The silence between Jin and Aezra'el was crushing.
The realm around them pulsed with echoing memories—flickers of wars, betrayals, sealed gods, and names lost to time. Every step Jin took closer made the air denser, the pull stronger.
"You… you have my face," Jin said quietly.
"No," Aezra'el replied. "You have mine."
His voice was calm, but ancient. Like something that had spoken too many truths to believe in lies anymore.
Jin clenched his fists. "What am I?"
Aezra'el turned, folding his hands behind his back. "You're a paradox. My resistance given form. The part of me that refused to accept fate... and was cast out because of it."
He gestured around them. "This realm is not a prison. It's a mirror. What you see, what you fight—it's always been you."
Jin stared. "So why now? Why show yourself after all this time?"
Aezra'el looked up.
"The seventh chain is weakening. And when it breaks, the Abyss will no longer whisper—it will scream."
Outside the gate, Arin fought alongside Kael, taking down Hollow sentries one after another. The closer they got to the gate's heart, the more time distorted. Kael's spells flickered. Arin's blade felt heavier.
Something was coming.
A voice echoed from above:
"You are not meant to be here."
Veyla—reborn and reforged—descended with wings made of shadowflame and eyes void of any light.
Arin stepped forward. "Then I guess I'm always where I shouldn't be."
Inside, Aezra'el walked toward Jin, pulling from his chest a single glowing chain link—hovering between them.
"This is the first," he said. "The one you broke the day you awakened Noctis."
Jin's eyes widened. "Then… the rest are—"
"Each chain holds a truth," Aezra'el interrupted. "And a cost. You want all seven? Fine. But you must accept them all. Including the one that destroyed me."
Jin's spirit mark glowed, brighter than ever.
Noctis's voice echoed inside him.
"Be careful. He's not offering power. He's offering identity."
"Then give it to me," Jin said. "No more masks. No more half-truths. I want to know who I really am."
Aezra'el smiled.
And the second chain shattered.
The realm exploded in white fire.
Outside, the gate began to twist and shrink, pulsing in violent spasms. The Herald watching from above stirred.
Kael looked up, shielding his eyes. "He's doing it… he's breaking through."
Arin grinned. "Told you he was more than just 'Rank: Zero.'"
Inside the realm, Jin knelt in the chaos, visions slamming into him: of war councils, of spirit gods kneeling, of seven chained thrones—one of which was his.
He screamed as the third chain cracked.
Aezra'el whispered:
"Only four remain. And each will demand more than the last."