The morning sun bled crimson through the forest canopy, casting long, ominous shadows as Rei and Noira moved silently through the underbrush. Every step was measured. Every breath calculated. Despite Noira's natural grace, there was tension in her shoulders, something unrefined that even her blank expression couldn't mask.
Rei glanced at her. "You feel it too."
She nodded. "Like the world is watching."
"It is. Spirits attract attention."
"Then what do I do?"
"You walk into it. Calmly."
[System Directive: Initiate Field Test — Subject: Noira. Parameters: Combat Response, Emotional Containment, Energy Regulation. Threshold: 40% Synchronization.]
They stepped into a clearing. It was unnaturally quiet. Birds had gone still, and the wind curled inward like breath being drawn.
Then it came.
A roar—not beast, not human. The sound shook the leaves from their branches and cracked the stillness like glass. A rift tore open across the sky. Purple lightning spiraled from within, and a figure descended slowly.
Torn robes. A pale face. And eyes like shattered mirrors—an unstable spirit.
"Designation: Aegres," Karasu reported. "Spirit Type: Despair. Hostile."
Rei stepped forward. "Noira. This is yours."
Noira walked calmly into the center of the clearing, her spear materializing in a shimmer of spirit particles. The unstable spirit snarled, and the ground around him shattered in a burst of gravitational force.
Their clash was sudden.
Aegres launched forward with inhuman speed, his claws shimmering with corrupted energy. Noira ducked under the first strike, pivoting with grace that belied her limited experience. Her spear met his chest—but he phased through it like mist.
"Projection body," Rei muttered. "His core isn't here. It's buried."
"Then I dig," Noira whispered, spinning back into combat. Each strike was guided by instinct now—spirit memory awakening with each movement. Her aura flickered between light and void, the unstable identity within her both a weakness and a source of raw potential.
Aegres caught her shoulder, black flames searing through her illusion. She staggered.
[Pain Receptor Triggered — Sync Drop Detected. Stabilizing…]
But she didn't fall. Her eyes glowed.
"I do not break," she said.
With a roar of her own, she drove the spear into the earth. A shockwave pulsed outward, ripping away Aegres's illusions. His true form—a mass of crystalline veins and broken chains—was exposed for a brief second.
That was all Rei needed.
He appeared beside the core, one hand glowing with violet fire, the other forming a seal.
"End Protocol: Third Flame — Banish."
A ring of fire engulfed the spirit's form. A scream echoed—not in sound, but in the spirit realm. Then, silence.
Noira collapsed to her knees.
[Spirit Combat Test Complete. Synchronization: 38%. Emotional Stability: Moderate. New Ability Unlocked: Spear of Dissonant Memory.]
Karasu landed on Rei's shoulder. "Not bad for a first hunt."
Rei approached Noira, kneeling beside her. "You good?"
She looked at him, eyes distant. "I remembered… something."
"What?"
"A lullaby. My mother's voice. But I don't know if she was real."
Rei offered a hand. "Real enough for now."
She took it.
Later that evening, Laeva reviewed the battle footage on the System's console. Her expression was unreadable. Behind her, a new presence entered the command chamber—a woman in a dark maid uniform, eyes half-lidded with knowing calm.
"You've started collecting them," the maid said.
Laeva smirked. "Isn't that what you're here for, Mireille?"
The maid curtsied, ample curves swaying slightly. "I respond when called. As always."
"She'll be the next, then?"
"Soon."
Laeva turned to the console, her fingers flying over the interface. "Then we begin Phase Two."