The heroes staggered into a dim antechamber above the Scarlet Staircase. The air hung thick with the scent of iron and ozone. Stone walls around them pulsed with hieroglyphic code that glowed like living veins, whispering faint echoes in forgotten tongues. Jessica slumped against the wall, clutching her wounded arm. Valgor dropped his cracked gauntlets with a heavy clang that echoed endlessly into the dark. Salah knelt beside him, whispering prayers in three languages at once, the syllables weaving through the silence like threads of fading light. Their footsteps had never felt heavier.
Maya knelt among them, hands glowing deep green and scarlet. Veins of light flowed from her palms into their torn flesh and shattered bones. Her eyes glazed over — visions of parallel timelines flooded her mind, showing deaths that hadn't yet come, lives that had already burned away. "I can hold you together," she whispered, her voice trembling, "but not forever." Lacolone placed a steadying hand on her shoulder. Her glow softened, the storm in her veins settling into rhythm. Her gift had pulled them back from the edge.
Lacolone stared at his katana floating beside him, the blade humming faintly like a ghost that refused to rest. "Five Pillars," he murmured, "yet it barely kept us alive."
Valgor laughed dryly. "And Elito tamed thirty-three Saints with a word."
Jessica's voice was faint. "What kind of power bends people like that?"
Salah's answer was quiet but unflinching. "A power older than our dreams."
They had seen the edge of the map — and stepped beyond it.
The sound of phantom knives still spun through their minds. Maya shivered. "He wasn't bluffing," she said.
"No child carries that weight without a master," Lacolone replied.
Eden's glyph glowed faintly in his palm. Salah's gaze followed it. "That mark… it reacted to him."
Threads bound the hunter to the hunted.
Maya's trance deepened; her body flickered like static caught between worlds. She saw herself in another universe, cradling Lacolone's lifeless body beneath a sky of burning glass. Tears rolled down her cheeks. "This is the same scarlet energy," she whispered, "the door that tore us apart."
Lacolone looked at her, his eyes softening with memory — he remembered too. The multiverse whispered its debts.
They gathered around a holographic projection of the throne room — a swirl of red geometry floating above the stone. Valgor's tone was steady. "If we rush in, we die."
Jessica countered. "If we wait, he strengthens."
Salah leaned forward, voice calm. "We need a third way. Disruption before confrontation."
Eden touched the glyph over his chest. "The mark may open a hidden path."
Plans formed in the ashes of panic.
Each of them fell into silent meditation. Lacolone sat cross-legged, sparks of Thunderbrand dancing across his fists. Jessica steadied her breathing as Veilward energy wrapped around her pistols until they hummed like living creatures. Valgor forced the Riftquake deeper through his arms, feeling reality bend against his skin. Salah merged Whispercall and Driftform, his mind reaching beyond the chamber, hearing whispers from realms unseen. Training at the lip of an abyss — sharpening the soul for war.
Then Maya's light expanded, filling the chamber with fractal sigils. The symbols folded into one another, weaving over her teammates like threads of living memory. "This isn't just healing…" she breathed. "It's memory-binding."
Lacolone's gaze met hers. "You're weaving our souls together."
She nodded through tears.
Eden smiled faintly. "Then maybe we won't die alone."
Her sacrifice built a bridge between them — body, spirit, and fate now intertwined.
A ripple disturbed the air. The Kid Saint stepped through the doorway, calm and empty-handed. "I'm not here to fight," he said softly. "Not today."
Lacolone's hand rested on his katana hilt anyway.
"My master expects you."
Jessica scoffed. "Tell him we're not his to own."
The boy's eyes lowered. The messenger of the King bore no crown.
He sat cross-legged on the stone floor, eyes closed, voice even. "You can come now, or later. But he'll take you regardless."
Lacolone's voice was ice. "We decide our steps."
Maya's aura spiked suddenly; she could feel a presence digging into her thoughts.
Salah whispered, "He's already inside our minds."
The conversation had become a duel of shadows.
The boy flicked his fingers, and the air shimmered. A holographic figure rose before them — Elito himself, crowned with shifting eyes and tendrils shaped like constellations.
"I tamed the Saints," the phantom said. "I can tame you."
Lacolone stared into the burning gaze. "We're not cattle."
Elito smiled faintly. "Cattle dream too."
The ghost of a god mocked their fire.
The room groaned under his presence. The air compressed; their Pillars flickered under crushing psychic gravity. Jessica's pistols cracked, metal groaning. Valgor fell to one knee, blood trickling from his ears. Maya's hands shook as her healing light strained to keep their bodies from collapsing. The Scarlet King flexed a finger, and the world trembled.
Lacolone stepped forward, aura stabilizing against the weight. His voice cut through the storm. "Tell your master," he said, "we're coming. We're free."
The boy looked up — something like respect flickered in his eyes.
"Then be ready to be broken."
He vanished, knives trailing behind him like fading smoke. Words heavier than swords lingered in the air.
Silence fell once more. Only their breathing remained.
Jessica spoke first. "He's baiting us."
Salah nodded. "But we're bait too."
Valgor clenched his fists. "Next time, it's war."
Maya wiped her tears. "And truth."
They had looked at the throne and survived.
Each of them prepared in their own way. Lacolone touched Maya's forehead, whispering a word of thanks. Eden clutched his glowing glyph like a heartbeat. Jessica rewrapped her arm in silence. Valgor sat cross-legged, eyes closed, picturing Elito's crown shattering. They sealed their fears inside steel.
Then the Scarlet Door began to pulse. A low sound — a child crying — echoed beyond it. Maya froze. "That's… me?"
Lacolone stood beside her. "Or who you were."
The light through the cracks bled red and alive. Memory melted into prophecy.
Two stairways emerged before them, one glowing blue, the other black-scarlet.
Salah whispered, "He's forcing us to split again."
Jessica's jaw tightened. "Last time, that nearly killed us."
Valgor looked at both paths. "But maybe this time, it saves us."
Lacolone's voice was steady. "We choose together."
Paths diverged at the edge of a crown.
At the far end of the chamber, the Scarlet Door cracked open on its own. A single shaft of blood-red light spilled across their faces. Beyond it, the silhouette of the throne stretched into infinity.
Beyond the next step lies the King himself —
and the price of waking the world.