The chamber Daiken led him to was quiet. Too quiet. The kind of silence that made Rei's heartbeat sound like thunder in his chest.
Daiken stood in the center, silver hair gleaming faintly. His presence alone carried weight. No blade. No stance. Just stillness.
"Today," Daiken said, "you learn balance."
The word felt small in his mouth compared to the man who spoke it.
"Balance?" Rei asked.
Daiken raised a hand. The air shifted instantly. Rei's knees buckled as invisible weight crushed down, pressing him toward the floor.
His lungs screamed. His bones creaked. The pressure was suffocating.
"This is Gravitas," Daiken said evenly. "The weight of the world. The truth that power is nothing without control."
Rei's arms trembled as he planted his blade into the ground to keep from collapsing. Every breath was a war.
"Stand," Daiken ordered.
Rei grit his teeth. "I… am standing."
Daiken increased the pressure. The stone floor cracked under Rei's knees. His vision blurred. His body wanted to give in.
But the Blade of Resolve hummed. Its faint rhythm steadied him.
One breath. One rise.
He pushed, muscles screaming, and stood.
The weight grew heavier still, pinning him like a mountain.
"Why do you rise?" Daiken asked, voice sharp as steel.
"Because I must," Rei gasped.
Daiken's gaze hardened. "Not enough."
The pressure crushed him flat. Rei spat blood onto the floor, his chest rattling. His mind screamed quit. His heart screamed move.
Images of Hurukoya burning filled his head. Shira's smile. Her last word. Live.
The fracture in his Enso pulsed, demanding to be more.
He roared through the blood in his throat, legs trembling as he forced them beneath him. One step. Then another. He stood again, barely.
"Because if I don't," Rei said, voice breaking, "they died for nothing."
The weight vanished. Rei fell forward, gasping, coughing violently.
Daiken didn't smile. But his eyes flickered, approval faint as dawn.
"You will carry more than yourself," Daiken said quietly. "Remember this pain. It will teach you to never falter."
Rei coughed, gripping his blade, but he nodded.
Balance. Gravitas.
He had survived.