The underground chamber glowed with faint crimson light from the Seventh Door. Everyone was exhausted, bandaged, and recovering. Maya knelt among them, hands glowing with Soul Mend, knitting Lacolone's wounds shut. Valgor murmured, "Without you, we'd be corpses." Walid added, "And Elito would already own our souls." In the stillness after war, silence spoke louder than screams.
Maya's aura had shifted — no longer green-blue, but scarlet-gold. The group exchanged wary glances. Her fingers trembled; memories flickered across her irises. Jessica whispered, "Maya… what are you?" Maya simply said, "I… remember." The door inside her mind opened first.
A swirl of parallel-dimension images flashed — ruins under a red sky, Maya in a ritual circle sacrificing pieces of her soul, Lacolone chained in a vortex reaching for her hand. A black-and-scarlet sigil burned on the floor, now pulsing on the Seventh Door. Scarlet energy remembered its bargain.
Back in the present, Maya clutched Lacolone's sleeve, tears falling. "I saved you once, in another world. I gave up everything." Lacolone's eyes widened, a flicker of memory surfacing. Jessica and Walid exchanged worried looks. Valgor muttered, "Parallel timelines? Soul echoes?" Truth felt heavier than iron.
The Door pulsed with each of Maya's words, red cracks spiderwebbing outward. A low hum filled the chamber. Lacolone sensed the surge through Whispercall and stepped protectively in front of her, hand on his katana. Jessica readied her dual pistols. Memory became a key without turning.
A silhouette stepped from the crack — a child holding two ancient knives. His Soul Control pressure flared, bending space like glass. Maya's eyes widened: "It's the same energy…" Lacolone whispered, "No way this kid is a Saint…" Walid: "But he's radiating Five Pillars mastery." Small frame. Infinite weight.
The child smirked: "I'm not crazy to fight you alone. I lead you to my master." He spun his knives; crimson sparks traced circles. Lacolone: "Your master is Elito." The kid: "Grand Lord Elito tamed the 33 Saints. You'll be owned soon." Maya gasped, clutching her head as a new vision flooded in. The future already written.
The boy flared his aura — Thunderbrand lightning, Veilward shields, Riftquake distortions simultaneously. The floor shattered under his presence. Jessica's pistols rose but her hands shook. Lacolone gritted his teeth: "Fighting him now is suicide." Walid whispered, "Then we don't." Some storms you don't outrun, you endure.
Lacolone stepped forward, katana lowered but aura high. "It's a deal. We'll come to your master on our terms." The Child Saint's grin sharpened. "Then hurry. The Door won't stay closed forever." His knives flickered, vanishing into mist. Agreement sealed in silence.
The Child Saint dissolved into scarlet data particles, like ash in wind. His voice echoed: "You'll be owned soon…" Maya shivered. Jessica lowered her guns. Valgor slammed his fist into the wall: "Damn it, he's right." A predator leaving its scent.
The group sat in a rough circle, breathing hard. Walid: "We're half-dead. We need to heal and regroup." Lacolone stared at his hands, remembering the parallel world. Maya wiped her tears; her aura still flickered scarlet-gold. Jessica: "He wasn't bluffing about Elito." Quiet before the next descent.
Maya rose, palms glowing with healing light. "If my power awakened from that world, then maybe my memories can guide us." Lacolone: "You're not alone anymore." She nodded but whispered, "Then why does it feel like I'm still trapped?" Her soul mended others but bled inside.
Valgor sketched new Pillar combinations in chalk on the stone floor. Jessica cleaned her guns, imbuing them with Whispercall focus. Walid adjusted golden charms on his arm — Soul Breaker seals. Lacolone meditated, drawing the five Pillars into perfect orbit. Maya wrote down sigils from her visions. Preparation is the last kindness before war.
The Seventh Door flickered; a holographic visage of Elito appeared — a mask of gold and void. His voice filled the chamber: "You've crawled far, but the dream still owns you." Maya recoiled, whispering: "It's him." Elito: "Cleanse the earth of its rot, or I will." Lacolone's knuckles whitened on his katana. The god behind the machine spoke.
Elito's hologram expanded into visions of burning cities and oceans swallowing continents. "Humans poisoned the world. I only accelerate its healing." Jessica shouted: "By enslaving minds?!" Elito smiled: "Freedom built the cage. I am the cure." Walid muttered a prayer under his breath. Philosophy sharpened into blade.
The hologram faded, leaving the Scarlet Door humming. Lacolone: "We're not strong enough yet." Maya gripped his sleeve: "But soon." Valgor: "We'll find the Seven Gates before he does." Jessica: "And break his chains at the source." Hope whispered like a forbidden song.
The team packed gear, wounds closing under Maya's touch. Walid: "If we can't open the last door…" Lacolone: "…we'll make a new one." Maya stared at the Door, tears drying, aura brightening. "I won't lose you again," she whispered. Love and fury braided into power.
A massive exterior shot of the subterranean temple, the Scarlet Door looming like a sleeping heart. Faint shafts of sunlight pierced cracks in the earth. The Child Saint's silhouette stood on a cliff far away, knives crossed over his chest, whispering to unseen figures.
Child Saint: "They think they choose the path. But the Door chooses them."
Beyond the Door, the Grand Lord waited.
And every memory was a weapon waiting to be fired.