The Vault of Echoes trembled one final time as the stone behind the echo king dissolved into light. A staircase of crystal descended into nothingness, and from it pulsed an energy unlike anything Kaito had felt before.
Kaelyra's voice was quiet. "The Realm of Ascension… this is where myths go to become gods."
Kaito's grip on Nightcleaver tightened. "Or where men go to vanish."
They stepped onto the stairs, and the world around them peeled away like pages of a dream. Darkness didn't follow—it was replaced by blinding clarity. Every thought, every doubt, every echo of their past sharpened in this place.
The stairway ended in a floating platform—an altar carved from ancient flame. Floating above it, a ring of broken crowns circled a blade glowing with cosmic fire.
Kaito knew it immediately. His true weapon. Not the Nightcleaver reforged in his rebirth—but the Primordial Blade, forged from the will of the first Emperor and shattered when he died.
"It only answers to the worthy," said the echo king, now kneeling beside the platform. "If you fail to claim it, your soul will be scattered through time again."
Kaito stepped forward.
Images flashed in the air around him: his fall, Raien's betrayal, the lifetimes of wandering, of blood and honor and regret.
The blade whispered—not in words, but in emotion. Resolve. Pain. Truth.
Then fire erupted from the platform.
Kaelyra reached out, but the flames didn't burn. They flowed through Kaito's skin, into his veins, unlocking memories sealed even beyond reincarnation.
He had not only been a blade emperor.
He had been its creator.
This realm was not just a test—it was his.
Kaito reached into the fire, his palm closing around the hilt of the Primordial Blade. The broken crowns turned to ash. The sky above cracked—and a voice, ancient and thunderous, rang out:
"THE EMPEROR RETURNS. THE COSMIC WAR AWAKENS."
A gateway opened before them, showing a sky where stars bled and titans walked.
Kaito turned to Kaelyra.
"It begins."