The fragment hovered inches above the stone floor.
It pulsed gently, like a heartbeat trapped in crystal—silver and sharp-edged, wrapped in symbols that moved when you weren't looking. Kairo stared at it, knelt over the cracked remains of Lucen's mask.
[S.I.N. FRAGMENT // PRIDE]
[INTEGRATION OPTIONAL]
[WARNING: CORRUPTION RISK PRESENT]
His breath caught.
The air was too quiet now. No movement from the statues. No presence from the system. Even the pulsing white sky had faded to gray. The fragment cast long shadows despite no light.
Kairo reached out.
And as his fingers touched it—
—he didn't feel power.
He felt regret.
The world around him vanished again, not violently, but like breath fog fading on glass.
He stood in a garden made of ash.
Trees with bark like bone and leaves like burned paper swayed in wind that made no sound. The sky was a still painting above him, frozen in a bleeding sunset.
And at the center of the garden stood a bench.
Occupied.
Eiras sat with one leg crossed, her crown of thorns slightly askew, barefoot and beautiful and utterly at ease.
"Sit," she said without looking.
Kairo didn't move.
"You know this isn't real."
"No," she said. "This is yours. The part of you that still belongs to me."
He glanced around. "I don't remember this."
"You do. Just not with your mind." She patted the space beside her. "Pride is memory. Pride is permanence. That's why it hurts when I erase you."
Kairo took a step forward, cautious.
"You were always my favorite," she said. "You never wanted to serve. That made you interesting."
He narrowed his eyes. "I'd rather die again."
"Oh, you will," she said softly. "Hundreds of times. Maybe thousands. But it won't matter."
She turned to him, her eyes glowing brighter now.
"Because every time you absorb a Fragment, I come with it."
His chest tightened.
"You're part of the system?"
"No." Her smile deepened. "I wrote it."
Kairo took another step back.
"I was the first Witch," she said. "The original sin. Pride didn't infect me. I birthed it."
The garden burned behind her.
Flames consumed the trees—slow, elegant, silent. Leaves curled into cinders without falling. Statues rose from the ground, each one a perfect version of Kairo. Stronger. Colder. Better.
[FRAGMENT INTEGRATION: 5%]
[S.I.N. ECHO DETECTED]
He tried to move. His limbs slowed. The statue's presence pressed inward—like gravity turned malicious.
"I'm not your creation," he hissed.
"You're not yet," she said. "But you will be."
A statue stepped forward. Kairo watched it mirror him perfectly—posture, stance, even the cut above his brow.
Another stepped forward.
And another.
They began to circle him.
[SKILL UNLOCKED: MIRROR//VEIL - PRIDE TYPE][EFFECT: IMPOSED IDENTITY / COST: VOIDPOINT]
Kairo clenched his fist.
He had a choice.
Use the skill—and become like them.
Or let the garden close in.
He activated it.
Light twisted. The world rippled.
The statues froze.
Then shattered.
The garden trembled.
Eiras stood, letting her crown fall. "Good."
"Why are you smiling?" he spat.
"Because the moment you used that skill…" she stepped toward him. "...you accepted my Sin."
The garden cracked beneath his feet.
Then collapsed.
He awoke on the cathedral floor.
Gasping.
Sweating.
The fragment now embedded in his palm like a brand. His fingers trembled. A faint pulse echoed in his spine.
[S.I.N. FRAGMENT: PRIDE // INTEGRATION COMPLETE]
[SYSTEM STABILITY: CRITICAL][CORRUPTION LEVEL: 1%]
Kairo sat in silence.
And felt the first voice—not his own—whisper in the back of his thoughts:
"You were better this time."
He didn't answer it.
But a part of him…
Agreed.