Chapter 140: Sovereign of Remembered Flame

The world no longer whispered. It sang.

Not with melody, but with memory.

The eleven flames hovered around Rei, no longer chaotic. They danced in synchronicity, their harmonies fusing into a new resonance—the Sovereign Flame. It was not merely power. It was presence. The totality of every fragment, every sorrow, every triumph carried forward.

Karasu watched silently from the rafters of the Sanctuary's chamber.

"Is this what you intended?" Noira asked.

"No," the raven spirit said. "He's beyond intention now. This is legacy."

---

Spirit Assembly — Flame Academy Hall of Dawn

The world gathered. Representatives from the Three Factions. The Spirit-Attuned Nations. Even former adversaries from the Shattered Honkai Front.

They had all seen it. The breach sealed. The pyres harmonized. The end… deferred.

Rei stood at the apex, robed not in imperial majesty, but simplicity—spirit-thread garments woven by Mireille and dyed in spectral ash.

He looked tired. But awake.

"Why have you called us?" asked Azazel, stepping forward from the Grigori delegation.

Rei didn't answer with speech. Instead, he lifted his palm. And the eleven flames encircled the Hall.

Each projected a memory. A death. A birth. A war. A lullaby. A betrayal.

When the projections ended, Rei finally spoke.

"You came here for answers. I came to return names. Those you erased. Those the Honkai consumed. Those your politics forgot. I have walked with their grief. I am not your messiah. I am your consequence."

A stunned silence filled the Hall. Then, a clap. From Serafall Leviathan. Followed by a slow bow from Azazel.

"Then perhaps," Azazel said, "this new world should be shaped by those who remember what the old one cost."

---

The Last Honkai Rift — Siberian Null Zone

Mireille stood beside Eirenne, analyzing the shifting leyline tears in the northernmost anomaly.

"This is where the last deviation lies," Mireille whispered. "Vereth embedded part of himself into the Rift. It's not a fragment. It's an echo-core. If we seal this, the system stabilizes. Permanently."

Rei stepped into the circle. "I'll go."

Noira looked unconvinced. "And if you don't come back?"

Rei smiled gently. "Then light another flame."

He stepped into the Rift.

---

Inside the Echo-Core

There was no gravity. No light. Only a mirror.

Rei saw himself. But younger. Weaker. Afraid.

The mirror version spoke. "You gave everything for them. And they will forget."

"I didn't do it to be remembered."

"Then why?"

Rei closed his eyes. "Because someone had to remember them."

He placed his hand on the mirror. It burned. It screamed. It melted.

And when it was done—

The Rift was gone. The core stabilized. The Sovereign Flame pulsed.

> [System Complete. All Echo-Dissonance Neutralized. Final Sovereign Integration Achieved. Initiating Legacy Protocol.]

---

Shrine of the Eleven

The academy stood beneath a dawn that shimmered with more than sunlight. It shimmered with names.

Every spirit Rei had integrated now stood as autonomous shards beside him. Liora. Nyssara. Helvaris. Thrael. Veyra. Vildras… and more.

Each had form. Each remembered.

Rei looked out at the gathering crowd—students, spirits, faction heads, and his harem—Mireille at his side, Noira in her ceremonial blade garb, Eirenne humming a lullaby to newborn resonance apprentices.

"I am not your king," Rei said. "But I am your echo. So long as your names are spoken, I am still here."

The sky sang.

And the new age began.