The battlefield didn't just fall silent—it breathed in reverse.
As the last remnants of the fallen Flame Shikibans collapsed into smoldering heaps, their cursed armor clattered against scorched stone. And then—ash. Slowly, piece by piece, their bodies disintegrated, not just from flame, but from something deeper. Something unnatural.
Black fire, cold and silent, coiled upward from their remains.
It moved with intelligence. It wasn't heat—it was hunger.
And Reika's katana, still trembling in her hand, responded.
The edge of the blade pulsed once—dim purple veins of flame crawling along the steel as if awakened by the scent of death. The black fire twisted, drawn like water to a drain, and poured into the weapon's sigil.
CRACK.
A vein of glowing amethyst split down the middle of the katana's spine.
She took a step back, startled. The air was dense—electrified, like the moment before lightning touches earth.
VRRMMMM.
A mechanical whine pierced the silence.
A light—holographic and cold—flared into the air in front of her, projected from the sigil now burning on her blade. She froze as a wall of translucent glyphs and digital readouts built themselves from nothing.
A voice—metallic, clinical, ancient—buzzed inside her head:
[INTERFACE LOG: KAGESHIKI DATABASE ENTRY — ID: (0)₂]
ACCESS LEVEL: OBLIVION-CLASS
VISUAL FEED: ACTIVE_02 :: [RYUJIN-PURPLE]
─────────────────────────────────────────────
▸ KAGESHIKI NAME: REIKA KAGETSU
▸ BIOLOGICAL AGE: 17 SOLAR CYCLES
▸ DESIGNATION CODE: KAGESHIKI NO. (0)₂
▸ ABILITY CODE: SHADOWFLAME DRAGON — "RYUJIN-PURPLE"
════════ ABILITY CLASSIFICATION ════════
⫸ MANIFESTATION TYPE: SPIRITUAL DRAGON ENTITY
⫸ TIER: TYPE-∞ [ORIGIN THREAD]
⫸ DESIGNATION: FORBIDDEN BLOODLINE — "FIRST FLAME REINCARNATE"
════════ PRIMARY EFFECTS ════════
☐ ENTITY: RYUJIN-PURPLE — AN ELDER DRAGON FORGED OF SHADOW-TEMPERED FLAME
☐ CORE TRAIT: EMOTION-SENSITIVE / RAGE-REACTIVE
☐ LINK: INSTINCTUAL SOUL-BIND TO TRAUMA LAYER
STATUS: PHASE-STATE UNSTABLE
→ Acts autonomously under extreme duress
→ Breath Temperature: Estimated 21,000°C (UNVERIFIED)
════════ KATANA SYNC ════════
☐ NAME: SHINSOUMEI
☐ FORGE TYPE: MYTH-GRADE — UNKNOWN ALLOY — PRE-RECORD ERA
☐ CAPACITY: STORES SOUL-ECHOES FROM DEFEATED ENTITIES
ENHANCEMENT EFFECTS:
▸ FLAME REACTOR IGNITION
▸ 30% AUTO WOUND REGENERATION
▸ EMOTIONAL SURGE AMPLIFIER
▸ DRAGON VEIL MANIFESTATION — SYNC: 54%
════════ ACTIVATION COMMAND ════════
"Ryujin… awaken."
— LINK LATENCY: 0.4s
— PULSE TYPE: INSTINCTIVE ECHO
— AUTO-TRIGGER IF TRAUMA LOCK DETECTED
— SOUL SYNC: ACTIVE
⚠ SYSTEM OVERRIDE DETECTED
───────────────────────────
> USER RANK UPDATED: (0)₈ → (0)₂
> EVOLUTION THRESHOLD BREACHED MID-COMBAT
> DATABASE ENTRY: AUTO-CREATED
> ABILITY CLASS: OBSCURED-TIER ENTITY
▸ RARE-TYPE CLASSIFICATION: PURPLE FLAME RYUJIN
▸ PRIOR MANIFESTATIONS: 1 (USER UNKNOWN — YEAR: [REDACTED])
▸ STATUS: BANNED — CLASSIFIED AS TOO DESTRUCTIVE TO CATALOG
════════ SECONDARY MODULES ════════
> DRAGON VEIL
– Triggers on emotional overload
– +330% Physical Output
– 100% Burn Immunity
– SIDE EFFECT: Identity Echo / Illusory Split-State
> WYRM HOWL FEEDBACK PULSE
– Shatters incoming spiritual constructs
– Syncs to user heartbeat variability
> MEMORY FLAME SYNC
– Links user to ancestral "First Flame" combat data
– ACCESS LOCKED
– UNLOCK PROBABILITY: 12% at current sync
════════ LIMITATIONS ════════
→ EMOTIONAL OVERLOAD MAY CAUSE:
▸ Manifestation Fragmentation
▸ Host Soul Displacement
▸ Phantom Burn Syndrome (Echoed Pain in Recovered Wounds)
▸ Feedback Spiral Risk: 72%
→ CURRENT SAFE MANIFESTATION TIME: 2m 30s
→ COOLDOWN REQUIRED: 12m
→ EXCEEDING LIMIT: AUTO-RECALL PROTOCOL INITIATED
════════ ARCHIVAL RECORD ════════
✶ PURPLE FLAME RYUJIN — THE "UNSEEN FLAME"
"Said to be the breath that tempered the first Kageshiki blade.
It burns not only the flesh—but the memory."
→ Only one recorded summoner.
→ Vanished within one year of activation.
→ CLASSIFIED: LEVEL-Ω THREAT ENTITY
→ STATUS: UNSUITABLE FOR TEAM DEPLOYMENT
════════ RECOMMENDATION ════════
☐ IMMEDIATE PSYCHOLOGICAL STABILIZATION
☐ DEPLOYMENT CONDITIONS: SOLO / LAST-STAND ONLY
☐ AUTHORITY OVERRIDE REQUIRED FOR CONTINUED USE
════════ STATUS UPDATE ════════
> SHINSOUMEI SYNC: [STABLE — 54%]
> RYUJIN LINK: [ACTIVE — EMOTIONAL SYNC 73%]
> COMBAT VIABILITY: EXCEEDED
> ID CONFIRMED: KAGESHIKI NO. (0)₂
[END LOG / OBSERVATION CONTINUED…]
VRRMMMM.
The interface blinked once, then vanished.
Reika stood frozen, staring at the space where the screen had hovered. Her chest heaved. Sweat poured down her back. Her hand tightened on the hilt of her katana—Shinsoumei—as it pulsed faintly with lingering warmth.
No.
This… couldn't be right.
"(0)… two?"she whispered aloud, almost like the word might burn her lips. "That's… I was just promoted to eight after the Kyoto sortie…"
Her knees buckled slightly. Not from weakness—but from disbelief.
She looked down at the blade. It shimmered like obsidian dipped in nebula fire. No cracks. No splinters. It was… alive.
Alive with something ancient.
The designation echoed in her head like a scream caught between walls:
(0)2.
She was only seventeen. No mentor. No family. No one had ever said she was "chosen."She was just a girl who survived too much, too fast.
And now?
She was suddenly the second-highest-ranking Kageshiki in the living corps.
Her throat closed.
Reika staggered backward, clutching the katana tighter, as if afraid letting go might make it all vanish.
"What the hell is happening to me…"she murmured.
The battlefield was silent now—silent in that terrifying, godless way where nothing breathes but your own heartbeat.
Behind her, the wind curled.
Not a normal wind.
But a breath.
The dragon.
Not fully formed—but there. Its shape curling around her like a memory—wreathed in black and purple fire, yawning across dimensions like it remembered her from lifetimes before.
She didn't cry.
But she wanted to.
Not out of fear. Or power.
But because for the first time in years…
She wasn't sure who she was anymore.
Reika Kagetsu, (0)2.
Or the girl who once ran barefoot through winter fields trying to outrun the sound of her mother's scream.
The dragon growled low behind her—a distant echo of something primal.
She whispered it out loud.
"Ryujin… was it always inside me?"
The wind answered with silence.
She took one breath.
Then another.
Then, slowly, deliberately, Reika turned to face whatever battlefield came next.
No tears. No smile.
Only the burning eyes of a girl learning to carry the weight of the divine.