🏃 Rooftop Hideout – Same Night
Ren stood shirtless, staring at his reflection in a cracked mirror.
The Mark on his chest pulsed like a second heartbeat.
The memory crystal hovered just above his palm — not touching, but tethered by light.
Kiyomi leaned on the wall, arms crossed.
> "You're different now."
He didn't answer.
> "Your eyes… they don't look scared anymore. They look like they've seen too much."
Ren clenched the crystal. "They have."
🧠 Aya – Crystal Decryption Begins
Inside the Rift-link, Aya floated above a pool of swirling data.
The crystal hovered in front of her, slowly unfolding like a blooming lotus of light.
> "Ren... there's a voice in here."
Not a recording.
A consciousness.
Faint.
But alive.
> "It's… your mother."
> "They kept her consciousness locked in this crystal
... since the crash."
🧧 Elsewhere – A Secret Meeting
A ramen shop. Closed. Midnight.
Jin sat at the back table, pouring himself tea.
The Watcher stepped through the wall like smoke and reformed — now wearing the face of Ren's math teacher.
Jin didn't flinch.
> "You've got five minutes. Speak."
The Watcher smiled. "You knew this day would come."
Jin sipped. "I've known since I sealed Gate Zero."
⚔ Flashback – The First Rift War
22 years ago.
A young Jin — long black hair, wielding a massive double-bladed staff.
He stood at the edge of a crater, bleeding, teeth gritted.
Behind him, an army of Riftspawn.
In front — a swirling Gate the size of a stadium.
He shouted over the storm:
> "Tell the council — if I don't come back, no one opens this gate again."
He dove into the Gate — and vanished.
🧩 Back to Present
The Watcher tilted his head.
> "So you're the one who buried Gate Zero beneath the Kaido Facility."
> "Makes sense. Who better than a broken fighter who lost his entire squad."
Jin stood.
> "That's enough."
> "If you touch Ren again… you'll find out I didn't seal Gate Zero because I was weak."
> "I did it because I was the only one who could kill what lived behind it."
He held out a slip of paper.
> "Tell your superiors I'm back."
The Watcher smiled — but something in his expression changed.
> "Noted."
Then he vanished.
🧠 Inside the Crystal
Aya gasped.
The crystal unfurled into a projection.
A woman in a long coat stood in a lab — her eyes the same golden-brown as Ren's.
> "If you're seeing this… it means they failed."
> "Your name is Kaido Ren. But to them, you were just KAI-2-A."
> "You had a twin, KAI-2-B. He didn't survive."
Aya's eyes widened.
> "That means the boy who attacked Ren…"
> "Wasn't his brother."
The voice continued:
> "They'll try to use you to open Gate Zero again."
> "Don't let them."
> "You are the lock. Not the key."
🚨 Meanwhile – Academy HQ
An alert screamed across the hidden surveillance network.
A location ping: Ren's crystal signature had activated.
Below it, a timestamp.
> "Time remaining before Gate Five ripple: 8 Days, 14 Hours."
The teacher with silver eyes — the real headmaster — looked up from his desk.
> "Get me the Kaido files."
> "We're initiating the Singularity Protocol."
🌌 Final Scene – Ren's Decision
Ren stood at the rooftop's edge, the crystal in his hand.
He stared at the stars.
Kiyomi approached. "So… what now?"
Ren didn't look at her. "Now we find out what Gate Five really is."
> "And we end this before someone tries to use me to open that thing again."
Aya whispered in his mind.
> "Together?"
He smiled f
aintly.
> "Always."
End of Chapter 23
🧩 Lore Drop – Gate Zero
> The first Rift, predating all others. Not created… discovered.
It contains an entity called The Architect, said to have created all other Rifts.
Gate Zero was sealed 22 years ago by Jin.
Its location: under the Academy it
self.
🔥 Chapter 24 Teaser:
> The team sneaks into the original Kaido lab ruins, hidden beneath the Academy. There, they discover the final experiment log — and a horrifying truth: Aya wasn't just Ren's friend. She was designed to erase him if he ever reached Gate Five. But she's already too attached. Meanwhile, the Watcher… prepares to unseal Gate Zero.