, Lira, and Akito. Only the five of them. The others had been ordered away for a secret meeting.
"The protective circle at the Inner Gate was broken last night," Reina said, her tone calm but firm. "Someone from the inside did it. And it wasn't Akito."
"I swear it wasn't me," Akito hissed. "You can test my aura if you want."
"We already did," Lira replied quickly. "You're clean. But something still feels… wrong."
Itsuki, silent until now, finally spoke. "If there really is a second traitor… they must know all the secret paths within the temple. Only a few do."
Hana closed her eyes for a moment. "And only one person could manipulate the protection formation without me noticing…"
All eyes turned to Reina.
Reina met each gaze, her face emotionless.
"You think it's me?" she asked softly.
"We don't want to," Hana replied. "But after your training with Itsuki, the dark energy in the ritual room spiked. And you were the only one with him then."
Reina gave a faint smile. "Fools."
A thin black aura began to rise from her palm.
"It wasn't me. But I know who it was."
Before anyone could react, she snapped her fingers. A shadow emerged from behind a pillar. A small, thin figure in a student's robe.
Toma.
The youngest student in the temple. Innocent. Quiet. Diligent. But when he opened his eyes, they were no longer human. His pupils spun like black spirals—the mark of a bound spirit.
"Toma's been possessed for a long time," Reina said. "And no one noticed. While we were busy suspecting the warriors, they chose the most invisible body."
Toma spoke with a voice that wasn't his.
"Three of the seven keys have been unlocked. You're too late, child of the Emperor. And your mother waits at the Third Gate."
Then Toma's body collapsed. The black spirit vanished, leaving a breathing but unconscious shell.
Silence fell.
"Then there's still another," Hana said slowly. "Toma wasn't the true culprit. He was just a vessel."
Reina looked at Itsuki. "And that means your time is up. Yurina will open the Third Gate, and she wants you to witness it."
Akito stood. "Then we must go now. But we need something from you first, Itsuki."
"What is it?"
"Choose who you trust to guard your back. Because when the Third Gate opens, there will be no turning back."
—
The southern mountain winds carried a damp chill as the five departed the temple—Itsuki, Reina, Akito, Lira, and Hana. They headed to an ancient ruin called the Terrace of a Thousand Steps, where the Third Gate was believed to be sealed since the First Spirit War.
The journey was quiet. Everyone knew—Toma's betrayal was only the surface of a much deeper conflict. Yurina, the Summoner of the Three Gates, didn't just want to break the boundary of the spirit world—she wanted to pull Itsuki into it.
"Why the Terrace of a Thousand Steps?" Itsuki finally asked, breaking the silence.
Akito answered, "Because that place is not just a seal. It's a grave."
"Whose grave?"
"The Black Emperor's warriors. And your mother's followers, slain by guardian spirits."
Hana added softly, "But not all were defeated. Some managed to bind themselves to the place. Their spirits still linger there. Waiting."
After two days of travel, they arrived at the mountain's base. Before them: a towering staircase vanishing into the clouds, covered in moss and the ruins of giant statues. There, the Third Gate lay hidden.
But something darker awaited.
That night, as they camped at the foot of the stairs, voices rose from the surrounding forest. Whispers. Children's laughter. An old song in an unknown tongue. Reina quickly drew a protective circle, but Lira—usually composed—suddenly trembled.
"Something's entering my mind," she said, clutching her head. "It's my mother's voice."
Everyone fell silent.
"Your mother's dead, Lira," Reina said.
"I know! But the voice feels so real."
Itsuki watched her sharply. "Toma also heard a voice he 'recognized'. Maybe this is part of their tactic."
Akito stood, hand on his sword. "This isn't just spirit trickery. This is resonance."
"Resonance?"
"The Third Gate has begun to crack open. The bound spirits inside are sending out emotions, memories—even wounds—to those connected by blood."
Hana looked up at the dark sky. "We won't just fight creatures. We'll fight our own pasts."
And that night, as the group began to sleep within the protective circle, the true traitor moved in silence. One among them had already been touched by Yurina.