The team collapsed in the ruined hall beyond the Sixth Gate; shards of the Saints' arenas floated like frozen meteors. Valgor bandaged his arm, whispering, "I can't feel my Pillars anymore…" Maya coughed blood into her palm. Jessica helped Ghali Salah stand while Eden checked vitals. Lacolone leaned on his broken katana, aura flickering weakly. The victors stood like ghosts of themselves.
Ghali Salah laid out a circle of Veilward energy, stabilizing the group. Red light flowed into wounds; Driftform patched frayed souls. Jessica murmured, "We should be dead." Maya replied, "We'd be dead without each other." Valgor felt the faint spark of Soul Fusion lingering. Even power had its cost.
Lacolone stared at the Seventh Door looming ahead. Whispercall flickered visions of Elito — a silhouette on a cosmic throne. "He tamed the Saints… and still hides his real power," he murmured. Maya recalled Basim's dying words about "The Grand Lord's true plan." Valgor's fist trembled with fear, not rage. Ignorance of their enemy became its own weapon.
Eden knelt in the center, voice trembling: "You think you saw the Saints at full power?" His holograms revealed fragments of code-beasts, Elito's experiments. Jessica: "This was all… training for us?" Eden: "More like a filter. The weak don't reach him." Lacolone turned away, jaw tight. They stood at the mouth of a predator.
A soft ripple of Driftform energy filled the chamber. A boy stepped out of nothingness — barefoot, carrying two curved ancient knives. His eyes glowed faintly; soul-pressure slammed down like a mountain. Jessica's pupils dilated: "He's… a Saint?" Valgor gasped: "He's a child…" Lacolone's Whispercall screamed warnings. Strength wore the mask of innocence.
The boy twirled his knives casually, aura flickering across all Five Pillars. "I'm not crazy enough to fight you alone," he said. "I lead you to my master." Lacolone: "There's no way this kid is a Saint…" Whispercall registered his Soul Control as off the charts. Terror had no age.
Lacolone imagined fighting both the child and Elito at once — annihilation. Jessica whispered: "We're half-dead. We can't." Valgor: "Fighting him now is suicide." Maya steadied herself, eyes narrowing. Ghali Salah subtly wove a Veilward barrier, just in case. Survival meant restraint.
Lacolone straightened, bleeding, and stepped forward. "It's a deal," he said slowly. "Wait for us. We'll come. We'll speak to the Grand Lord. We're free. He doesn't own us." The boy tilted his head, a small smile forming. Maya and Jessica exchanged a nervous glance. Pride drew a thin line between defiance and doom.
The boy stopped spinning his knives. "You're going to be owned soon." His voice became colder, echoing like two speakers. He stepped back, aura condensing like a black hole. Driftform light swallowed him. Promises turned to threats.
The boy vanished entirely, leaving only two drifting feathers of light. The Seventh Door pulsed as if amused. Lacolone exhaled a breath he didn't know he was holding. Jessica: "We're out of time." Valgor: "He was holding back." Even retreat felt like a test.
Ghali Salah closed the Veilward barrier, trembling. Eden collapsed, sweat pouring off him. Maya checked her cracked staff. Jessica: "If that was a child…" Valgor finished: "…what is Elito?" Questions became heavier than wounds.
They retreated to a hidden cavern behind the Sixth Gate, faintly glowing with ancient tech. Valgor created a Riftquake fissure as a door. Lacolone sat cross-legged, beginning meditation. Maya scanned data fragments stolen from Alister. Jessica sharpened broken blades as if ritual. Silence became their only medicine.
Lacolone: "We fought to free people from a dream… but are we just pawns in another?" Eden: "Elito believes humanity poisoned itself. He thinks he's cleansing the species." Maya: "We're not lab rats." Ghali Salah: "But his Saints believed him…" Jessica: "Faith can make monsters." Doubt cracked their certainty.
The Seventh Door vibrated in the distance like a living heart. Valgor's Whispercall picked up faint chanting from beyond. Maya's eyes flashed binary visions. Lacolone clenched fists, aura flickering between the Pillars. Jessica: "We're not ready." Preparation became a race against inevitability.
Lacolone: "We need to master Soul Fusion properly, or we're dead." Maya: "We'll train inside this gate until we can hold all five Pillars together." Valgor: "We find his weakness — everything has one." Ghali Salah: "And if not?" Jessica smirked despite pain: "Then we make one." Resolve turned wounds into whetstones.
Eden's hologram flickered, showing Elito's throne surrounded by infinite mirrors. "He's not just a man," Eden said. Lacolone: "Then we stop calling him one." Maya sensed a strange pulse from her staff — Elito's code signature. Jessica's Driftform aura flickered with new symbols. The enemy watched as they prepared.
Everyone sat in a circle, channeling Pillars simultaneously, training. Soul energy glowed like a small sun between them. Lacolone: "When the door opens, we enter together." Maya: "Even if it's a trap." Valgor: "Especially if it's a trap." They stitched unity tighter than ever.
The Seventh Door loomed, glowing with a heartbeat of black-gold light. In the foreground, the heroes' combined Pillars formed a towering silhouette of a new being — Soul Fusion made flesh — their training about to ignite.
"The child vanished.
The Grand Lord waited.
And between them stood only preparation… and will."