Location: ? – The Fractured Sanctum
The room was silent, save for the low hum of arcane machinery pulsing with faint violet light. Dozens of broken monitors hovered mid-air, each displaying a real-time feed: Leanbox's glade bathed in divine light. Lastation's smoldering ruins. Planeptune's restored twins. Blanc, striding alone through the dead. At the center of it all stood a lone figure— shrouded in layers of armor and ragged black cloth, their face hidden behind a crystalline mask etched with the sigil of the rift. Their fingers moved slowly across the surface of an obsidian console, tracing patterns in a strange, spiraling language. Behind them, a massive rift pulse core churned— a floating sphere of compressed dimension energy, pierced by spines of dark metal that siphoned power into countless conduits. Inside the core floated the fifth fragment, untouched by any CPU's gaze… for now.
The figure turned slightly as a shadow stepped forward from the side— a twisted, serpentine construct with molten eyes. "Three fragments claimed," the villain said, voice warped and echoing as if filtered through broken glass. "But not without cost." They paused. "White Heart walks the path of the forgotten ones. She awakens truths I had hoped would remain buried." They raised a hand, projecting a hovering image of Blanc standing before the ruined statue in the Neutral Zone. "She will reach the Vault soon. When she does… her rage will be the key."
Another screen shifted to show Rom and Ram— now recovered, preparing to rejoin the field. "And the twins live. Good. It's far too early for them to fall." The construct hissed, almost in protest. The villain turned back toward the rift core. "Let them gather the fragments. Let them believe they are saving their world. When the last key is turned…the Vortex shall awaken— not bound by the seal, but commanded by me." The core pulsed violently. "And the false goddesses… will fall."
Location: The Mountains of the North – Lowee Borderlands
Snow whipped through the air as Blanc stood at a high cliff, eyes scanning the horizon. She had followed the Vortex traces here, but the readings had gone quiet again. A faint light shimmered behind her. She turned— and saw Rom and Ram land softly in the snow, both in their Candidate forms.
"Blanc!"
Rom rushed forward and hugged her tightly, followed quickly by Ram, who grinned wide. "Told you we'd catch up!"
Blanc's stern expression cracked, her voice quiet. "You idiots… You should've waited."
Rom looked up at her with big eyes. "We're fine now… thanks to you and Compa."
Ram bumped her fist against Blanc's arm. "And we're not letting you do this alone."
Blanc nodded, her arms pulling them both into a firm embrace— brief but meaningful. "Good," she said, turning back toward the storm. "Because I found something. Something big."