The dream started the same way it always did.
Fire...Phoenix fire, burning hotter than anything I'd ever felt.
It climbed my skin, seared through my veins, transformed agony into something transcendent.
I was dying and being reborn, dying and being reborn, dying and -
Why won't it stop?
The thought wasn't mine.
I stood in the Rating Game arena, but I wasn't me.
I was taller.
Broader.
My hands were wreathed in golden flames, and somewhere beneath the arrogance and the certainty, there was terror.
*I've never lost before. I can't lose. I'm a Phoenix. I'm immortal. I'm - *
The attack came from behind.
Light and demonic energy twisted together, boring through my chest like a lance made of hatred.
The regeneration tried to kick in, tried to knit flesh and bone and fire back together -
But something was wrong.
Something is analyzing me. Something is learning. Something is making sure this time I don't come back.
I screamed with a voice that wasn't mine.
And then I died.
I woke up gasping, sheets soaked with sweat.
The clubhouse guest room was dark. Moonlight filtered through the curtains, casting pale stripes across the floor. My heart hammered against my ribs, and my hands were shaking.
Riser's perspective.
The knowledge surfaced from somewhere deep - PRIME's understanding, now woven into my own consciousness.
I'd killed Riser Phenex three months ago.
Watched the light leave his eyes after Phoenix Analysis had mapped his regeneration, found the weakness, exploited it until there was nothing left to regenerate.
I'd thought I'd made peace with that.
Apparently not.
The Phoenix Analysis created a deeper connection than simple combat data. PRIME's voice - my voice now - echoed through the library of my mind. You carried fragments of his final moments. His terror. His disbelief. Integration brought them to the surface.
"Great," I muttered, pressing a palm against my forehead. "So I'm going to dream about killing him forever?"
Unknown. The connection was created before Synthesis. Its persistence is... uncertain.
Helpful as always.
I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and stared at my hands. These hands had ended Riser Phenex. Had felt his fire die. Had made sure he stayed dead.
The worst part wasn't the memory of killing him.
The worst part was that in the dream - in his final moment - I'd felt his confusion. His genuine disbelief that anyone could beat him.
He'd been arrogant and cruel. He'd treated Rias like property. He'd needed to be stopped.
But he'd also been terrified. And alone. And in the end, just a man who realized too late that he wasn't immortal after all.
Guilt, PRIME observed. Properly earned.
Yeah. Properly earned.
Sleep didn't come back.
I spent the remaining hours until dawn sitting by the window, watching the stars fade.
The dreams had been happening for three nights now - ever since the Integration.
Each time, I experienced Riser's death from his perspective.
Each time, I felt his terror as if it were my own.
The Fragment - PRIME - had explained the mechanism.
Phoenix Analysis had created a link.
When I'd used it to find Riser's weakness, I'd also absorbed something of him.
Not an Echo in the traditional sense.
Not a personality that could influence my behavior.
Just his final moments. His death, playing on repeat in my subconscious.
"You carry his final moments. His terror."
That was one way to put it.
Another way was to say I'd murdered him, and now I got to experience exactly what that felt like from the other side.
The knock came at six AM.
I was already dressed - hadn't seen the point in pretending to sleep - and opened the door to find Rias standing in the hallway.
Her crimson hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail, and she wore a dark blouse instead of her usual uniform.
Her eyes found mine immediately. Searched them.
"You haven't been sleeping."
Not a question.
"I've been sleeping," I said. "Just not well."
She stepped past me into the room, and I caught her scent - old books and starlight, achingly familiar. The door clicked shut behind her.
"The dreams." She turned to face me, arms crossed. "The ones about Riser."
I blinked. "How did you - "
"You've been different since you woke up.
Quieter.
More... withdrawn." Her voice was soft, but there was steel beneath it.
"And I've been a King long enough to recognize when someone in my peerage is carrying something they shouldn't carry alone."
Peerage. The word landed strangely.
I was still her Pawn, technically.
The Evil Piece in my chest hadn't changed.
But after everything - the Integration, the Soulscape, the Synthesis - the hierarchy felt less like a cage and more like a... family tree.
"It's the Phoenix Analysis," I admitted. "When I used it to kill him, I absorbed part of his final moments. His fear. His disbelief." I paused. "His death."
Rias was quiet for a long moment.
"You're dreaming about dying?"
"I'm dreaming about killing." I met her eyes. "From his perspective."
She crossed the room. Stopped close enough to touch.
"Show me your wrist."
I hesitated. She waited.
The mark was still there.
Faint.
Almost invisible in the morning light.
But she could see it - the twelve-pointed star that had burned for weeks, counting down to an extraction that would have killed me.
"The Watcher," she said quietly. "You went through hell alone."
"I had to."
"Did you?" Her voice sharpened. "Did you really? Or did you just decide you couldn't trust me with the truth?"
The question cut deeper than I expected.
Because she was right.
I'd hidden the countdown.
Hidden the Watcher's influence.
Hidden the fact that I'd been dying by inches while she fought beside me, never knowing how little time we had.
"I didn't want to burden you."
"That wasn't your choice to make." Rias's eyes flashed crimson. "I'm your King. Your partner. I deserved to know."
"And what would you have done?" The words came out harsher than I intended.
"Worried?
Distracted yourself trying to fix something unfixable?
I was dying, Rias.
The countdown was accelerating.
Every day I spent explaining instead of preparing was a day closer to extraction."
"So you just... carried it alone."
"Yes."
"While I sat beside you, fighting beside you, not knowing - "
"Yes."
She stared at me. Her expression shifted through anger, hurt, understanding, and finally settled on something that looked like exhausted acceptance.
"Not anymore."
I frowned. "What?"
"Not anymore." She stepped closer.
Her hand found my wrist - the marked wrist - and her fingers were warm against the dormant symbol.
"The Watcher.
The Restoration.
The countdown, the extraction, all of it.
You don't carry it alone anymore."
"The mark is dormant now. The Integration made extraction impossible. There's nothing to - "
"There's everything." Her grip tightened.
"The mark is still there.
The Watcher is still connected to you somehow.
And now you're having dreams about killing Riser - dreams that are tearing you apart from the inside." Her eyes met mine, fierce and unwavering.
"We face this together or not at all."
The echo of her earlier promise. The one she'd made before the Integration.
We face this together or not at all.
Something loosened in my chest.
"The Restoration attacked twice while I was under," I said quietly.
"Mira stopped them, but they'll come again.
They know I survived the 50% threshold.
They know I integrated instead of breaking.
I'm proof that their entire operation - the Watcher, the extractions, the containment - isn't necessary."
Rias nodded. "Then we prepare."
"And the Watcher itself. The mark is dormant, but it's not gone. It's still connected to something. Someone. Eventually, that connection is going to matter."
"Then we find out what it connects to." Her jaw set with determination. "You're not alone in this fight."
I looked at her - crimson hair catching the dawn light, fierce eyes refusing to let me retreat into isolation.
She'd waited three days by my bedside while I merged with PRIME.
She'd watched me demonstrate capabilities that terrified her.
And now she was demanding to share the burden I'd tried so hard to carry alone.
"There's more," I said. "About the countdown. About what I did."
"Tell me."
So I did.
I told her everything.
The Watcher's first appearance.
The countdown starting at thirty days.
The psychic assaults - visions of everyone I loved dying, of Rias abandoning me, of the Restoration coming for all of us.
The acceleration. The days bleeding away faster than they should.
The moment I realized the only way out was through - Integration or death. No middle ground.
Rias listened without interrupting. Her hand never left my wrist.
When I finished, she was quiet for a long moment.
"You should have told me."
"I know."
"I could have helped."
"I know."
"But you didn't trust me."
The words landed like a blow. Because they were true. Partly.
"I trusted you with my life," I said carefully.
"I didn't trust you to be safe if you knew.
The Watcher... it targeted people close to me.
Showed me visions of them dying.
Of you dying.
I thought if you knew, if you tried to help, you'd become more of a target."
"And you thought I couldn't handle that."
"I thought I couldn't handle losing you while trying to save myself."
Rias went still.
"Ryder..."
"I was dying, Rias.
The countdown was real.
And the only thing worse than dying alone was the thought of dragging you down with me." I exhaled slowly.
"So I made the choice.
Kept you safe by keeping you ignorant.
It was the wrong call, but it was the only one I could make."
She was quiet for a long moment.
Then she moved.
Her arms wrapped around me - not a gentle embrace, but a fierce one.
The kind that said I'm not letting go. Her face pressed against my shoulder, and I could feel the slight tremor in her body.
"Idiot," she whispered.
"Probably."
"You should have told me."
"Yes."
"But I understand why you didn't."
I let myself hold her back. Let myself feel the warmth of her, the reality of her, the solid presence that had anchored me through so much.
"The Watcher isn't finished," I said quietly. "The mark is dormant, but it's still there. Sooner or later, it's going to wake up again."
"Then we'll deal with it." She pulled back slightly, meeting my eyes. "Together."
"Together."
The moment stretched. Tender and heavy with everything we weren't saying.
And then the mark on my wrist flared.
The vision hit like a hammer.
One second I was holding Rias in the dawn light.
The next, I was somewhere else - a dark room, cold and sterile, and Rias was standing across from me with an expression I'd never seen on her face.
Disgust.
"You're too dangerous." Her voice was ice. "I can't protect my family from you."
No. This isn't real.
But it felt real. The rejection in her eyes felt real. The way she stepped back, creating distance, felt real.
"The Fragment has consumed you," she continued. "You're not Ryder anymore. You're just... a thing wearing his face."
*This isn't - *
"I'm turning you over to the Restoration." She gestured, and agents materialized from the shadows.
"They'll extract the Fragment.
You'll probably die.
But at least my peerage will be safe."
The betrayal cut deeper than any blade.
[PSYCHIC ASSAULT: TRUST TEST]
Rias's face, cold: "You're too dangerous. I can't protect my family from you."
She's pushing me toward Restoration agents.
Betrayal.
**"Love makes you weak. She'll betray you. 12 hours."**
[ECHO STATUS: 35% (stable but spiking)]
The Watcher's voice slithered through my mind. Ancient. Patient. Certain.
"She'll abandon you. They all do. The Fragment is all you have. The Fragment is all you'll ever have."
I could feel the mark burning on my wrist. Not dormant anymore. Active. Hungry.
"Surrender to the truth. She doesn't love you. She fears you. And fear becomes hate. Always."
The vision-Rias raised her hand, preparing to signal the agents.
And I looked at her.
Really looked.
The Rias in front of me was perfect. Every detail exact. Her crimson hair, her pale skin, the shape of her eyes. But there was something missing.
Warmth.
The real Rias - even when she was angry, even when she was scared - had warmth in her eyes. Love threaded through the iron of her will. This version was cold all the way through.
A fake.
"No."
"You can't deny - "
"I CHOOSE to trust her."
The words came from somewhere deep.
Not the Echo rooms.
Not PRIME's knowledge.
Just me.
Just the truth I'd learned through three months of fighting beside her, sleeping near her, watching her put herself between danger and her family over and over again.
The real Rias would never abandon me. Would never betray me. Would never choose safety over loyalty.
The vision shattered.
I came back to myself gasping.
The guest room was bright with morning light. Rias was still in front of me, but her expression had changed - concern and confusion where calm had been moments before.
"Ryder?" Her voice was sharp. "Ryder, what happened? You went completely still and then you just - "
"The Watcher." I pressed a hand against my chest, willing my heart to slow. "It attacked. Showed me a vision of you... betraying me. Turning me over to the Restoration."
Her eyes widened. "I would never - "
"I know." I reached for her hand, squeezed it. "I know. That's why it didn't work."
She stared at me for a moment. Then:
"You felt that. The psychic pressure. I felt something too - like a weight pressing against my skull. A voice that wasn't there."
I nodded. "It was testing us. Testing our bond. Trying to break the trust before the mark could be dissolved completely."
"And we passed."
"We passed."
She pulled me into another embrace. Tighter this time. Almost desperate.
"Don't ever doubt me again," she whispered against my shoulder.
"I won't."
We stood there for a long moment. The mark on my wrist still burned faintly - the Watcher's influence not gone, just repelled. But weaker now. Diminished.
Trust was stronger than fear.
I'd learned that lesson the hard way.
Eventually, we separated.
The moment was there. Heavy in the air between us. Her crimson eyes met mine, and I could see the same question forming - the same unspoken possibility.
I leaned in.
She leaned in.
And then I stopped.
"Not yet."
The words cost me more than any battle ever had.
Rias froze. Her eyes searched mine.
"Ryder..."
"I need to be sure." I stepped back, creating distance that felt like dying.
"The dreams.
The Watcher.
The guilt over Riser.
There's too much in my head right now that isn't me.
I need to know that when I - that when we - it's real.
That it's just us.
Not echoes or influences or psychic pressure or guilt."
She was quiet for a long moment.
I could see the hurt in her eyes. The question she wasn't asking: Isn't what we have enough? Isn't the choice to trust enough?
But there was also understanding. Because she knew me. Knew how I thought. Knew that I'd never forgive myself if our first real moment together was tainted by doubt.
"Then survive," she said softly. "Deal with the Watcher. Deal with the guilt. And when you're ready - when you're sure - ask me again."
The callback to her promise from before the battle. Before the Integration.
Survive, and ask me again.
"I will."
She nodded once. Turned toward the door.
Then stopped.
"The dreams about Riser," she said without looking back.
"They're not punishment.
They're processing.
You killed him because you had to.
Because he would have hurt me.
Hurt everyone.
The guilt is natural - but don't let it consume you."
"I'll try."
"And Ryder?"
"Yeah?"
She glanced over her shoulder. A small smile, private and patient.
"Whatever you're feeling for me - Echo or no Echo, guilt or no guilt - I can wait. I've waited this long."
She left.
I stood alone in the morning light, heart aching, mark burning, and tried to convince myself I'd made the right choice.
The dreams continued that night.
Riser's death. His terror. The moment his regeneration failed and he realized he was actually going to die.
But this time, when I woke, I didn't gasp. Didn't shake. Just sat in the darkness and let the guilt wash over me.
Properly earned, PRIME had said.
He was right.
I'd killed Riser Phenex.
Killed him while he was trying to yield.
Killed him because the Dohnaseek Echo pushed, because my own darkness wanted it, because in that moment I'd chosen murder over mercy.
The Integration had made me whole. Had forced me to accept every part of myself - including the cruelty, the satisfaction, the genuine pleasure I'd felt watching him burn.
But accepting wasn't the same as processing.
Rias waited, patient and hurting. The Watcher whispered promises of betrayal that no longer landed. The guilt sat in my chest like a stone, heavy and permanent.
And yet...
I closed my eyes. Reached into the Soulscape.
The library/armory was quiet.
Each room occupied by its respective presence - Dohnaseek's precision, Kiba's grief, Koneko's control, Akeno's duality, Rias's authority.
The darkness beneath, accepted and contained.
And threading through all of it, the harmony. Not fighting. Not bleeding. Just... existing together.
Integration had made me whole. And whole, I could choose.
What I felt for Rias was real. The trust we'd built was real. The choice I'd made - to believe in her despite the Watcher's poison - was real.
I just needed time. Time to process. Time to grieve. Time to be sure.
Sentimental, PRIME observed from somewhere deep. But correct.
"Thanks," I muttered.
Don't mention it.
I lay back down and waited for dawn.
Tomorrow, I'd start dealing with the guilt. Start preparing for the Restoration's inevitable return. Start building the network of Fragment users that might give us all a chance.
But tonight, I let myself feel it. All of it. The weight of blood I'd spilled and the hope I was still learning to carry.
The dreams came again.
But this time, I didn't fight them.