The next day, tension still hung heavy over Aethelgard Academy.
The factory incident had left more questions than answers.
Dr. Aris decided to suspend all outside missions for now, focusing instead on research — while Kora was kept under medical observation in quarantine.
But her mind wouldn't rest.
Strange dreams kept haunting her — shadows of humans trapped inside metal, muffled screams, and a stone blade glowing faintly in purple light.
She woke up drenched in cold sweat, as an old memory from her childhood surfaced.
"Grandma, tell me again about the cursed stone!"
"That's not a story for children, Kora. It's a warning for all of us."
Driven by something deep inside her, Kora requested access to her family's historical archives stored in the academy's database.
The Kurono bloodline had long ties with Aethelgard — a lineage of material researchers.
"I need to find out," she whispered to Sofia, who sat beside her.
"This Echo… it feels like a missing part of me."
After hours of combing through encrypted data, one classified document caught her attention.
Its title was simple: "BC-001 Delivery Incident Report."
BC. Cipher Stone.
Heart pounding, Kora opened the file.
---
PERSONAL NOTE — ARATA KURONO (Kora's Great-Grandmother)
Date: December 15th, 2145
I'm writing this with trembling hands.
The delivery of the "rare stone specimen" — code BC-001 — from the ruins of an ancient Artifact war site ended in disaster.
As a senior courier, my only job was to supervise the transport.
But rumors about the stone's power made me curious.
I approached the lead-lined crate… and before I realized it, my palm touched the surface. So did the others'.
What I felt wasn't vibration — it was screaming.
Hundreds, maybe thousands of psychic cries filled with pain and fury.
Then a flash of vision — a massive battlefield where Artifacts tore each other apart, their souls shredded and trapped in the wreckage, fusing with the earth for centuries…
Until they crystallized into energy stones that carried the memories of their deaths.
I collapsed. The medics said it was neural shock.
But they were wrong.
I wasn't shocked — I was connected.
I was the only survivor.
The others… they tried to touch the stone longer, or with the intent to control it.
They died instantly — their brains burned by chaotic psychic waves.
Only I survived, because I touched it briefly — and instinctively pulled back.
But I brought something back with me.
A "resonance."
Since that day, I sometimes hear whispers.
I don't believe it's a curse — it's a dangerous inheritance.
One that runs in my blood… and maybe in the blood of those who come after me.
I'll hide this record.
May my descendants never have to face this horror.
---
Kora froze, eyes wide at the glowing screen.
"My great-grandmother… she was the courier who survived," she whispered, voice trembling.
"This Echo… it's inherited through blood."
"Inherited?" Sofia stepped closer, worry on her face.
"So like, a recessive gene or something?"
"More than that." Kora sighed. "She called it a 'heritage'. But according to her notes, the Echo wasn't active — she only heard the whispers. It needed something to trigger it."
Her mind drifted back to the day she first received the Stormdancer Type-B.
She remembered that strange sensation — not just the neural sync they taught at the academy, but a feeling of being welcomed.
Like meeting an old friend she had forgotten.
That was the first time she saw the faint shadow in her visor… and heard the voice clearly.
"My trigger was Stormdancer," Kora realized.
"The bond between me and my Artifact — that mental resonance — it woke up the Echo that's been sleeping inside me all this time."
Dr. Aris, who had been silently listening, stepped into the room with his coffee.
"That's a logical explanation," he said calmly.
"Klaus's Echo system and yours share the same origin — the Cipher Stone — but their activation and nature are completely different."
He brought up a holographic chart on his tablet.
---
Comparison: Natural Echo (Kora) vs. Forced Echo (Klaus)
Aspect Kora (Inherited/Natural) Klaus (Forced)
Activation Inherited, dormant, awakened by resonance with host Forced through physical contact and mental domination
Stability Stable, harmonic, grows with the host Unstable, destructive, rebels against the user
Power Develops organically through harmony Instant power but damages both host and user
Communication Dialogue, understanding, symbiosis Command, coercion, suppression
---
"Klaus thought he was controlling the Echo," Dr. Aris continued, "but in reality, he was forcing his will onto energy that refused to obey. That's why his Wraith was so aggressive — and why it destroyed its host."
"Then… the stone dagger Klaus used," Sofia said quietly.
"It was made from the same Cipher Stone," Aris nodded.
"But unlike Kora's ancestor, who touched raw material by accident, the dagger was forged as a conduit — meant to force a link. A shortcut with a deadly price."
Kora looked down at her hands, feeling that calm, pulsing purple energy beneath her skin.
She didn't carry a curse.
She carried a responsibility.
"I get it now," she said firmly.
"My Echo isn't a weapon. It's a soul that trusts me. My job isn't to control it — it's to understand it."
She looked up at Aris and Sofia.
"And maybe… with this kind of harmony, we can find a way to help the other Echoes — the ones still suffering, like Klaus's Wraith."
That revelation marked the start of a new chapter.
They were no longer just fighting an enemy — they were uncovering the truth behind a world woven together by living energy and buried memories.
And for Kora, her journey to understand herself — and the soul that resonated within her — had only just begun.