The capital ruins trembled with ancient magic.
Beneath the cracked marble and forgotten thrones, Vera led the way through a spiral staircase carved from obsidian. Elion followed, his hand never straying far from his blade. The air below was thick—not just with dust, but with memory.
> "The seal shouldn't have broken," Vera muttered. "Not unless…"
> "Unless someone was strong enough to wake him," Elion finished grimly.
> "Or unless she is close enough."
They stopped before a massive stone door, veins of glowing red pulsing like a heartbeat.
---
Meanwhile, at Camp
Yui sat beneath a scorched tree. Akari slept beside her, breathing steady for the first time since her arrival.
Azazel knelt nearby, wrapping a fresh bandage over his wound. His golden eyes stayed fixed on Yui.
> "You touched something inside her," he said. "Something even the Echo couldn't erase."
Yui nodded quietly. "She was always there. Just buried."
> "And what about you?" Azazel asked. "What's buried in you?"
Before she could answer—
> System Notification:
Seal Break Confirmed. Ancient Entity Stirring.
Location: Ruins beneath the Fallen Flame Capital.
Target: Yui Sakamoto.
Yui froze.
Azazel stood. "It's him. The one who knows your name."
---
Below the Capital
The massive stone door opened—not with force, but as if welcoming them.
Inside was a chamber of red crystal and smoke. Floating in its center, chained by six flaming brands, was a man—tall, regal, with hair like burning silver and wings of shadow folded against his back.
His eyes opened.
And he smiled.
> "You came, girl of two names."
Elion raised his blade. "Who are you?"
The chained man chuckled. "I am what the world once feared. The flame before gods. The name before demons."
He turned to Vera.
> "You call me Demon King. But I was her first."
> "Her…?" Vera's voice trembled.
He looked upward—straight through the stone ceiling. At Yui.
> "My queen returns."
---
Above
Yui gasped as the mark on her hand—usually dormant—flared.
> [System Warning: Unsealed Entity Establishing Link]
Resonance: Forbidden
> "Azazel," Yui whispered. "He knows me. Not from this world. From—before."
> "Before what?" Azazel asked.
> "Before I was Yui."
---
Back in the Chamber
The Demon King's chains burned, but did not hold him long.
He stepped forward.
> "You summoned me, Sakamoto Yui. When you died. You called out—not to gods, but to power."
Elion's voice shook. "You're saying… Yui's reincarnation wasn't random?"
> "No," the Demon King whispered. "She didn't stumble into fate. She shaped it."
The sixth chain shattered.
> "She was never a girl lost in a novel. She wrote it."
And with that—
The final seal cracked.