UTILE

Kazenari Rei was an ordinary human, once lost in the despair of his mundane life. But when the collapse of his world arrived — powered by the cataclysmic force known as Honkai End — Rei’s soul was chosen for rebirth. Not as a hero. Not as a savior. But as something the world of High School DxD is not prepared for.

Armed with the power to awaken Spirits in ordinary humans — a twisted hybrid of the Date A Live system and Honkai resonance — Rei now walks among devils and angels as an unpredictable force. With a personality as calm as flowing water but wrath as deadly as a collapsing star, Rei keeps to the shadows, choosing neutrality… for now.

Eclipse of the Spirit: The Reincarnated Flame

Morning in the Flame Hall was no longer quiet.

Where once it was a haven of reflection, it now pulsed with layered harmonics. Spirits passed like veils through corridors, and sovereign threads whispered songs into stone. The balance was shifting. Not broken, but growing.

Rei stood atop the Ember Spire, his cloak barely moving in the windless sky. Below him, the team assembled—Noira, Eirenne, Mireille, Liora, and Naeva. All of them had changed. Not just in power. In presence.

Mireille spoke first. "We're detecting ruptures forming in the Southern Barrier. Not breaches—summons. The kind used in ritualized spiritual calls. But there's no signature, no invocation circle. They're forming naturally."

Eirenne's eyes narrowed. "Like something's calling us?"

Naeva, standing quietly by the plinth, did not flinch. "I hear them in my dreams. They want to speak. Not fight."

Rei looked toward the horizon. "Then let's go hear them."

Southern Barrier — Wild Echo Basin

They arrived beneath a sky torn with gentle auroras. The ground was littered with ancient bones of long-forgotten spiritual fauna—massive, horned creatures made of harmonic quartz. Their remnants pulsed faintly as if trying to remember how to breathe.

Noira took a defensive stance. "I don't like how alive these ruins feel."

From the center of the basin, a sphere of light rose.

"I greet the Heir of Flame," it spoke. "And the Songborne Flame. I am Vaelen, last of the Spirit Shepherds. I've waited for your arrival."

Rei raised a brow. "You're a projection?"

"A condensation of intent. A pact-forged legacy. My time ended before the sovereigns fell—but I sealed one truth in this land: Flame and Song must bind before the end."

Naeva took a step forward. "What do you mean?"

A beam struck Naeva's chest—gently—and the system flared.

> [System Notification: Pact Triggered – Living Flame Protocol] [Warning: This ritual is irreversible. Confirm alignment of Host-Song Resonance.]

Reality layered. Rei and Naeva stood within a boundary of concepts, not atoms. They were encircled by memories—of each spirit Rei had accepted, and of futures Naeva had dreamed but never voiced.

Together, they channeled into a new form—one neither spirit nor sovereign. A Concord Flame.

> [Integration Success: Naeva-Class Flamebound Echo — Classification: Future-Keyed Resonance Catalyst.]

Naeva's eyes burned white. She reached out—and Rei felt his flames sing for the first time.

They were no longer wielded. They were heard.

Vereth watched the sky from his failing loom.

A shadow loomed behind him. Vildras.

"You know what that means," Vereth said, resigned.

Vildras's smile cracked like obsidian under stress.

"It means the final fragment is no longer yours to manipulate. It chooses now."

Vereth closed his eyes. "Then I have one task left."

He pulled the last thread from his heart. And cast it into the world.

Naeva stood alone, staring at her reflection in the still waters.

She whispered, "I am the song they forgot to write."

Rei's voice answered behind her. "And now you'll be the one they remember to sing."

Above them, the auroras split into new colors. And far to the east, something ancient woke.

Chapter 143: The Pact of Living Flame