The storm season over the Shattered Meridian Plains had always been violent, but tonight the sky felt alive—stalking, watching, waiting. The group had arrived here only a day ago, seeking refuge in the abandoned relay-towers scattered across the cracked landscape. The towers once belonged to the ancient Solari, remnants of a forgotten communication network that now buzzed only with failed signals and ghosts of old storms.
They were all on edge.
The Crimson Entity, now formally named Vraalth Kaedus, had retreated—wounded, enraged, but not defeated. And the whispered existence of something even older, even darker—The Pale Ancestor, Orivun—hung like an invisible blade over their heads. Every night seemed ten degrees colder because of it.
Rokuro felt it first. The others were simply trying to rest.
And that is when she arrived.
The Sōryun Spy
She appeared as a crackle of violet lightning that grounded into a humanoid silhouette.
A girl—barely older than Rin and Elion—stepped from the sparking air. Long obsidian hair streaked with cobalt arcs. Eyes like stormlit amber. Her Sōryun markings flickered like static along her arms.
She introduced herself with a bow so fluid it bordered on rehearsed humility.
"My name is Nirae Tsu'zhal. A wandering Sōryun displaced from my clan. I seek refuge… and company. I heard whispers of a group battling Vraalth Kaedus. I wish to help."
Her voice quivered as if she feared rejection.
Elion nodded sympathetically.
Nahara smiled kindly.
Rin narrowed his eyes, but said nothing.
Rokuro, however—having lived five millennia—watched her with a gaze that pierced like moonlit frost.
Something felt wrong.
But he said nothing yet.
Unbeknownst to the group, Nirae was a high-level infiltrator—trained explicitly to exploit weaknesses.
Her orders were whispered directly from a Sōryun splinter cell terrified of Rin's growing power:
"Get close. Break confidence. Trigger the Dark Rampant. Bring him to us."
Toward that end, she spent the first two days weaving threads of subtle emotional sabotage.
Nirae befriended Nahara quickly, disarming her with compliments and shared stories of Sōryun hardship.
Then came the lies—soft, silk-thin, almost invisible:
"Rin fears your abilities outpacing his."
"You rely too much on Rokuro… it makes you fragile."
"The group only keeps you because of your healing potential."
"Rin's ultimate could crush yours effortlessly—he just hides that truth."
Nahara—who carried her own wounds—began to feel cracks forming in her self-image.
Her Solarian warmth dimmed.
Her laughter quieted.
Her confidence hollowed.
And Rin noticed.
Though subtle with Nahara, Nirae was bold with Rin.
She whispered poison during training sessions:
"Your power frightens them. Especially Nahara."
"She thinks she's surpassing you."
"Your restraint only makes you weak."
Rin's struggle with the Dark Rampant—the berserk core of his ultimate—flickered dangerously.
His aura would grow jagged, distort, pulse.
Something inside him growled at the idea of being surpassed.
Balance was slipping.
On the fourth night, Nirae enacted the final stage of her plan.
Lightning cracked overhead as the storm intensified. She stood between Rin and Nahara during sparring practice, gently nudging their insecurities like a puppeteer.
"Why don't you both show your ultimates?"
Her smile was too sweet.
Too sharp.
Nahara hesitated.
Rin didn't.
His eyes dimmed to pitch black.
The crimson sigils across his back seared awake.
Rin's Ultimate: Abyssal Shroud — Rampant Eclipse
For a moment, the world looked as if someone tore a hole in reality.
Even the storm quieted.
Nahara's breath hitched—fear, confusion, betrayal.
Nirae whispered, unseen:
"He wants to show you who's stronger."
This pushed Nahara over the edge.
Nahara's Ultimate (temporary):Solari Requiem Bloom
Golden petals of cosmic fire spun around her, radiant yet trembling with internal instability.
The storm-torn plain lit up—two ultimates clashing with enough power to break the relay-towers around them.
Rin advanced—consumed by Rampant instincts.
Nahara countered—heartbroken, defensive, desperate.
Lightning from the sky joined the chaos.
Exactly as Nirae wanted.
Rin's claws of darkness clashed with Nahara's solar blossoms.
The shockwave uprooted the ground.
Elion tried to intervene—
But the raw pressure flung him backward.
Nirae smiled behind the flash of destruction.
Her Sōryun tattoos brightened.
"Perfect… break each other."
But then—
A hand landed on Rin's shoulder.
Only one person could have moved through that chaos:
Rokuro.
His voice was calm.
Ancient.
Unnegotiable.
"Enough."
The storm itself paused, as if afraid to continue.
Rin's Rampant form froze.
Nahara's blossoms flickered out like dying candles.
Nirae's smile collapsed.
Rokuro looked directly at her.
"And you… we've been waiting."
His eyes glowed—not the gentle silver moonlight the group knew—
but a cold, bottomless white.
Something horrifyingly older than Vraalth Kaedus stirred inside him.
The hidden side.
The sealed side.
The part of Rokuro the universe had nearly forgotten.