Everything felt distorted.
Kaizen stood in a spiraling chamber where time bent unnaturally—walls stretched infinitely yet looped back to form a circle. Crystalline veins pulsed across the black-marble floor, and a thin fog of memory-laced mist drifted above the ground. The Hall of Blood Memory—a place where the past was neither dead nor forgotten, but alive… and watching.
Ayaka stood beside him, her fingers trembling, but her eyes steady. A golden circle glowed beneath their feet. From above, a jagged crystal eye embedded in the ceiling blinked slowly. It wasn't a decoration. It was alive.
A soft voice echoed—genderless, emotionless.
"Commencing trial: Kaizen Ryouma, bloodline classification—'Veinborn: Shard-Flame Hybrid'. Potential threat level: Cataclysm. Accessing memory roots."
Kaizen gritted his teeth as the golden circle began to burn brighter. A cold wind passed through his spine—not physical, but spiritual.
Then, it began.
---
First Memory:
He was seven years old.
Crouched under a wooden table as screams echoed outside his home. His mother yelled his name, then silence. He crawled out, trembling, barefoot on cold blood. A figure stood over his parents—unmoving, watching.
Kaizen's heart stopped.
The man had white eyes and pale tattoos on his neck. A glowing shard was embedded in his palm. The Bist hadn't killed them.
He had.
Kaizen screamed as the image froze, crackled, then shattered like glass.
---
He fell to his knees, gasping. Ayaka reached for him, but the circle flared again.
Second Memory:
The battlefield. His first official mission. His sword buried deep in a Bist's chest—but the scream that followed wasn't the Bist's.
It was Rei, a fellow recruit—Kaizen had swung too wide. Blood sprayed across Kaizen's face. The Bist was dead.
So was Rei.
---
Kaizen clutched his head. "Stop this…!"
But the Trial was relentless.
---
Third Memory:
He stood inside a hidden temple, holding a crystal shard. The priest in front of him begged, "It's not ready—if you take it, you'll awaken something ancient!"
Kaizen looked down at the bleeding priest.
And took it anyway.
---
The vision ended. Kaizen collapsed, sweat and tears mixing on his face.
Ayaka looked horrified. "Kaizen, that—those memories… are they real?"
"I don't know anymore," he whispered. "I don't know what's mine and what's been… put in me."
The crystal eye above flared.
"Bloodline scan complete. Verdict: unstable hybrid. Decision pending…"
Suddenly, a crack split the chamber. A line tore through the far wall, and from the rupture, a voice emerged—not synthetic, not Tribunal.
It was deep. Twisted. Personal.
"I see you, Kaizen."
From the fracture, Nerovar's voice echoed.
Ayaka spun toward it. "How is he in here?! This is sacred ground!"
But Kaizen stood still.
The air warped. From the split, a shadow version of Kaizen stepped out. Taller. Smirking. Its skin shimmered like obsidian flame. The eyes were hollow.
Kaizen stared at it. "Who are you?"
It replied in his exact voice, "I'm the Kaizen who accepted what we are. The one you're too scared to become."
Then it lunged.
---
What followed wasn't a physical fight—but one of memory, instinct, and fear.
Shadow-Kaizen moved like lightning, every blow infused with fragments of Kaizen's forgotten self. He dodged, countered, and pushed back with raw emotion. The real Kaizen bled from his nose, his knuckles shredded, mind splitting under the weight of a thousand memories.
Then—Ayaka screamed.
Shadow-Kaizen had grabbed her by the throat, lifting her into the air.
"Still protecting her?" it mocked. "What will you do when you become me and she looks at you with fear?"
Kaizen roared.
Flames burst from his back—not red, not blue—white. The fire of his original blood. The Last Flame.
He charged, tackled the shadow, and screamed as his fist went through its chest.
"I'm not your prisoner anymore!"
The shadow cracked, screamed, then exploded in a spiral of black dust and memory shards.
---
Silence.
Then the crystal eye above blinked once more.
"Verdict adjusted. Subject Kaizen Ryouma: Potential stabilized. Classification: 'Judgment Thread'. Access to Tier II Memories unlocked."
Kaizen collapsed to one knee.
Ayaka ran to him, holding him.
"You… you won," she whispered.
Kaizen smiled weakly. "No. I just took the first step."
Then his eyes widened.
The room around them changed—no longer a trial chamber, but a vision.
They stood on the peak of a shattered world. Beneath them, cities burned. Mountains crumbled. The sky bled a hole where a giant gate hovered, and from it…
Bists poured endlessly.
But one figure stood at the gate—his hand raised.
Kaizen. Older. Pale. Eyes glowing like dying stars.
Ayaka gasped. "That's… you?"
Then, future-Kaizen turned toward them—and spoke across time.
"Don't try to save everyone. Save who matters. The rest will drown in fire."
The vision ended.
Kaizen looked shaken.
Ayaka asked, "Do you believe him?"
Kaizen didn't answer.
He just stared at his hands.
One burned red.
The other bled black.