[Location: Ashen Vale – Hidden Shrine Ruins, Two Days Later][System Sync: 98% Stability – Evolution Threshold Near][Pact Slots: 5/5 Active – Warning: One Pact is Anomalous][Divine Presence Detected: ???]
Ren Zian hadn't slept much.
Not since the duel. Not since the message.
"We are watching, Auction Thief. Let's see how many souls you save before one breaks."— Council of Bound Thrones
The fire inside him burned hotter now, not from anger — but from the pressure of expectation. One wrong step, and the gods wouldn't just retaliate… they'd erase him.
And still, he kept moving forward.
Lyra walked beside him, her flame steady. Eira followed close, her light aura still faint after the earlier battle. Arin hovered overhead, riding wind currents lazily like a free spirit. The chrono girl—unnamed but watching everything—walked silently behind them with Nyelle.
The five girls were more than pacts now.
They were his heartbeat.
The shrine ahead looked half-swallowed by the earth. Thick vines curled over shattered stone, and an aura of age pressed down on them like memory made solid.
Ren reached out as they neared.
[System Alert: Shrine Recognized – Forbidden Pact Origin Site][Warning: Approaching Anomaly – Soul Sync Interference Detected]
"What is this place?" Eira asked, voice quiet.
"Where one of the gods broke the laws they created," Lyra replied, eyes narrowing.
Arin tilted her head. "You mean… someone made a pact outside the divine registry?"
Lyra nodded. "Worse. They made one without consent."
Ren paused.
And suddenly — the system pulsed in warning.
[You Have an Unverified Pact][Soul Thread 4: Unknown Waifu – Identity Not Confirmed][Do you wish to trace the source?]
Ren hesitated.
That thread… it didn't feel wrong. Just distant. Dormant.
But now he realized: someone was bonded to him without fully awakening.
"…Yes," he whispered. "Trace it."
The system flickered.
Then the air bent — and a memory bloomed.
He was in the Auction House again.
Standing in front of a cage.
But it wasn't Lyra. Or Eira. Or any of the five.
This girl… had been in shadow.
Hair like starlight swallowed by ink. Eyes closed. Unmoving.
There had been no price tag on her cage. Only a symbol: ∞
And now — a whisper echoed from deep inside his soul.
"You don't remember me. But I never forgot you."
Ren jolted out of the vision.
Sweat dripped from his brow.
"Someone was… there," he muttered.
"Who?" Arin asked.
Ren looked at them — all five of them — and shook his head.
"She's not among you. But she's part of this… somehow."
Suddenly, the shrine walls trembled.
And from the stone rose a statue — female, faceless, with a hand outstretched toward Ren.
[System Override Detected – Divine Tier Memory Triggered][Pact #6: UNKNOWN — Awaiting Awakening]
Nyelle's hand shot out, gripping Ren's arm tightly. Her voice, usually silent, rasped with warning.
"Don't… touch it."
Everyone froze.
"Why?" Ren asked.
Nyelle's eyes — usually hidden under her veil — glowed faintly. "Because that's not a shrine. It's a prison."
Ren turned back toward the statue, breath caught in his throat.
A pulse of energy shot out from its core.
[System Shock – Temporal Pulse Detected][WARNING: Chrono Thread Activation Imminent]
The chrono girl gasped.
"My time field is collapsing—!"
Suddenly, the world around them cracked.
Time bent. The shrine dissolved.
And Ren found himself… alone.
No sky. No ground. Just a floating field of starlight.
A single figure stood ahead.
She wore no chains. No dress. Just light and shadow woven into her hair. Her face was hidden — not by veil, but by divine code itself.
"You shouldn't have come," she said, voice echoing like two timelines speaking at once.
Ren's fists clenched. "Who are you?"
The girl stepped forward.
And for a moment — just one — Ren saw his own soul thread wound tightly around her wrist.
"I was the first," she whispered. "Before even Lyra. Before the Auction."
[True Name Hidden][Status: Rejected Pact / Denied Existence][Awakening Level: 7%]
"You were… my first pact?" Ren asked, stunned.
She didn't answer.
Instead, she touched her chest — and a seal glowed, marked with the same sigil from the Auction: ∞
"I didn't die," she said. "I was erased."
Ren's heart pounded.
"Why?"
"Because the gods were afraid of what we'd become if I stayed by your side."
[System Strain Detected – Forbidden Memory Access at 37%][Cease Connection or Risk Soul Burn?]
Ren didn't hesitate.
He stepped forward.
"I'm not leaving you behind. Not again."
The girl's form shimmered. Tears welled in her starlit eyes — not sadness, but recognition.
"You really are the same," she said. "Even now."
Then her voice changed — lower, darker.
"If you want me back, Ren Zian… you'll have to survive the Trials of the Erased."
The light shattered.
Ren fell.
And then — he was back in the shrine, gasping, knees hitting the floor.
The others rushed to him.
Lyra caught his shoulder. "What happened?!"
Ren looked up, eyes fierce.
"There's a sixth."
Eira blinked. "A sixth waifu?"
"No," Ren whispered. "The first."
[New Quest Unlocked: Trials of the Erased][Objective: Find the Forbidden Archive of Souls][Reward: Awakening of Pact #6 – ???][Risk Level: Divine Catastrophe]