It was past midnight, but the Phantom Dorm was glowing.
Not from lightbulbs—but from the shard Kaien had brought back.
It pulsed steadily on the table like a heartbeat. Blue, then red. Blue, then red.
Ash stood over it, arms crossed. "So, this thing's a key?"
Lyra nodded, typing furiously as glowing script spiraled across her holo-screen. "It's not just a key. It's a coordinate. A location inside the Arcana Code… a hidden sector."
Nico whistled. "You saying the Cup's got secret matches tucked in its memory?"
"No," Lyra said, pausing.
"I'm saying… it has forbidden ones."
---
The Hidden Code: Matchgate
Lyra touched the shard. Instantly, the room shifted.
They were no longer in the dorm.
Instead, the team stood on a cracked circular platform suspended in an endless black void. Surrounding them were thousands of holographic cubes, each showing glimpses of impossible matches.
One showed a team of shadows playing without a ball.
Another showed a goalkeeper with six arms, blocking every shot like a machine.
Kaien stepped forward.
"What is this place?"
> "Welcome to the Replay Vault," came a voice from above.
A massive figure descended from the darkness. He wore no jersey—just layered armor and boots made of shattered whistle pieces.
> "I am Korran, Gatekeeper of the Second Shard.
Only those who understand true conflict may pass."
Ash grinned. "Looks like it's my turn."
---
Replay Match #002: Ash vs The Gatekeeper
The platform reformed into a hex arena with rotating walls and shifting goalposts.
Korran raised one arm. A massive metal ball, the size of a small boulder, slammed onto the field.
"This match isn't about skill," Korran said, voice like iron against stone.
"It's about impact."
"One shot. One gate. Break through—or be broken."
Ash stepped forward, cracked his neck, and rolled his shoulders. "Sounds good to me."
---
The Clash Begins
Korran charged first.
He was huge—twice Ash's size—but fast, moving with the weight of a falling mountain. Every step shook the platform.
Ash met him head-on.
Their first collision sent shockwaves through the air. No ball yet. Just force.
Ash didn't step back.
He grinned.
"Finally."
He spun, dodged Korran's next hammer blow, and dropped into a slide that sent him whipping toward the ball. With one smooth motion, he sprang up and launched it—
Right into the spinning wall of the arena.
The ball rebounded, arcing toward the open gate—
Korran appeared in front of it like a wall of fate.
Boom.
His block split the platform down the center.
---
Memory Clash: Ash's Echo
The moment cracked—reality flickered.
Ash blinked.
Suddenly, he was back on the streets of Xintar, age nine, kicking a worn rubber ball through traffic cones. A man stood beside him.
His older brother.
> "Power's not about strength, Ash.
It's about who feels it when you hit."
Ash clenched his fists.
He returned to the match. Breath steady.
Korran growled, "Your strength is loud. But it doesn't reach."
Ash's eyes lit up gold.
> "Then I'll make it reach."
---
Final Strike: Pulse Kick
The walls of the arena began spinning faster.
Korran charged again, this time launching a seismic stomp that shattered part of the field.
Ash timed it.
He sprinted toward the edge, bounced off a falling tile, and went airborne—his whole body twisting.
He hit the ball with a Pulse Kick—his signature shot, now supercharged with memory energy.
The ball exploded forward in a shockwave.
Korran planted both feet.
The shot hit him square in the chest.
Silence.
Then—
Crack.
The gate behind Korran shattered open.
---
Aftermath: The Shard of Impact
Korran dropped to one knee, exhaling slowly.
"…Good. You carry purpose in your power."
He reached into his chestplate and pulled out a jagged crystal, shaped like a fang.
Ash caught it.
As soon as he did, it glowed.
The second shard.
A message formed above it, written in fire:
> "Three more shards remain.
When all five are united… the Arcana Cup will end."
---
Back at Phantom Dorm
Lyra paced the room, piecing the fragments together.
"Each shard leads to a hidden match—matches lost to history. They weren't supposed to be replayed. Which means…"
Kaien nodded. "Someone doesn't want the truth of the Cup getting out."
Ash tossed the crystal onto the table. "Then we dig deeper."
Nico raised a brow. "So who's next?"
A soft knock echoed at the door.
They turned.
Outside stood a small figure, cloaked in white, holding a glowing shard.
A child's voice whispered:
> "You're looking for answers? Then come see what we remember."
The door creaked open on its own.
Cold air spilled in, along with whispers—soft and countless, like children talking through water.
Kaien, Ash, Lyra, and Nico stepped through cautiously.
> But when Nico crossed the threshold…
everything shifted.
---
The Ghostfield
He stood alone.
The others were gone.
Mist swirled around Nico's boots as he looked up at a twilight sky with two moons. Beneath him stretched a ruined football pitch—goalposts bent like broken fingers, grass overgrown and patchy.
But the crowd stands?
They were packed.
Silent.
Thousands of faint, translucent children, all staring down at the field.
A voice called out behind him.
> "You're here for the third shard, aren't you?"
Nico turned.
A boy no older than 12 stood near the center circle, barefoot, wearing a faded jersey with no team name.
His eyes were pale and full of memory.
> "Then you have to beat me.
But I'll warn you—this match has never ended."
---
The Opponent: Elian of the Lost Eleven
Lyra's voice buzzed faintly in Nico's earpiece.
> "We're detecting… anomalies. Nico, this is a ghost loop.
He's stuck in a memory game—replaying the same match forever."
Ash cut in. "He's probably not even alive."
Kaien: "But the shard's real. It's tied to his emotion."
Nico inhaled, stepped forward, and stretched his arms. "Alright, kid."
> "Let's end it together."
---
Replay Match #003: Emotion Field
The rules here weren't normal.
The field morphed based on emotion.
When Elian grinned, the sky brightened, the ball moved faster.
When Nico got nervous, the ground grew heavy, like walking in syrup.
The crowd? They reacted only to memories.
The match began.
Elian darted forward, weaving between illusions of players from his old team—The Lost Eleven—each flickering like old film.
He passed to them. They responded like echoes.
Nico sprinted and intercepted the ball, but the moment he did—
> Flashback.
He was back in his childhood.
Alone.
Rain pouring down on the neighborhood court. His older brother walking away with a packed bag, yelling something Nico never forgot:
> "You're too slow, Nico! Always behind. That's why I'm leaving!"
Back to the present—Nico stumbled.
Elian stole the ball and took the shot.
Goal.
---
A Loop of Pain
Nico collapsed to his knees.
The field reset.
Elian stood again at the center.
"You okay?" the ghost-boy asked, gently.
"This is what it does. Shows you the moment you felt left behind.
I've seen it every day for ten years."
Nico stood slowly.
He smiled.
"Then let's change the ending."
---
Final Play: Memory Rewrite
Nico dribbled forward with clarity now. As the field morphed and cracked with emotion, he embraced it.
He passed to an illusion—one of Elian's old teammates.
To Elian's shock, it passed back.
"You can… see them?"
"They're your pain," Nico said, locking eyes. "But they're still part of you. Let them play."
Elian trembled.
The echoes—his old team—surrounded him again.
This time, they were whole.
And with them, Nico made a final run, passing across the ghost team like they were real.
He received the final cross and took the shot.
> Goal.
But not just a goal.
The mist evaporated. The moons faded. The crowd stood and began clapping—
For the first time in a decade.
Elian fell to his knees, crying softly.
"Thank you."
---
The Third Shard: Memory's Grace
The crowd faded. The pitch vanished.
Only Nico and Elian remained.
From the sky descended a shard—silver and transparent, like frozen time.
Nico caught it.
As he did, a vision flickered across the Phantom team's shared memory line:
> A glimpse of the final match of the Arcana Cup…
But something was wrong.
Kaien stood alone.
Everyone else—Phantom XI, their enemies, even the sky—was frozen in time.
And above the stadium, written in burning symbols:
> "When the fifth shard awakens, only one team survives."
---
Back at Phantom Dorm
Nico didn't speak for a while.
He sat by the window, holding the silver shard.
Lyra finally said, "There's a pattern. The shards are… not power-ups. They're warnings."
Kaien looked out the window.
"The Cup's deeper than just winning."
Ash: "Yeah. It's starting to feel more like a curse."
From behind them, a shadow stepped forward.
It was Coach Dimas, quiet, watching.
"I told you the Arcana Cup was sacred. But I didn't tell you everything."
They turned to face him.
"I once found a shard too," he said.
"And I lost my entire team because of it."