Ryū's eyes snapped open.
For the briefest moment, they shimmered blue.
Then, like a dying flame, the color drained... returning to a deep, unsettling red.
Confusion hit him instantly, sharp and disorienting. His gaze darted across his surroundings, struggling to make sense of what he was seeing. He wasn't lying in blood. He wasn't standing in ruin. There was no collapsing sky, no suffocating silence.
Instead, he found himself seated.
A vast chamber stretched before him, layered in ascending rows like a grand coliseum. Countless figures filled the surrounding seats, their attention drawn toward the center where a massive arena lay illuminated under an artificial glow. The air buzzed faintly with anticipation, yet to him, everything felt distant... muffled.
Wrong.
Something was horribly, undeniably wrong.
Why was he here?
No... how was he here?
Before the questions could settle, something else took their place.
Memories.
They did not return gently.
They flooded him.
A violent surge crashed into his mind, overwhelming, suffocating. Thoughts that did not belong to this moment forced their way in, tearing through his consciousness as if rewriting it from the inside. His body stiffened instantly, every muscle locking as the pressure mounted.
He couldn't move.
He couldn't breathe.
He couldn't even blink.
Only his mind remained awake... forced to endure.
His life unfolded before him.
Not as scattered recollections, but as a relentless stream. Years-no, decades-of memories poured in, layering over what he already knew, distorting reality until past and future blurred into one indistinguishable truth. It was as though he was witnessing something that had yet to happen... and yet, had already been decided.
A vision.
A future.
And within it-
He walked.
A dense forest swallowed in mist stretched endlessly around him, the air thick and suffocating. Figures moved ahead, older, stronger, clad in armor worn from countless battles. Their steps were steady, their presence reassuring. He followed behind them, smaller, quieter, gripping his weapons with uncertainty.
Then-
The scene shifted.
A desert.
Blazing heat warped the horizon as a colossal serpent rose from the sands, its massive body coiling like a living catastrophe. The group charged without hesitation, weapons raised, voices ringing with resolve.
"Stay back!"
"Guard the target!"
Their words echoed.
He turned.
At his feet stood a lamb.
Small. Fragile.
Its wool shimmered faintly, shifting through colors like a living prism.
His grip tightened around his daggers as he stepped forward, placing himself between the creature and the chaos ahead. Fear clawed at him, but he did not move.
He stayed.
Because they trusted him.
Because they believed he could.
The memory shattered.
Another took its place.
A frozen wasteland.
Winds howled like starving beasts, tearing through flesh and bone alike. Snow buried everything in endless white, and yet they moved forward, one step at a time. This time, he was in the middle, shielded, protected by those same figures.
They endured.
Together.
Then-
It broke.
He was on the ground.
Pinned.
Helpless.
And they...
They were dying.
Blades tore through them like paper. Blood stained the earth beneath their feet as heads fell, bodies collapsed, and voices-once filled with strength-were silenced without mercy.
The ones who stood above them...
Were human.
The very people they had fought to protect.
The betrayal was absolute.
Cruel.
Final.
He watched as his world was dismantled piece by piece, his hands trembling uselessly against the ground as he struggled to rise, to fight, to do something.
But he couldn't.
Because he was weak.
Because he was nothing.
They left him like that.
Alive.
Not out of mercy... but because he wasn't worth killing.
Something inside him shattered that day.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
Just... quietly.
Every emotion.
Every hope.
Every fragile piece of warmth he had clung to...
Gone.
All that remained was something cold.
Something sharp.
Something that whispered only one thing.
Revenge.
The memories shifted once more.
Higher.
Closer to the end.
The towering structure loomed in the distance-the Phantom Tower, where everything was meant to conclude. They had almost reached the top. Against all odds, he had survived alongside them.
But now...
They were gone.
All of them.
Including her.
-
Blood.
An endless ocean of it.
She was there.
Pinned against a broken wall, a massive spear driven through her chest. Her breathing was weak, her body trembling, yet her eyes... they were still gentle.
Still warm.
Still looking at him.
He left.
He ran.
Because he believed he could save her.
Because he had to.
-
When he returned...
He was too late.
Her voice.
Her smile.
Her final request.
"Consume me."
His hand.
Placed against her chest.
That fading heartbeat.
The choice he never wanted.
The choice he couldn't escape.
The moment he killed her with his own hands.
-
Ryū's consciousness snapped back.
Silence.
Endless, suffocating darkness surrounded him.
He stood alone in a void devoid of light, of sound, of meaning. His body... no longer felt real. His hair had turned white, his eyes a soft, hollow blue, his form shimmering faintly like a fading echo.
"It seems... you've seen it."
The voice echoed.
Calm.
Detached.
It came from nowhere... and everywhere at once.
Ryū's head snapped up, his gaze darting through the void. "W-who are you?!" His voice trembled, raw and unsteady.
A soft laugh followed.
"Not important."
The answer came without care.
"What matters is this..." the voice continued, quieter now, yet heavier. "Are you ready... to face it?"
A heartbeat echoed.
Loud.
Deep.
It reverberated through the void, shaking the nothingness itself.
Ryū slowly lifted his gaze.
And saw it.
A heart.
Massive.
Floating before him.
It was not flesh.
It was not alive.
It was something else entirely.
A pulsating mass of black, inky substance, twisting and folding into itself with every beat. With each pulse, it released an aura so oppressive, so suffocating, that his entire being locked in place.
He couldn't move.
He couldn't speak.
Yet somehow... he still whispered.
"...Was it real?"
The voice chuckled.
"Why don't you find out?"
-
Reality returned violently.
His senses slammed back into place, but his body remained frozen, locked in the same position as before. His eyes, however, were open now... fixed directly ahead.
The arena.
Steel clashed.
A sharp, ringing sound cut through the air as two figures collided at the center of the battlefield. Sparks burst from the impact, scattering like fleeting stars before vanishing into nothing.
They moved fast.
Too fast for ordinary eyes.
One step.
One strike.
Precision.
Control.
A woman stood at the forefront, her posture flawless, her movements refined to perfection. She wore a formal military uniform, pristine and unshaken, as though untouched by the chaos around her. In her hand rested a slender rapier, its blade gleaming with lethal intent.
Her free hand remained behind her back.
Her expression...
Cold.
Unbothered.
As if this fight was nothing more than routine.
In the next instant, she flicked her blade.
And vanished forward.
Steel met steel again.
Her opponent barely managed to react.
A younger girl, clad in a simple training suit, gripped her longsword with both hands. Her stance wavered under the force of the strike, her teeth clenched as she struggled to hold her ground.
The impact pushed her back.
Not far.
But enough.
Adrenaline surged.
With a sharp breath, she twisted her body, forcing momentum into her arms as she swung her blade in a desperate counterattack.
The clash rang out once more.
And in that moment-
Ryū remembered.
Everything.
"So..." the voice echoed faintly within his mind, almost amused. "Do you remember what happens next?"
His eyes widened.
The arena blurred.
The present and future overlapped once more.
And with it came something far heavier than confusion.
Anger.
Despair.
Certainty.
He knew this moment.
He knew this outcome.
And that was exactly why-
His heart began to race.
...
The swing was flawed.
There was no technique behind it, no structure, no discipline. It was driven purely by desperation, a reckless motion fueled by instinct rather than skill. Yet the force behind it wasn't insignificant. The momentum from the spin carried weight, enough to make it dangerous... to anyone less experienced.
But not her.
The older woman didn't even shift her stance.
Her rapier moved with effortless precision, angling slightly to the right as the incoming strike met its edge. A clean parry. No wasted motion. No strain. The force behind the attack was redirected instantly, sliding off her blade as though it had never threatened her to begin with.
The younger girl's footing broke.
Her center of balance collapsed the moment her strike was deflected, her body left exposed in the worst possible way. And her opponent... did not hesitate.
A sharp step forward.
A kick.
It landed square against her abdomen.
The impact was brutal.
Air burst from her lungs as her body lifted off the ground, sent flying across the arena before crashing harshly against the stone floor. She rolled, tumbling uncontrollably before finally coming to a stop several meters away. Her sword slipped from her grasp mid-impact, skidding across the ground in the opposite direction.
She coughed.
Blood spilled from her lips.
Her body trembled as she tried to move, but the pain rooted her in place.
And all of it-
Happened exactly as he remembered.
Ryū's teeth clenched.
"What... the hell is happening...?"
A quiet chuckle echoed within his mind.
"What is happening?" the voice repeated, amused. "Do you still not understand? You're even slower than I expected."
The tone shifted.
Not playful.
Not mocking.
Serious.
"Everything you went through... every moment of pain, every loss... it all led here," the entity continued, its voice pressing against his thoughts. "Your power awakened. Your true power. But it came far too late."
The arena faded.
Darkness swallowed his vision once more.
"You didn't control it," the voice went on. "You didn't even understand it. Rage consumed you... and when it did, your power followed."
A pause.
Then, quietly-
"You destroyed everything."
Silence.
Then-
"This... is your second chance."
The void returned.
Endless. Empty. Suffocating.
And once again, he stood before it.
The heart.
That massive, inky-black mass pulsed slowly, each beat releasing an oppressive aura that pressed against his very existence. It loomed before him, unnatural and absolute, as though it did not belong to any world he understood.
Ryū's voice trembled.
"I have to stop that fight... I have to save her-"
"Calm down."
The words cut through him instantly.
Not harsh.
But firm.
"If you truly remember what happens next... then you already know," the entity continued. "That moment... is necessary."
Ryū froze.
His thoughts came to a halt.
Because he did know.
He remembered what followed.
And that knowledge...
Silenced him.
"...But still..." he muttered weakly, his voice lacking conviction.
A quiet sigh echoed.
"Just as I thought," the entity said softly. "You really are just like me."
There was something different in its tone now.
Not mockery.
Not superiority.
Recognition.
"But you're misunderstanding something, kid," it continued. "This isn't a simple game where you repeat the past and fix your mistakes."
Ryū's form flickered slightly, his consciousness stabilizing, adapting. The overwhelming flood of memories began to settle, no longer clashing violently with his present. Instead, they sank deeper, aligning themselves beneath his current awareness, like echoes waiting to be called upon.
"I... understand," he said slowly.
"...Do you?"
The question lingered.
"Then tell me," the entity continued, "what's the flaw in your plan?"
Ryū hesitated.
"A flaw...?"
"Of course there is," the voice replied. "Every time you change something in the past... the future changes with it."
The words struck deeper than expected.
"Your knowledge," it added, "will become nothing more than unreliable dreams."
Silence followed.
Then-
"And you're not the only one who came back."
Ryū's eyes widened.
The weight of that statement hit instantly, far heavier than anything before it. His thoughts, now clearer, began moving faster, piecing together fragments, connecting possibilities.
"W-who else...?" he asked, the question slipping out before he could stop it.
A faint sigh echoed.
"...I said more than I should have."
A pause.
Then, almost reluctantly-
"But I suppose it doesn't matter."
The heart pulsed once.
"Everyone who died on the final floor of the Phantom Tower... has returned."
Ryū's breath caught.
"...What?"
"They've all been brought back," the entity continued. "Your party. The so-called heroes."
A pause.
"...Your sister included."
Something inside him broke.
But not in the same way as before.
This time-
It wasn't despair.
His vision blurred.
His chest tightened.
A sound tried to escape his throat, caught somewhere between a laugh and a sob. His hands trembled as he clutched at nothing, his body struggling to process what he had just heard.
They were alive.
All of them.
The people he had watched die.
The people he had failed.
The people he had buried within his own memories-
They were here.
Breathing.
Living.
Waiting.
Tears welled in his eyes, though they didn't fall. His emotions clashed violently, relief colliding with guilt, hope strangling the lingering remnants of despair.
A miracle.
That was the only word that fit.
"...I can... see them again..." he whispered.
His voice shook.
"...I can fix it..."
For the first time since everything began-
There was light in him again.
"Seems like you're satisfied."
The voice pulled him back.
Ryū lifted his gaze toward the heart, his expression still unsteady.
"...How can I repay you?" he asked.
The entity laughed.
Not loudly.
But genuinely amused.
"You really are something," it said. "A human offering repayment to me?"
Its tone sharpened slightly.
"I have no interest in worship. No need for followers. Those 'gods' you see out there? Pathetic creatures begging for acknowledgment."
A quiet scoff.
"Disgusting."
Then-
It softened again.
"But you..."
Ryū tensed slightly.
"...You're different."
"Me...?" he asked.
"What do you want?"
The heart pulsed.
Slowly.
Thoughtfully.
"Well then..." the entity began, almost lazily. "I want to play."
Ryū blinked.
"...Play?"
"Yes," it replied. "I want to play their little game."
Its tone darkened, ever so slightly.
"They insulted my Origin. I think it's only fair I return the favor... by beating them at it."
A pause.
"In a fraction of the time."
Ryū's brows furrowed.
"You mean... the Phantom Trials?"
"Of course."
The answer came instantly.
"But don't misunderstand," the entity added. "This isn't a command."
A faint glow appeared before Ryū.
A window.
---
<
<
>> Accept
>> Decline
---
Ryū stared at it.
Still.
Silent.
"I won't burden you with meaningless tasks," the entity continued. "But when I do give you one... you will complete it. No exceptions."
Its voice carried weight now.
Authority.
"You won't retain your previous abilities. You'll have to earn them again. Though..." a quiet chuckle followed, "...I doubt you'll need them."
A pause.
"And as for your reward..."
The air shifted.
"You will receive my blessing."
Ryū's eyes narrowed slightly.
"A power beyond anything in your world."
"You'll wield my own authority."
A heartbeat echoed. The words lingered.
Heavy and absolute.
Ryū didn't respond immediately.
Instead... memories surfaced again.
Her voice.
Her final request.
"If you're given another chance... live for yourself."
His hand rose slowly.
Hovering.
Over the choices.
For a moment... it moved toward Decline.
Then-
It stopped.
Shifted.
And pressed Accept.
---
<
<
---
The message lingered.
And with it...
Something new settled within him.
Resolve.
"...Interesting," the entity muttered. "I expected you to refuse."
The heart began to beat faster.
Louder.
Stronger.
Ryū flinched slightly as its rhythm intensified, the oppressive aura thickening around him.
Then-
Eyes opened.
Dozens of them.
Forming across the surface of the heart.
All blue.
All staring directly at him.
Watching.
Observing.
Claiming.
"Consider this a parting gift," the entity said, its voice beginning to fade. "From this moment onward... the Dragon Heart recognizes you."
A pause.
"...As its one and only master."
Ryū's breath hitched.
"Farewell, Ryū..."
The voice grew distant.
"...your story is now yours to write."
Pain.
It came instantly.
His chest burned as if something inside him had detonated. His eyes widened as his body began to tear apart, fragmenting into countless pieces like paper caught in a storm. He tried to resist, to hold on, but there was nothing to grab, nothing to anchor himself to.
His consciousness slipped.
Fading.
Breaking.
-
<
<
<
<
-
Darkness.
Silence.
The heart remained.
Beating.
Watching.
Then-
All its eyes closed.
-
<
<
...