Kaito followed Isha across a path of floating stone slabs, each echoing with the sounds of lives long gone—footsteps, battle cries, whispered regrets. It was like walking on memory.
"This place," he muttered, glancing at the mirrored sky. "It's alive."
"It remembers," Isha replied. "And now that you're here, it remembers you."
Kaito looked down. With every step, the stones briefly reflected not his face—but another's. A warrior with eyes of burning crimson, leading armies, shattering worlds. He staggered.
"That's… me?" he whispered.
"A version of you," Isha said. "One long buried. This realm is built from the echoes of the Blade Emperors—those chosen by the sword across countless timelines."
She paused at a gate made of twisted metal and bone. Her sword floated beside her, unsheathed now. It had no edge—only a glowing line, like a tear in reality.
"You're not the first Kaito," she added, eyes solemn. "But you might be the last."
Kaito didn't know what to say.
Nightcleaver pulsed on his back—responding to something ahead.
They stepped through the gate.
The chamber was a coliseum of flame and glass. In the center, a sword hovered above an obsidian pedestal. But this one… wasn't Nightcleaver. It had no form. It flickered like flame, then smoke, then metal. Kaito felt a weight in his chest the moment he saw it.
"This is the Rootblade," Isha said softly. "The first sword. The seed from which all others were forged—including Nightcleaver."
"It's… broken," Kaito whispered.
"No," she replied. "It's incomplete. And so are you."
Kaito stepped closer.
Flashes of memory struck him—images not his. A council of gods forging steel from stars. A rebellion. A betrayal. And then…
A child's cry.
The memory of his own birth.
He gasped and stepped back.
Isha watched him. "Your blade—your soul—was never whole. You were reborn only with half your essence. The rest… is here."
Kaito clenched his fists. "So what now?"
Before she could answer, the coliseum trembled.
A portal burst open behind them. Black-cloaked figures stepped through—each bearing a broken blade and empty eyes.
"The Forgotten Blades," Isha said, drawing her sword. "They serve the Echo Sovereign. And they've come for you."
Kaito grinned grimly, Nightcleaver blazing to life.
"Let them try."