The eastern sky bled orange.
Smoke rolled across the plains as the Shadow Accord reached the ruins of Crestfall Keep — once a fortress of the Tamer Council, now nothing more than a blackened scar on the land. The air shimmered with mana residue so dense it burned the skin.
Rhea's voice carried through the wind. "No survivors. Whatever hit this place… it wasn't human."
Lyn knelt, tracing a finger along the scorched stone. The ground pulsed faintly beneath his touch — like the heartbeat of something buried. Umbra's form shimmered beside him, one eye glowing in the dark.
—The energy here is old, the spirit whispered. Older than the Seals.
Lyn's gaze drifted toward the massive crater at the heart of the keep. The soil within it glowed with faint red veins, pulsing to a rhythm that didn't belong to this world.
"Crestfire…" he murmured. "The first flame that shaped the Tamer Crests. They said it was sealed centuries ago."
Rhea frowned. "Then why is it waking now?"
Before Lyn could answer, the ground split with a deafening crack. Heat roared upward — molten mana bursting from the crater like a geyser. The soldiers screamed as waves of crimson light washed over them, igniting the air with shimmering embers.
Umbra roared, wings unfurling. Its shadow expanded, shielding the Accord beneath a veil of black flame. —Something below… it's not dead!
Lyn's eyes blazed with reflected fire. "Everyone fall back! Rhea, ward the perimeter! Arden, hold the line!"
The earth convulsed. From the heart of the crater rose a colossal, serpentine figure — scales forged from emberstone, eyes burning like dying suns. The creature's roar split the clouds.
Rhea gasped. "That… that's not a spirit beast."
"No," Lyn said grimly. "It's what they became when the bond broke."
The monster lunged. Lyn met it head-on. His blade caught the light of the flames — then his crest ignited, pulsing with raw, unstable mana. Umbra merged with him in a surge of black fire.
The two collided — shadow and flame in perfect symmetry. The shockwave shattered what remained of Crestfall Keep.
For a heartbeat, time froze. The fire-beast roared, its molten eyes locking onto Lyn's. Within its gaze, he saw something — a fragment of a tamer's soul, screaming silently for release.
"You were one of us," Lyn whispered. "Once."
Umbra's voice was solemn. —End it, before it consumes everything.
With a single motion, Lyn drove his blade through the creature's chest. The world blazed white — then fell into silence.
When the light faded, all that remained was a flickering ember suspended in the air. Lyn reached out, and it drifted toward his palm, settling against his crest.
A pulse. A whisper.
—The Second Seal has awakened.
Umbra's wings folded slowly. —Then the Third is close.
Rhea approached, face pale. "If this is what one seal unleashes, what happens when the next breaks?"
Lyn looked toward the horizon — where a faint shadow stirred beneath the dawn. "Then we'll find out," he said quietly. "Because someone's already trying to break it."
The ember on his hand glowed brighter — the mark of Crestfire reborn.
And far beyond, in the ruins of the old world, something stirred in answer.