silence hung in the canyon, uneasy and expectant. Kaien stood with his hand on the hilt of his sheathed Phasebrand Katana. The Rift relic was sealed beneath a layer of spatial compression, its power temporarily subdued, but even still, the air shimmered with tension.
Ilira's eyes were sharp as she scanned the craggy horizon. "Do you feel that?"
Kaien didn't answer at first. Then he spoke quietly.
"Space is bending wrong."
A pulse rippled through the fabric of the world, a quiet twang in the aether. It was subtle, not a blast of power, but a whisper of intrusion. Something — someone — had arrived, not by stepping through space, but by shredding it.
Then came the voice.
"So this is the Rift Sovereign."
Kaien turned slowly.
A man stood on the edge of the ridge above them, cloaked in starlight-ink black. His armor bore no insignia, only patterns that bent light, and his face was obscured by a veil of warped space. The air around him shimmered — not with heat, but with absence, like he erased meaning simply by being there.
Sirex Voln.
Ilira tensed beside Kaien. "You shouldn't be here."
Sirex descended without moving. One moment on the ridge, the next at the base, standing before them as if reality itself had edited him closer. His eyes locked on Kaien.
"I've come to deliver judgment. For the crime of waking what should've stayed sealed."
Kaien gripped the katana, eyes steady. "You're not the first. You won't be the last."
Sirex raised a single hand — not to attack, but to trace a symbol in the air. The symbol pulsed, and space collapsed around them like a dying star. Kaien barely raised a fold-barrier in time, warping the zone around Ilira and himself to avoid being crushed.
Ilira sprang forward, striking with a gravity burst meant to throw Sirex back. But he stepped between her attack — not dodging, not defending, but shifting between dimensions.
Kaien was already moving, Riftstep flaring behind him as he reappeared on Sirex's flank, katana lashing out with folded intent.
Clang.
The blow connected — or seemed to — but instead of slicing through, the katana phased through Sirex's chest like he was made of fluid dark.
"You fight well," Sirex said quietly. "But you're playing with stolen fire."
Kaien didn't respond. His mind raced. Sirex wasn't using spatial manipulation like him — no, it was deeper, sub-spatial threading. A technique only known to top enforcers of the Celestia Council.
Ilira launched another barrage of gravitational needles, pinning Sirex momentarily, but he shifted behind her again — and whispered, "Sleep."
Gravity twisted, and Ilira dropped like a comet, barely catching herself with a blast of counterforce. Kaien used the moment to blink between folds, slicing twice — once across Sirex's flank, once through the signature mark behind him.
The second blow hit.
Sirex stumbled slightly, his cloak hissing as space bled out from it like smoke. His voice was no longer calm.
"I see. You've begun to understand the weapon."
Kaien leveled the katana at him. "I don't need to understand it. I just need to end you."
They clashed.
This was no ordinary battle. Every strike bent light, folded reality, and rewrote positioning. Rift cuts met sub-spatial voids. Even the land warped beneath them, torn between collapsing in and being stretched into spirals.
But Kaien was evolving as they fought. His Riftcore burned hot, adapting, learning. His spatial awareness began expanding beyond line of sight — echo-sensing through folds, reacting to shifts milliseconds before they occurred.
He struck, not at Sirex's body, but at the paths he would take.
And it worked.
The katana cut through Sirex's arm — not physically, but conceptually, severing the connection between movement and mass. Sirex reeled back, one arm now refusing to obey gravity.
For the first time, he smiled.
"You're dangerous."
Kaien stood still, katana low, breath steady. "Go back to your council. Tell them I'm coming next."
Sirex stepped into shadow — a spatial compression gate unlike Kaien's. No shimmer, no light, just absence. As he vanished, his final words echoed.
"You won't like what's waiting for you, Rift Sovereign."
Scene Change – Elsewhere
Deep within a sealed rift-temple, a voice stirred.
"Phasebrand… Katana… Spatial Severance."
Eyes opened, ancient and glowing. Another relic awakened.
End of Chapter 12