> [Location: Emberveil Nexus – Central Battlefield, Outer Skystep Ridge]
Time Remaining Until Final Defensive Seal Activation: 28:49
New Threat Identified: Origin Directive Agent – Designation "Ravel"
Status: Flame Rewrite Class – System-Level Override Detected
System Notice: All standard flame techniques may be partially nullified during proximity engagement. Chaos Flame and Formless Variants retain partial resistance.
---
The Enemy with No Fire
The battlefield fell unnaturally quiet as the second wave parted.
At the center hovered a figure in a cloak made of fragmented system code—pixels of shattered fire logic drifting around him like ash. No weapon. No soulpet. No aura.
And yet the earth withered beneath each step.
Jiang Han stepped forward instinctively.
The man raised a hand—and two of the Verdant defenders behind Jiang collapsed, flames extinguished in their cores. Not killed. Unwritten.
> "Who are you?" Jiang asked, fire rising at his fingertips.
The figure tilted its head.
> "I am Ravel.
You are not permitted to exist."
---
Flame vs. Rewrite
Tian Xue moved first, unleashing Mothwing Shatterdance—her fastest flame-edge strike, designed to slice through kinetic shields.
Ravel didn't dodge.
He rewrote the velocity.
Her movement slowed midair—unnaturally—before she crashed to the ground, coughing up blood.
Yan Feng cursed.
> "He's not bending flame. He's undoing intent."
Jiang surged forward, activating Voidflare Step—
Only to find himself thrown back to his start point, as if he had never moved at all.
> "He's targeting the logic behind your flame," Lin Suyin called. "It's like fighting an eraser."
---
The Spark That Refuses
Ravel extended his hand again—this time toward Jiang directly.
> [Flame Signature: Jiang Han – Unapproved Flame Phase – Correction Imminent]
But the moment his threads touched Jiang's spark—
Chaos answered.
A shockwave burst outward as Ravel's override was rejected—the formless flame snarling like a beast denied prey.
Ravel's cloak flickered.
He stepped back, surprised.
> "Impossible. Chaos spark should be unstable… untamed."
> "Then I guess I'm breaking the system twice," Jiang said—and struck.
---
Fighting the Rewrite
Echofang collided with Ravel—not physically, but conceptually.
The clash didn't cause sparks.
It caused uncertainty.
Flame that refused to obey versus code that refused to allow.
Time bent. Reality blurred.
Jiang flickered in and out of frame, forcing Ravel to split attention—just long enough for Tian Xue to unleash Crimson Pulse Reaver, slashing across Ravel's lower back.
The wound bled not blood—but glitches.
---
Origin Directive Retracts
Suddenly, Ravel paused.
> "Noted."
His body began to dissolve into code. But not from death.
> "Too early. Data incomplete. Directive Agent will return at Nexus Collapse Threshold."
He vanished.
And the world exhaled.
---
Aftershock
The battlefield fell still again. Enforcers withdrew. The first wave ended.
And the Flame Seal activated, a golden dome locking Emberveil behind a firewall of will and sovereignty.
Lin Suyin looked around at the blood and broken stone.
> "That… was just a scout."
Jiang sheathed Echofang, his threads still vibrating.
> "Then we train."
> "We grow."
> "And next time—he won't rewrite anything."