The training grounds behind the old school building had seen better days.
Scorch marks from Akeno's lightning practice.
Craters from Koneko's strength drills.
Sword gouges in the stone barriers from Kiba's endless forms.
The space looked like a battlefield, which made sense - it essentially was one.
I stood in the center of it, rolling my shoulders.
The morning sun cast long shadows across the packed earth, and I could feel the barrier wards thrumming at the edges of my perception.
Purple-blue demonic energy woven into protective patterns.
A week ago, I would have needed the system to tell me they were there.
Now I just... knew.
Kiba stood twenty feet away, wooden practice sword in hand.
His stance was perfect - it always was - but I noticed the slight tension in his shoulders.
The way his weight sat a fraction too far forward.
He was nervous.
Interesting.
The thought came from the Dohnaseek room. Clinical. Assessing. I acknowledged it and moved on.
Koneko crouched at the edge of the training ground, nibbling on a chocolate bar.
Her golden eyes tracked my every movement with predatory focus.
She hadn't said a word since we'd arrived, but her presence spoke volumes.
They were here to test me. And they weren't sure what they'd find.
"Rules?" I asked.
"No permanent damage." Kiba's voice was calm, but I could hear his heartbeat - elevated, controlled, ready. "We stop when someone yields or Buchou calls it."
I glanced at Rias.
She stood beneath the shade of an old oak tree, arms crossed, crimson eyes sharp.
Akeno stood beside her, and I caught the slight upturn of her lips.
Asia hovered near the back, healing magic already glowing faintly around her hands.
They'd prepared for casualties.
Smart.
"One at a time," I said, "or both at once?"
Kiba and Koneko exchanged a look.
"Both," Koneko said. Just one word, but it carried weight.
I smiled. "Good."
Kiba moved first.
He was fast - faster than I remembered. The wooden sword blurred toward my midsection in a horizontal slash that would have folded me in half a week ago.
I didn't block. Didn't dodge. Just... shifted.
The Kiba room opened, and suddenly his attack made sense.
Not as movement, but as intention.
I could see the sword's path before it arrived, feel the weight transfer in his hips, understand the philosophy behind the strike.
My body moved without conscious thought. I stepped inside his range, past the killing edge of the swing, close enough to smell the faint cedar of his training clothes.
His eyes widened.
"Too slow," I said, and pushed him back with an open palm.
Kiba stumbled, recovered, reset his stance. But I was already moving - Koneko was airborne.
She came in high, fist cocked back with enough force to crater stone. The old me would have tried to dodge. Would have needed Enhanced Regeneration ready to survive the hit.
But the Koneko room had other ideas.
I planted my feet, felt her density in my bones, and caught her fist in my palm.
The impact sent a shockwave rippling through the training ground. Dust exploded outward. My arm ached - she hit like a freight train - but I didn't move. Didn't buckle.
Koneko's eyes went wide.
"...how?"
"You taught me." I grinned. "Remember?"
I twisted, using her momentum against her, and hurled her toward Kiba. He caught her - barely - and they both skidded back three feet.
The Akeno room hummed with satisfaction. That was fun.
I pushed it aside. Not the time.
They came together now. Coordinated. Koneko low, Kiba high. A combination they'd clearly practiced.
Before, I would have had to pick one threat and pray I survived the other. Before, I would have needed to "equip" abilities, cycling through options like a menu.
But there was no menu anymore.
There was just me.
Koneko's sweep came for my legs. Kiba's blade aimed for my throat. Two attacks, perfectly timed, leaving no angle of escape.
I manifested Light Lance in my left hand.
The golden spear of light - Dohnaseek's legacy, stabilized through weeks of use - flared into existence mid-motion.
I caught Kiba's blade with it, deflecting the strike away from my neck, while simultaneously jumping over Koneko's sweep.
I landed in a crouch between them, Light Lance dissolving, and let Koneko's fighting instincts take over.
My elbow caught Kiba in the solar plexus. Not hard enough to injure - but hard enough to matter. He doubled over, gasping.
I spun, caught Koneko's follow-up punch, and threw her again. This time toward a barrier wall.
She twisted mid-air, cat-like, and landed on her feet against the stone. Her eyes narrowed.
"...you're different."
"I know." I straightened, rolling my neck. "Keep going."
The spar continued for another ten minutes.
Kiba adapted quickly - he was a prodigy for a reason - but I could read him now.
Every stance, every technique, every moment of hesitation.
The Kiba room translated his movements into intentions, and I responded before he committed.
Koneko was harder to read.
Her fighting style was pure instinct, raw power with minimal telegraphing.
But I had her density now.
Her sense of weight and impact.
When she swung, I understood the force behind it.
When she moved, I felt the earth shift beneath her.
I blocked. Dodged. Countered. Flowed between styles like water through a riverbed.
Light Lance to deflect Kiba's blade. Rook-strength to tank Koneko's hits. Dohnaseek's precision to find openings. Rias's strategic awareness to control the flow of combat.
And beneath it all, Akeno's darkness whispered encouragement every time I landed a solid hit.
More.
I ignored it. Mostly.
The headache started around minute twelve.
It crept in slowly - a dull pressure behind my eyes that sharpened with each ability switch. By minute fifteen, it felt like someone had driven an ice pick into my temple.
New resource depletion. Mental stamina rather than traditional mana.
The thought surfaced from somewhere deep - PRIME's knowledge, now part of my own understanding.
This was the cost of fluid access.
No more mana bars or stamina gauges.
Just the raw strain of channeling multiple aspects simultaneously.
I blocked Koneko's kick, but slower this time. My vision blurred slightly.
Kiba noticed. Of course he did.
"You're flagging." His blade came faster, testing. "Overextended?"
"Just adjusting." I parried, but the movement felt sluggish. "New limits. Learning curve."
Koneko didn't waste time on conversation. Her next punch came with intent - not sparring force, but real power. Testing whether my guard would hold.
I caught it. Barely. The impact drove me back two steps, and the headache spiked into genuine pain.
Enough.
The thought was mine this time. Not Echo influence. Not PRIME's wisdom. Just practical self-assessment.
"Hold." I raised a hand. "I need a minute."
They stopped immediately. Kiba lowered his sword. Koneko landed in a crouch, studying me with those golden eyes.
"...pushed too hard, senpai."
"Yeah." I pressed a palm against my forehead. The pressure eased slightly. "The new system has limits. Good to know where they are."
Rias appeared at my side with a water bottle. When had she moved? Her footsteps had been silent - or maybe I'd been too focused on the headache to notice.
"Report," she said. Her King voice. The one that expected answers.
I took the water, drank half of it in one long pull, and considered the question.
"The abilities are all there," I said finally.
"Fluid access.
No more equipping or switching.
I can use Koneko's strength in the same motion as Kiba's speed.
Layer Akeno's intuition over Dohnaseek's precision."
"But?"
"But there's a cost." I tapped my temple. "Mental stamina. The more I juggle, the faster I burn out. Fifteen minutes of full integration combat and I'm already hitting the wall."
Rias nodded, processing.
I could see her mind working - tactical analysis, strategic implications.
The Rias room in my head did the same thing, and for a moment our thoughts aligned perfectly.
Useful but limited. Burst capability, not sustained engagement. Need to pace.
"The Echo percentage," she said. "What happened to it?"
I closed my eyes. Reached inward.
The Soulscape was calm.
The library/armory architecture held steady, each room occupied by its respective presence.
Dohnaseek's corner.
Kiba's armory.
Koneko's meditation chamber.
Akeno's observation deck.
Rias's command center.
The darkness beneath.
And threading through all of it - a harmony. Not the chaotic bleed of before. Not the dangerous threshold that had pushed toward 50%. Something stable. Balanced. Integrated.
"Gone," I said. "Replaced."
I focused, and the knowledge rose like water finding its level.
[POST-INTEGRATION STATUS]
Echo Level: DEPRECATED Echo Harmony: 35% - Same content as previous 49% Echo - Now STABLE and INTEGRATED - No longer approaching dangerous threshold - The 50% crisis point no longer applies
Mental Stamina: NEW RESOURCE - Replaces traditional mana tracking - Overuse causes headaches, then blackouts - Recovers with rest
Abilities: FLUID ACCESS - No more "equipping" abilities - All integrated Echoes accessible simultaneously - Limited by Mental Stamina, not by slots
The information didn't appear in a blue box. Didn't float in my vision as text. It just... was. Knowledge I possessed, like knowing how to breathe or walk.
"Echo Harmony," I said aloud.
"Thirty-five percent.
Stable.
The old system measured influence - how much of them was bleeding into me.
The new system measures integration - how smoothly we work together."
"And the fifty percent threshold?"
"Doesn't apply anymore." I opened my eyes, met her crimson gaze.
"There's no bleed because there's no separation.
They're not influencing me from outside.
They're part of the foundation."
Rias stared at me for a long moment. Her expression was difficult to read - impressed and something else. Something that looked almost like fear.
"Show me," she said quietly.
I stepped back to the center of the training ground.
The headache had faded to a manageable ache. Not gone, but workable. I'd need to test the recovery rate later. For now, I had enough gas in the tank for a demonstration.
"One more round," I called. "Thirty seconds. All-out."
Kiba hesitated. "You just said you hit your limit."
"Different test." I rolled my shoulders. "I want to see what 'all-out' looks like now. And I want Rias to see it."
Koneko cracked her knuckles. Her lips twitched - not quite a smile, but close. "...finally."
Kiba sighed, but reset his stance. "On your signal."
I took a breath. Reached for everything at once.
The rooms opened. All of them. Simultaneously.
Dohnaseek's precision. Kiba's sword-sense. Koneko's density. Akeno's lightning intuition. Rias's strategic overview. Even the darkness - contained, controlled, ready.
For a moment, I wasn't just Ryder Cross.
I was all of them.
"Go."
The next thirty seconds were a blur.
Koneko hit first - always first, always aggressive.
I met her fist with my own, our impacts creating a shockwave that cracked the stone beneath us.
Equal force.
Equal density.
She wasn't used to being matched pound-for-pound.
Kiba came in from the blind spot. Perfect angle, perfect timing. His blade should have caught me across the ribs.
I manifested Light Lance without looking, blocked the strike, and threw a kick toward his midsection in the same motion.
He dodged - but I'd expected that.
The kick was a feint.
The real attack was the Lightning Spark that crackled from my free hand.
Not Akeno's full power. Just a taste - enough to make his muscles seize for half a second.
Half a second was enough.
I slammed him into the ground, pinning him with Rook strength.
Koneko's punch grazed my shoulder as I rolled away, but I'd seen it coming.
The Rias room had tracked her movement, predicted her angle, plotted my escape.
I came up in a crouch, Light Lance dissolving, and caught Koneko's ankle as she leaped for a follow-up strike.
One twist, using her own momentum, and she hit the barrier wall hard enough to crack the stone.
She landed in a heap. Groaned. Started to rise.
"Time," Rias called.
I stood in the center of the training ground, breathing hard.
The headache was back - worse than before, a pounding rhythm behind my eyes. My hands trembled slightly. Mental stamina definitely had hard limits.
But I'd done it. Thirty seconds of full integration. All aspects working together, flowing through each other, creating something greater than the sum of their parts.
Kiba picked himself up off the ground. His uniform was dusty, his hair disheveled, but his eyes held a new respect.
"That was... impressive." He rolled his shoulder. "I could not read you at all. Every technique I tried, you countered before I committed."
Koneko limped over, rubbing her back. She stopped in front of me, golden eyes assessing.
"...not weak anymore, senpai." Her lips curved into the smallest smile. "Still reckless though."
"Fair point." I grinned despite the headache.
Asia rushed over, healing light already washing over my allies. I waved her off when she tried to check on me.
"I'm fine. Just tired. Need to sit down."
Akeno appeared at my elbow, guiding me toward the shade where Rias waited. Her touch was light but firm.
"Ara ara, such an exciting display." Her voice carried its usual teasing lilt, but underneath I heard genuine awe. "You've become quite the monster, Ryder-kun."
"Takes one to know one."
She laughed - the real kind, not the calculated one she used as armor.
Rias hadn't moved from her position under the oak tree.
She watched me approach, her expression unreadable. The morning light caught her crimson hair, made it glow like fresh blood. Beautiful and terrible, like everything about her.
I stopped a few feet away. The headache pulsed, but I ignored it.
"Well?"
She was quiet for a long moment. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft.
"You're not a Pawn anymore, are you?"
The question carried weight. More than chess pieces. More than rankings. She was asking about who I was now. What I'd become.
I considered the answer carefully.
The Evil Piece was still inside me - I could feel it, a familiar presence in my chest.
But its function had changed.
Before, it had defined my limits.
Set my parameters.
Made me a Pawn in the game between Kings.
Now it was just... a piece. A tool. Part of me, like my lungs or my heart.
Not the other way around.
"I'm whatever I need to be," I said finally. "Pawn. Knight. Rook. Queen. Whatever the situation demands."
Rias's eyes widened slightly. Then, slowly, she smiled.
It was the real smile. The one she saved for private moments. The one that made my chest tight.
"That's terrifying," she said. "And impressive. Mostly terrifying."
"I'll take it."
She stepped closer. Close enough that I could smell her perfume - old books and starlight, achingly familiar. Her hand found mine, fingers intertwining.
"The Watcher," she said quietly. "The Restoration. They'll come for you. They have no idea what just woke up."
I squeezed her hand. Felt the warmth of her skin against mine.
"Let them come."
The walk back to the clubhouse was quiet.
My headache faded slowly as we moved through the school grounds.
The morning had given way to early afternoon, and students were starting to filter onto campus for club activities.
A few gave our group curious looks - Koneko's uniform was dusty, Kiba's was torn at the shoulder - but no one asked questions.
Normal humans. Normal lives. They had no idea what happened behind the barriers.
Probably better that way.
Rias walked beside me, her hand still in mine.
She hadn't let go since the training grounds.
Part of me wanted to comment on it - the public display, the implications - but a larger part just wanted to enjoy the moment.
After everything I'd been through, I'd earned this.
"The Integration changed the rules," I said quietly.
"For everyone.
The Restoration hunts Fragment users because we're unstable.
Dangerous.
Ticking time bombs waiting to hit fifty percent."
"And you've proven that's not inevitable."
"Exactly." I glanced at her.
"If there's a way to integrate safely, to become something stable... that threatens their entire operation.
They can't use the Watcher as a containment measure if we don't need containing."
Rias nodded slowly. "They'll want to study you. Replicate what you did. Or - "
"Or eliminate me before I can teach others." I shrugged. "Either way, they're coming. Just a matter of when."
We reached the old school building. The ORC clubhouse loomed above us, its gothic architecture somehow comforting. Home.
Rias stopped at the door, turning to face me.
"We'll be ready," she said. "Whatever comes. Whatever they send. We face it together."
The words echoed her promise from before the Integration. Before the Soulscape. Before everything.
We face this together or not at all.
"Together," I agreed.
She smiled again - small, private, beautiful - and pushed open the door.
I sat on the familiar couch, a cup of tea warming my hands.
The headache was mostly gone now.
Recovery time: roughly thirty minutes for fifteen minutes of full-integration combat.
Not ideal, but workable.
I could push harder in emergencies, accept the consequences later.
The others had scattered - Kiba to tend his equipment, Koneko to find more snacks, Akeno to prepare lunch.
Asia hovered near me for a few minutes before Rias gently shooed her away.
Now it was just the two of us.
Rias sat in her usual chair, legs crossed, crimson eyes studying me with an intensity that made me want to squirm.
But I held her gaze.
I'd faced worse than her scrutiny in the past three days.
"You're thinking loud," I said.
"I'm thinking about the future." She set down her own tea cup.
"The Integration was the first step.
You've stabilized.
Proven that Fragment users can become something other than weapons or victims."
"But?"
"But that's only the beginning." She leaned forward.
"The Restoration won't stop.
The Watcher mark is dormant, not gone.
There are other Fragment users out there - Mira, the ones still running - who need what you discovered."
I nodded. I'd been thinking the same thing.
"Mira defended us while I was under," I said.
"She used her Consumption to create a barrier the Restoration couldn't breach.
She's proof that Fragment users can work together.
Be allies instead of isolated targets."
"Then we reach out.
Build a network.
Show them that Integration is possible." Rias's voice carried the weight of command.
Strategy.
Purpose.
"If we can turn Fragment users from liabilities into assets..."
"We change the game entirely."
She smiled. Sharp and beautiful. "Exactly."
I drained my tea, set the cup aside, and looked at my hands.
These hands had killed. Had stolen. Had fought and bled and burned. They'd held Echoes of people I'd hurt and people I'd loved, carried guilt and grief and darkness.
But they'd also healed. Protected. Reached out when reaching was hard.
And now they held something new.
I clenched my fist. Felt the power hum beneath my skin - quiet, obedient, mine. Not borrowed. Not stolen. Integrated.
The internal war was over.
But the external one? The Watcher? The Restoration?
They had no idea what just woke up.