The monolith cracked down its center.
Light — pure, primal, gold-tinged with red — poured into the chamber, washing over marble and void alike. The Council warriors shielded their eyes. Jinryu and Maeryn didn't flinch.
The Core recognized them.
But something else moved within that light.
A shadow — humanoid, floating just above the monolith's remains, wrapped in golden ribbons of data, memory, and raw Qi.
Not spirit.Not ghost.Not construct.
A sealed remnant of the First Core itself.
"You've awakened the Root," the shadow spoke. Its voice was layered — male and female, young and ancient. "Now answer its question."
"Are you worthy of the fracture… or its repair?"
The Council's lead agent stepped forward.
Tall. Armored in obsidian-steel. His mask bore the inverted sigil of the Tower.
"By order of the Eternal Balance," he said, "the awakening ends here."
He raised a glaive forged from void-stone, humming with suppression runes.
"Children of the Forbidden Flame. Surrender the remnants — or be unmade."
Jinryu glanced at Maeryn. She nodded once.
They attacked first.
The fight was chaos — but orchestrated.
Maeryn danced between Council blades, Shinma glowing with synchronized fury. Every parry bled flame. Every strike left afterimages that burned.
Jinryu met the glaive-wielder directly.
Haeryun clashed against the void-glaive in bursts of black sparks. With each exchange, Jinryu's Core glyphs flared brighter. The ninth seal pulsed with rhythm — a countdown.
"He's accelerating his own awakening," the cat whispered from the ledge, watching."Either he'll break through… or break apart."
Suddenly, the monolith's remnants exploded outward.
The third presence had fully emerged — floating above the battlefield, its body woven from strands of ancient memory. No face. No form. Just an aura of origin.
It extended one hand.
Time stopped.
Jinryu froze mid-swing. Maeryn hung mid-leap. Even the cat's tail flicker was caught in stasis.
Only the third presence moved.
"Before you finish this battle," it spoke, "you must remember what you are."
A pulse surged from its core — not power, but truth.
— Memory Injection: The Forbidden Pact —
Flashes.
Hands intertwined.Two voices swearing under stars.A Core between them — whole, vibrant, singing.
"If we die," the past-Jinryu had said,"let them remember us in fragments. Let them choose."
"Not choose power," past-Maeryn replied."Choose love. Unity. Each other."
"Even if they forget who they were?"
"Especially then."
The Core fractured itself.Not from pressure.From compassion.
— Present —
Time surged back.
Jinryu roared, breaking the glaive in two. Haeryun pulsed — no longer just a sword, but a conduit.
Maeryn landed hard, Shinma flaring with golden resonance.
Their Cores blazed in unison.
Glyphs 8 and 10 began to awaken.Two more seals… broken.
The Council agents stepped back, fear in their eyes for the first time.
The masked leader looked between them and the third presence. Then slowly, removed his mask.
He looked exactly like Jinryu.
But older.
Scarred.
Hollow-eyed.
"You should've stayed forgotten," he said.
"I didn't forget," Jinryu replied, blade raised."You just couldn't carry it."
As the Council retreated, the third presence lowered to the ground.
Its voice softened.
"The fracture began here. But the repair must be made above."
It gestured to the far wall — where a stairway of light now spiraled upward, piercing through the Root into the unknown skies beyond.
Jinryu turned to Maeryn.
"The world's going to come for us now."
"Let them," she said.
They stepped onto the path.
The cat followed.
The third presence faded.
And Babel wept.