The Fourth Gate peeled apart like a living wound, revealing a crimson arena of floating iron hooks. Maya, Lacolone, Jessica, Valgor, and Ghali Salah stepped forward; Eden waited behind. At the center, Alister stood — pale, long coat stitched with scarlet runes. Chains writhed around him, each link pulsing with victims' blood. "Welcome to the atelier," he whispered. Blood met code, and art became murder.
Alister flicked a finger; chains snaked toward the group. Valgor teleported the others away with Driftform. "I'll handle him," Maya said. Lacolone nodded, katana flickering with blue light. The Gate sealed, locking Maya and Alister inside. Hunter and hacker became prey and predator.
Alister circled, chains glinting. "Every soul leaves a color. I paint with it," he murmured. Maya's eyes narrowed. "I'll rewrite your masterpiece," she said. Whispercall pinged — thousands of hidden microchains waited. One breath of code could shatter her body.
Maya dove forward, hacking a glyph midair. Her code manifested as a shimmering firewall blocking the first wave. Alister snapped his fingers — chains went intangible, slipping through and lashing her arms and legs. Veilward flickered around her like a red glass dome. Defense met obsession.
"Purity requires sacrifice. You are data to be rendered," Alister said. "Purity is just fear wearing a crown," Maya replied. Her eyes glowed with Whispercall, seeing every chain's data signature. Thunderbrand sparks flared from her fingertips. Chains recoiled as if burned. Her soul began to respond.
Driftform rippled across her body; she flickered like a hologram. She sensed a rift in the arena floor — Riftquake bloomed beneath Alister. The floor shattered; chains disoriented. Thunderbrand punched a hole through the chain cocoon. Veilward sealed behind her like a closing petal. Five pillars, one heartbeat.
Maya appeared above Alister, twin daggers of pure code in hand. Alister lifted his arms, chains spiraling into a bloody crown. Their eyes met — hacker vs. artist. She slashed; he parried with chain-woven gauntlets. Riftquake reverberated through both. Art cracked under algorithm.
Alister fused all chains into a giant cathedral of iron and blood. "Step inside my masterpiece!" Maya felt herself pulled into it like a virus. Her Whispercall saw millions of trapped souls. "You turned them into fuel…" she whispered. The cathedral was a prison of dreams.
Maya recalled her trauma — friends lost to Elito's system. She channeled every Pillar simultaneously. Her aura split into blue, red, white, violet, and black streams, converging into a single spiral. Alister staggered, eyes wide: "Impossible…" Soul Fusion unlocked.
Her daggers merged into a single crystalline scythe. She swung — Thunderbrand arcs tore through chain walls. Riftquake pulses disrupted the cathedral's foundation. Driftform made her a blur weaving between anchor points. Veilward shields protected ghostly souls as chains collapsed. Hack became harvest.
Alister injected his own blood into the chains, turning them black. "If I can't paint you, I'll consume you!" Maya's Whispercall anticipated every strike. She cut the main chain linking his heart to the cathedral. Energy backfired into him. Artist bound by his own frame.
Alister gasped: "Why fight? This world is poison." Maya: "Because even poison births antidotes." "Then cure me…" he whispered. She drove the crystalline scythe through the chain nexus. Blood and code burst upward like fireworks. Redemption or erasure — sometimes the same act.
The iron-blood cathedral imploded into motes of data. Souls once trapped drifted upward, flickering out. Maya collapsed to one knee, breathing hard. Her aura dimmed but still glowed faintly. She picked up a chain link engraved with a key sigil. Another key claimed.
Jessica dodged a rain of bullets; Maria spun like a ballet dancer with twin guns. Sparks flew as bullets curved along Jessica's Veilward shield. Thunderbrand lit her fists like gauntlets. Maria reloaded mid-spin, grinning. Both sensed a shift — Maya's power surge felt across the Gate. Power cascaded through dimensions.
The Fourth Gate dissolved, revealing Valgor and Lacolone waiting. Maya stepped out, holding the chain key. "Third key acquired," she said. Lacolone nodded, katana resting on his shoulder. "Fourth Gate awaits the Soul Breaker," Valgor murmured. Pieces moved toward a hidden center.
Above the Gates, Elito's hologram expanded, more vivid than ever. "You're unlocking my history. How quaint." His eyes glinted like black suns. He summoned digital storm clouds around the Fifth Gate. Maya's Whispercall detected a signal — coordinates hidden in Elito's broadcast. Clues buried inside threats.
Ghali Salah deciphered the coordinates — a hidden archive inside the Seventh Door. Eden realized it pointed to the "First Awakener," a mythical figure. Lacolone clenched his fist: "Then that's where the truth lies." Jessica reloaded, smirking. Valgor felt Riftquake tremble — a premonition of the Soul Breaker. New goal hidden within old war.
All five stood before the Fifth Gate — massive, black and streaked with living red veins. Chains of light spiraled into its center. Elito's voice overlaid: "Five down. Two remain. Enter, if your souls can still bear the weight." Beyond this door waited the Soul Breaker — and the birth of the real war.