Location: Vault of Ice – Hidden Chamber

The masked figure stood in the shadows of the open vault, rift energy coiling faintly around them like smoke. White Heart immediately stepped in front of her sisters, arms partially spread in a protective stance. "Who are you?"

The figure didn't move— didn't even raise a weapon. Their voice echoed across the icy walls, both distant and close. "One who remembers what you were meant to forget."

Ram clenched her fists. "You're the one behind all this!"

"No," the villain replied calmly. "I am what remains after balance was abandoned. After gods sealed away what they could not understand."

Rom stepped closer to Blanc. "What do you want?"

"What should have been." A pause. "Freedom… for what lies beneath."

Blanc narrowed her eyes. "You're after the Eon Vortex."

The figure chuckled softly. "After? No, White Heart. I am simply returning what you all buried. What your kind feared." Their gaze fixed squarely on Blanc. "Your rage opened the path. Your sorrow cracked the vault. You, above all, were always the key."

Before Blanc could speak, the figure raised a hand— and the air shimmered as a rift spiral swirled behind them. "We'll speak again… when the fifth fragment awakens." With that, they stepped backward and vanished into the portal, the rift collapsing behind them like a vault fell silent again.

Blanc stared at the space where they vanished, jaw clenched. "…They know everything."

Ram glanced toward the pedestal. "What do we do?"

Blanc slowly turned to them, voice firm again. "We finish this. All of us."

Location: Neutral Zone – Skies above the Ruined Shrine

The clouds swirled in a slow spiral as four goddesses hovered above the dead lands, their Candidate sisters floating just behind them. All four nations had answered the call. Vert was the last to arrive, carrying the third fragment in a sealed prism. "It's good to see you all. I take it the final one has been located?"

Blanc held up a matching containment crystal. "Found in Lowee. Protected by a seal I didn't know existed."

Rom and Ram gave the others a quick wave. "We're okay now," Ram added. "But something's seriously wrong."

Noire crossed her arms. "We encountered something similar in Lastation. The corruption isn't just changing monsters— it's reshaping purpose. Warping instincts."

Nepgear's voice was quiet. "That Steel Golem… it was acting like it had orders. Not like a wild creature."

Histoire floated nearby in projection form, projecting a map with pulsing points. "Four fragments are secured. But the fifth still eludes us. We believe it is not hidden, but shielded— by something beyond standard dimensional laws." Blanc exchanged a glance with Neptune.

"She said it's waiting to awaken," Blanc muttered.

Noire raised an eyebrow. "She?"

Blanc hesitated, then nodded. "The one behind this. They showed up when we found the Vault. Didn't attack. Just… watched. Talked."

Vert's eyes narrowed. "How poetic. The mastermind reveals themselves just as the end nears."

Neptune floated forward, arms behind her head. "So what's the plan, ladies? We've got the dream team assembled, four glowy pieces of apocalyptic doom, and one creepy rift specter with a god complex."

Nepgear smiled faintly. "We need to find the fifth fragment before they do."

Blanc clenched her fists. "We don't stop this… and that Vortex opens."

Histoire nodded. "Then I suggest we begin searching where the dimensional anomalies are thickest— on the edges of what remains of the Old World."