Chapter 147: The Forgotten Flame

The chamber stood still. Nine sovereign flames burned in formation. But Rei could feel it—an absence not of energy, but memory. A wound not physical, but narrative. The system had integrated every known fragment, yet the resonance field remained incomplete.

Somewhere inside him, a flame had never been named.

---

Inner Shrine – Rei's Meditation Plane

Rei sat alone.

No spirits. No voices. No systems.

Only silence, broken by the hum of existence itself. He closed his eyes. "Show me what I lost."

A ripple moved through the space. Then the chamber fell away. And he stood once more in the moment between lives—before his reincarnation.

A child. A boy who watched the world end. A soul that chose to be flame not to destroy, but to never forget.

And then—

A vision.

---

The Forgotten Flame's Domain – Epoch Zero

A sphere of soft starlight emerged in the void. Inside, a figure sat in fetal repose—genderless, ageless, emotionless. But familiar.

It was Rei.

Not as a sovereign. Not as a warrior. Not even as Kazenari Rei.

But as the flame before name.

He stepped forward. The figure opened its eyes.

"You chose me," it whispered.

"I forgot you," Rei replied.

The being stood. "Because you had to. Because a flame cannot burn with doubt."

"And yet here I am," Rei said. "Burning with it."

They touched palms. The system shuddered.

> [System Fragment: Origin Prototype Located] [Classification: Pre-Sovereign Core. Emotional Genesis Construct.]

The being began to dissolve—light becoming memory, memory becoming resonance.

"Will you remember now?" it asked.

Rei nodded. "Not just remember. I will integrate."

---

Spirit Integration — Final Flame

> [Integration Request: Nameless Flame] [Warning: This will alter all previous resonance mappings. Emotional Surge: High. Memory Echo Disruption: Moderate.]

Rei accepted.

The chamber burst. Reality folded. And from the collapse rose the true flame—not of battle, not of knowledge, not of ruin—

—but of self.

The Nameless Flame merged with Rei's core, settling not above or below the other spirits, but within them. A subtle note in every chord. A heartbeat behind every roar.

> [System Update: Fragment 10 Integrated. Flame Classification: Core Self — Alpha Return Model] [Sovereign Capacity: Complete]

Rei gasped. Not in pain. In relief.

He had always wondered why the system felt incomplete. Why no matter how many spirits he saved, something lingered.

It was himself. The version of Rei he had left behind in order to become sovereign.

Now, whole. Now, ready.

---

Academy Rooftop – Same Night

Noira found him sitting alone, looking at his hands as if seeing them for the first time.

"Your flames are quiet," she said.

"They're listening," he replied. "For the first time, they're not leading me. They're… waiting."

"For what?"

Rei looked up at the stars.

"For me to decide where this story goes next."

She sat beside him. And for a long time, they said nothing.

But across the sky, the aurora shifted—acknowledging the tenth flame.

The forgotten flame.

The self.