Chapter 78: Flamepierce Requiem

Rae's blade shimmered in the dim light of the fractured Ember Nexus, flickering with pulses of silver flame. Around her, the chaos of rebuilding churned—smoke curling from broken platforms, Guardians gathering remnants of lost artifacts, and the Gate's shattered arch still humming with residual power.

Lysa stood at her side, her aura flaring in bursts of bright emberlight, her breath steady despite the fatigue.

They had lost Brent to the Gatefall Abyss.

But not forever.

Not if they had anything to say about it.

System Notification:

Soulcore Awakening Trial Initiated: Dual Soul Prism Detected

Status: Unlocked Hidden Trait – "Resonance Singularity"

Function: Synchronize bond between Rae and Lysa to breach dimensional gaps via shared essence.

Rae gasped. Lysa clutched her chest.

For the first time, their soul resonance spiraled into unity—not as a bond with Brent at the center, but as sisters-in-arms, fire-forged protectors of the future.

Visions flooded them—of Brent, drifting through a realm of collapsing timelines, his blade stained with regret and hope. Of Vaelrick, now twisted beyond mortality. And of Her—the entity who had begun to leak through the Gate using Brent's mind as both doorway and prison.

"No more waiting," Rae hissed.

"Let's bring him back," Lysa said, raising her hand.

Their Unity Flare exploded upward—blazing across the ruined sky.

The Gate pulsed.

Then twisted.

A new structure spiraled upward from the broken core: a mirror gate, grown from their bond, coded in twin soulfire.

System Notification:

Nexus Rift Path Created.

Warning: One-Way Entry. Return contingent on reclaiming Brent's Echo Thread.

They looked at each other once more, then stepped through.

Gatefall Abyss — Inner Rift Spiral

Brent collapsed to one knee, bleeding shadows and light. The throne of Vaelrick cracked behind him, and Her fragment loomed, shaped like a ghost-wrapped star. Vaelrick—if he could still be called that—cackled through broken jaws.

"You're not the only one who's evolved, Brent."

But something else was coming.

Rae's voice cut through the layers of unreality.

"You're not alone."

From the tear in the abyssal sky, Rae and Lysa erupted like twin meteors—one silver, one gold, blazing with bonded light.

They landed beside Brent—soul, blood, fire—and raised their weapons together.

Brent smiled weakly, rising.

"You came."

"We never left you," Rae said, hand briefly touching his.

System Notification:

Triad Soulflare Achieved

Unity Form Phase 3 — Ignition Bloom — Unlocked

The battlefield reformed beneath their feet—crafted from will, legacy, and fury.

And this time, they would end it together.

A low tremor rolled through the Gatefall Abyss, rippling across the fractured sky and warping the ground into jagged shards of molten obsidian and silver ice. The moment Rae, Lysa, and Brent stood united, the entire realm reacted—as if bracing for the storm about to erupt.

Vaelrick's body cracked open like a dying cocoon, revealing the creature he had become.

No longer human. No longer even entirely flesh.

Half of him radiated volatile voidflame—black and ever-consuming—while the other glistened like crystallized essence, his veins glowing with remnants of Her's divine code. Tendrils of light and corruption streamed from his back, twisting into the empty sky, anchoring the Gate's final fragment.

"You think this reunion will save you?" Vaelrick rasped, voice echoing from multiple mouths layered in distortion. "I am the passage now. The last Gate will open through me."

Brent stepped forward, his armor pulsing with harmonized flame and shadow. His Twilight Paladin Core had reached resonance perfection—every strike now born from will and memory. "Then we tear you down piece by piece."

Lysa's emberlight flared with celestial clarity. "We are done running."

Rae's blade ignited with twin auras—Lunar Aspect and Soulcore Singularity now in total synchronization. "Let's end this."

System Notification:

Triad Ignition: Active

Ability Unlocked: Flamepierce Requiem

– Each strike layers Resonance Breakpoints across divine-coded enemies.

– When the final chord is struck, collapse all Breakpoints in a chain echo.

– Cooldown: Once per battle.

They moved.

Faster than before. Stronger than they had ever dreamed.

Brent surged forward, a trail of fire and shadow behind him, locking blades with Vaelrick in a clash that detonated the abyssal floor. Sparks exploded. Echoing screams from long-dead dimensions rang out with each impact.

Rae swept behind them, her blade lashing into Vaelrick's crystalline limbs. Every impact left a glowing sigil—each one a Requiem Breakpoint, locking Her's influence in place.

Lysa moved like a comet of golden fire, weaving between their enemies and allies, pulsing life and purifying flame into the field. Her Kindle Bloom amplified their strikes, and when Vaelrick unleashed a scream laced with entropy, her soulwave shield absorbed the attack and reflected it back tenfold.

"NOW!" Brent shouted.

All three focused their power—cores aligned, hearts ignited.

FLAMEPIERCE REQUIEM — FINAL CHORD.

Brent slammed his blade into Vaelrick's center, Rae twisted her soul lance into his corrupted halo, and Lysa ignited a starburst directly beneath them.

The Breakpoints sang.

A brilliant chain reaction tore through the Gatefall Abyss—unraveling Her's anchor in Vaelrick, burning away corruption, severing the tether between worlds.

Vaelrick's body shattered, collapsing into a shower of black-gold embers.

And then… silence.

Only their breathing remained.

System Notification:

Vaelrick: Terminated

Gate Nexus: Cleansed

Soul Triad: Resonance Eternal

Path to the Higher Cradle: Opening…

Above, the last Gate slowly rotated—no longer veiled in shadow. It pulsed with a call none of them could ignore.

Brent looked to Rae. To Lysa. They nodded.

It was time to ascend.