Jace moved through the ravaged cityscape like a shadow, flanked by jagged skyscraper remnants and shattered roadways that twisted like broken ribs through Zone 5W's belly. His body still ached, but each pulse of his system brought a strange clarity—as if with every integration, his mind reshaped itself to match this new rhythm.
He had a destination now: Vault Echo-7.
A name Kira hadn't given him—but one that appeared in his system during the night.
> [Vault Signature Linked: Archive Path – Emberlight Sequence]
[Location: Sector 9C, Exo-Tower Underpass]
[Status: Inactive – Requires Proximity Activation]
It was a long hike, cutting through wild zones filled with unstable debris and corrupted beasts. His system's passive pings kept him clear of most threats—though once, a swarm of crystal-winged vermin darted out of a sewer grate and forced him to use Shadow Blink mid-run just to avoid being torn apart.
"Too close," he muttered as he clutched his side, breath fogging.
He reached a high-rise overlook just as dusk approached. From here, he could see the broken horizon stretch out toward Sector 9C. And nestled in its shadowed base, partially buried under centuries of collapsed steel, the remains of an enormous archway flickered with faint pulses of red.
The Vault.
> [System Sync: 61% Complete – Activation Possible Upon Entry]
Jace turned and climbed down from the overlook, tightening the straps of his scavenged gear. He'd need to descend through the skeletal remains of the old Exo-Tower complex—an area known for its echo-reactive metal and unstable platforms.
But before he could begin the climb, his system chimed.
> [Passive Detection: Heat Signature Approaching – Velocity: Fast]
[Classification: Student – Affiliation: Unknown Academy]
Jace spun just in time to see a figure racing across the upper causeway—a blur of blue streaks surrounding them, cloak fluttering like liquid frost.
The figure landed ten feet from him, blades drawn.
Jace stepped back, hands raised.
"Hey—easy. I'm not here to—"
The stranger lunged.
Their movement was ice-smooth, blade glimmering with silver ki.
Jace ducked under the swing, rolled backward, and flared Blood Instinct.
> [Skill Activated: Blood Instinct Lv.1 – 10 seconds remaining]
Time slowed. He counted their steps, watched for flickers of movement in their eyes.
Then—an opening.
He twisted low and swept their legs. They flipped mid-air and landed like a cat.
"Not bad," the stranger said, lowering their hood.
It was a girl—no older than him. Short hair, frost-white at the ends. Cold blue eyes. A badge flickered on her chest: Glacien Academy.
"I didn't expect the Archive Bearer to look like… you."
Jace blinked. "Wait—you know about the Archive?"
"I know enough to be sent here when your pulse signatures started lighting up."
She sheathed one blade but kept the other loose at her side. "My name's Lys. I'm a scout-slash-watchdog from the northern circuits. My job was to find out what's destabilizing the Vaults."
Jace shook his head. "Well, you found him."
"Apparently."
She circled him. "You're not like the others who tried to bind with the Archive. You're alive. Mostly. That means you've passed two vaults already."
"Three," he corrected.
Lys raised an eyebrow. "Impressive. Or suicidal. Time will tell."
She finally lowered her blade fully. "You're heading to Echo-7, aren't you?"
He didn't respond.
"I'm coming with you," she said.
Jace crossed his arms. "Why?"
"Because if you open it alone, you might die. If you open it wrong, we all might."
The sky darkened. Winds howled over the tower edges. And far beneath their feet, the Vault pulsed again—stronger this time.
Lys looked at him with something between wariness and amusement.
"And besides," she added. "You're kind of cute when you panic."
Jace groaned. "This day just keeps getting better."
They made their descent into Sector 9C under fading light, guided by the Vault's rhythmic pulses and the subtle beacons his system marked out—tiny flecks of residual energy left behind by the ancient Archive, glowing only to those bound to it.
Lys was fast.
She moved with practiced grace over cracked beams and tilted platforms, hopping across ledges like someone who'd spent more time in ruins than classrooms. Her cloak flickered with frost energy, subtly reinforcing her steps.
Jace, for all his new abilities, struggled to keep pace.
"You okay back there, Archive boy?"
"I'm—fine," he wheezed. "Just trying not to break both legs."
"Good. Because this next part's the fun bit."
They arrived at a massive elevator shaft, cables long snapped, the metal tube stretching downward into darkness.
Jace peered in. "We're not… jumping down that, are we?"
"Nope," Lys said, then stepped to the side and kicked open a rusted maintenance hatch. "We're climbing."
"…I hate you already."
---
They descended the emergency ladder for nearly ten minutes, their hands raw and legs aching by the time they reached the mid-level junction where the path split.
A soft chime echoed in Jace's head.
> [Proximity Threshold Reached – Vault Echo-7 Syncing…]
[Status: Dormant – Requires Activation Glyph Sequence]
He stepped forward, brushing aside overgrowth. At the center of the wall was a sigil etched in crimson metal—three overlapping rings, glowing faintly.
Lys raised an eyebrow. "Recognize it?"
"Yeah. It was in the tomb."
He pressed his palm to the rings. The metal beneath his skin grew warm.
The system pulsed again.
> [Activation Glyph Recognized. Vault Echo-7: Status Updating…]
[Vault Opening in: 60 seconds]
[Warning: Energy surge may attract hostile signatures]
Lys drew both blades. "I'll watch your back."
Jace nodded.
They stood in silence as the wall slowly split apart, gears grinding, dust pouring from the cracks. A square platform extended outward like a mechanical tongue, revealing a dark stairwell spiraling down.
And then—footsteps.
Fast. Heavy. Multiple.
From the corridor they'd just come from.
> [Warning: Multiple Heat Signatures Detected – Human-Class | Armed]
[Affiliation: Unknown | Pattern Match: 87% Probability – Crimson Spire Hunters]
Jace turned to Lys. "Friends of yours?"
"Not unless they suddenly like stabbing me in the back."
"Guess we're going in."
They dove into the stairwell just as the first bolt of plasma fire scorched the wall behind them. The Vault door slid shut with a resonating clang, and the temperature dropped instantly.
Darkness swallowed them whole.
> [Vault Echo-7 – Active]
[Trial Type: Dual Synchronization – Paired Combat Trial]
[Objective: Survive Until Fusion Lock Achieved]
> [Synchronization Status: 0% – Begin Calibration…]
Lys cursed. "A paired trial? Seriously?"
"You've done this before?"
"No. But I've read about them. Vaults used to train paired guardians—teams who synced their energy during battle. It's not something you just pick up."
Before Jace could answer, the room lit up with red glyphs. The ground shifted beneath them.
And from the opposite wall, two armored statues emerged—each over three meters tall, cloaked in flowing metallic robes and armed with twin glaives.
> [Trial Start – Enemy Class: Sentinel Phantoms]
[Energy Type: Constructed Will – Immunity to Fear, Weak to Disruption-based attacks]
Jace drew his blade. "Great. Any chance you've got disruption magic?"
Lys held up a glowing vial. "No. But I've got this."
She tossed it at the nearest statue. It exploded in a burst of sound and shimmering frost. The statue staggered.
Jace activated Shadow Blink, closing the distance and slashing low. Sparks flew.
"Keep one busy," Lys called, engaging the other.
He ducked under a swing, triggered Blood Instinct, and rolled behind the first Sentinel. His blade struck a joint in its leg—it cracked but didn't fall.
The system chimed again.
> [Synchronization: 12%]
[Combat Rhythm Detected – Adjusting Neural Echo]
Suddenly, a ghostly version of Lys's movements flashed in his mind—her tempo, her timing. Jace blinked, confused, but his body began to adjust.
He sidestepped an attack an instant before Lys shouted the warning.
Their attacks began to weave—him cutting low, her striking high. Momentum built like a song reaching crescendo.
> [Synchronization: 31%]
[Neural Link Stabilizing – Minor Buffs Applied]
Jace felt the pulse—an energy that passed from her to him and back. He grinned.
"This is actually working."
"For now," she replied. "Don't screw it up."
Jace pivoted, narrowly avoiding a glaive strike that embedded deep into the steel floor. Sparks erupted as the Sentinel ripped it free with inhuman force. The second construct turned on Lys, but she was already moving—her twin frost daggers slashing at its armored wrists. The air between them danced with crystalline vapor.
> [Synchronization: 54%]
[New Buff: Reflex Boost Lv.1 – Dodge effectiveness increased by 15%]
The glowing display hovered faintly in Jace's mind, but he didn't need it to know—he could feel it. Every movement was a little faster, tighter, more in sync with Lys. Their rhythm had gone from awkward to instinctual in less than two minutes.
"Keep it turning!" Lys called out, dodging under a glaive sweep.
Jace lunged low and swept the Sentinel's ankle. It stumbled. He followed with a stab behind the knee joint—cracking one of the phantom's core glyphs. The creature let out a high-pitched screech like iron on ice and whirled, backhanding him across the platform.
His back slammed into the pillar.
> [Health -12%]
He groaned. "Still hate you."
"Just keep the tempo, Archive Boy!"
He stood, spitting blood, and activated Shadow Blink, phasing behind the Sentinel to land a slash across its upper spine. At the same moment, Lys twisted into a spin-kick that drove her dagger through its helm.
The construct froze. Then burst into a cloud of fractured crimson shards.
> [Enemy 1 Eliminated]
[Synchronization: 68%]
[Dual Buff Triggered: Tempo Surge – Next 30 seconds: +10% attack speed, +10% shared perception]
A heartbeat passed.
Then they turned together toward the final Sentinel.
It raised both glaives into a defensive stance, energy coursing through its form in a visible aura.
> [Phase Two: Enraged Guardian Protocol]
[Enemy Buff: Adaptive Combat Matrix – Damage taken reduced by 40% for 1 minute]
"Great," Jace muttered. "Now it cheats."
"We match it," Lys said, and extended her hand.
The system pulsed.
> [Shared Skill Activated: Emberlight Resonance Lv.1]
[Effect: Ignite active weapons with joint energy for 20 seconds – fire-based damage added to melee attacks.]
Jace's blade lit with crimson fire. Lys's daggers glowed with flickering orange-blue flames. Together, they charged.
The glaives spun toward them like windmills.
Jace ducked left—Lys leapt right. Their synchronized attacks struck together: one dagger through the construct's arm socket, Jace's blade embedding deep in its side.
It roared, shaking the floor.
> [Synchronization: 87%]
[Final Buff Unlocked: Momentum Lock – Combo damage increased by 25%]
Jace grinned.
They danced.
Strike. Parry. Step. Spin.
Each movement fed into the next like gears in a machine. They weren't just fighting—they were flowing. From shadow to frost, blade to blade.
At last, the final Sentinel staggered back. A glyph opened at its core—vulnerable.
Lys shouted. "Now!"
Jace rushed forward and plunged his burning blade into the glyph.
It exploded in a radiant pulse.
> [Enemy 2 Eliminated]
[Trial Complete – Vault Echo-7 Synced]
[Total Synchronization Achieved: 91%]
[Paired Combat Compatibility: High]
[Bond Rating: Stable]
[New System Feature Unlocked: Resonant Ally Slot – Lys has been added as a Temporary Bonded Partner]
[Vault Reward Options: Choose One Each]
Jace dropped to one knee, breathing hard. Across from him, Lys leaned against a column, equally spent.
"I can't believe we survived that," he said.
"I can," she replied. "But don't get cocky."
The system hovered reward choices before them both.
> [Available Choices:
A) Dual Skill: Ember Pulse – Shared Energy Burst Attack
B) Soulbound Item: Frostlit Pendant – Buffs cold resistance and mana control
C) Utility: Partner Link – 1x Emergency Telepathic Call]
Lys chose B without hesitation. The pendant snapped into being around her neck, its frost crystal shimmering.
Jace hesitated.
> [Warning: Option A can only be chosen once. Exclusive skill.]
"…A," he said finally.
> [Dual Skill Acquired: Ember Pulse Lv.1]
[Effect: Channel shared energy to release a high-damage area burst. Usable only when bonded partner is within 20 meters.]
The floor beneath them shifted again, revealing a stairwell leading deeper.
Jace turned to her. "You coming?"
Lys smirked. "Did you think I fought all that just to walk away?"
They descended together, deeper into the Archive's secrets.
And behind them, Vault Echo-7 sealed shut—its trial complete, its purpose fulfilled.
But somewhere far above… someone had been watching.
A hidden sensor blinked red.
A masked figure seated in an obsidian chamber tilted their head.
"So the Archive's chosen... is syncing already," the figure murmured. "Interesting."