The underground temple cracked, crimson light pouring through fissures. Maya knelt over Walid's wounds, her healing field trembling. Valgor's hands shook while drawing Soul Pillar sigils. Jessica's severed arm rested in a sling; her eyes were hard but alive. Lacolone's katana floated behind him, whispering energy. In the ash between battles, they remembered how to breathe.
Maya connected them in a five-point soul link. Blue lightning of Thunderbrand arced between them. Jessica grimaced as healing needles of light sank into her nerves. Walid's heart stabilized for the first time. Lacolone muttered, "This is temporary. We need full Pillar unity." Hope flickered like a forbidden current.
The Seventh Gate rose like a cathedral of bone and glass. Crimson glyphs swirled: "All Debt Paid Here." Valgor's breath fogged, fists clenched. Maya whispered, "The Scarlet energy… it's the same from my memories." Jessica: "Then we're walking into your nightmare." Dream and memory braided into a noose.
Two silhouettes entered the temple — Salah and Eden. Eden bowed slightly, eyes hollow: "I can't fight but I can guide." Salah's Soul Pillar aura manifested as a golden storm. Lacolone's eyes narrowed: "Finally, the circle's complete." Maya smiled faintly, then coughed blood. Every player drawn to the board before the final move.
Valgor spread a spectral map of the Seven Gates. Each door glowed with a different Pillar color. Jessica: "Every gate a battlefield." Walid whispered, "We've been pawns so far. Time to be predators." Lacolone: "We pick our doors carefully." Choice, the last weapon left.
Maya doubled over, screaming as memories surged — a flash of a parallel dimension where she sacrificed herself for Lacolone. Tears streamed down. "Lacolone… this is not real. You were there." Scarlet glyphs flared on the Gate in response. Memory cracked reality like glass.
Lacolone held her shoulders, trembling. "I saw pieces… but I thought it was a dream." Jessica: "If your souls are linked across worlds, use it." Maya nodded, wiping tears: "I will." Their bond a blade sharper than steel.
The Kid Saint materialized atop the altar, twin knives dripping crimson mist. Soul Control pressure shattered nearby stone. Valgor almost collapsed. Lacolone: "We can't fight him now." Maya whispered: "But he knows the way." A shadow of their future opponent stood smiling.
The Kid Saint spoke: "Come to my master. You'll be owned soon." Eden recoiled at the immense power. Lacolone gripped his katana but lowered it. "We'll come on our own terms." The Kid Saint smirked: "Your terms end at the Gate." Deal struck under silent thunder.
He dissolved into crimson pixels. "When you're ready, I'll be waiting on the other side." Jessica's fists tightened despite missing arm. Walid coughed blood but grinned: "Brat's got style." Lacolone: "He's not a brat. He's a warning." Warning accepted.
The team sat in a circle around Maya's healing flame. Salah: "His Soul Pillar pressure rivaled ours combined." Valgor: "Elito tamed them. We barely survived their shadow." Jessica stared at her missing arm: "Next time we won't walk away." Lacolone closed his eyes, hearing echoes of the parallel world. Each wound a lesson.
Maya rose, eyes now dual-colored gold and scarlet. "If my memories are real, I've died once for you. I won't again." Lacolone stood too. "Then we face him together." Jessica whispered: "Together or not at all." Resolve became an iron chain binding them to destiny.
Salah and Valgor sparred with thunder and quake. Jessica calibrated her guns one-handed. Maya etched new healing runes into Lacolone's armor. Lacolone balanced all five Pillars at once. Eden watched silently, hands trembling. Preparation, the last kindness before annihilation.
A flicker — hologram of Elito appeared above the Gate. Golden mask, eyes of void: "Your world is already mine." Maya's heart skipped. Elito: "You fight your chains while wearing them proudly." Lacolone's aura sparked violently. The predator let them smell its breath.
Hologram showed collapsing cities, oceans of comatose souls. Elito: "Purity demands sacrifice. I am the hand that cleanses." Jessica: "Monster!" Elito: "Monster? Or surgeon?" Walid spat blood but laughed bitterly. Philosophy sharpened into a knife.
Hologram faded, glyphs remained counting down. Valgor: "We have one week." Maya: "Then we find every hidden gate." Lacolone: "And tear the throne from his hands." Jessica smirked: "Even if it kills us." And it might.
The team placed hands together, a scarlet seal forming. Energy of all five Pillars spiraled upward. Maya and Lacolone locked eyes. Salah murmured: "We step into myth now." Eden's hands shook but he nodded. Oath carved in soulfire.
The Seventh Gate opened a fraction, scarlet light spilling out like liquid. Beyond, silhouettes of the 33 Saints bowed before a throne of shifting flesh and metal. Elito's masked face was just visible through the gap.
Beyond the Gate waits the Scarlet Lord.
Every choice they've made leads here.