The notice arrived before noon.
Not as a dramatic broadcast, not as sirens or alarms—just a small, quiet ping on a few select bands.
Mizuki's, first.
Then Kaizen's.
Then Yuna's.
Shinra was in one of the training halls when Yuna's expression changed.
He'd been standing with Daren at the edge of the floor, watching Riku and Hana run a coordinated exercise—precision shots threading through small gaps in barriers that flickered in and out of existence on Hana's command.
Riku swore every time he missed by a centimeter.
"Your timing's off," Shinra said mildly.
"I know," Riku snapped, then groaned. "Don't tell Hana I know, she'll make me write a report."
"I heard that," Hana said without looking back.
Yuna's band buzzed.
She glanced at it, read the small, simple message, and her posture tightened almost imperceptibly.
"Training break," she said. "Now."
Riku straightened. "Already?" he asked. "I was just getting into my incompetence rhythm."
"Authority is paying us a visit," Yuna said.
That shut him up.
Hana blinked once, then checked her own band—even though nothing had pinged there yet. Daren's jaw clenched reflexively.
Shinra watched Yuna.
"Here?" he asked.
"Here," she said. "Today. Official inspection. They're sending an officer and a small team."
"For what?" Riku muttered, though he already knew the answer.
Yuna gave him a flat look.
"Because a Tier 1 no one can properly scan just rewrote a Breach in the middle of a major transit hub," she said. "Authority hates not understanding things."
Her eyes slid to Shinra.
"They're here for you," she said. "And to 'assure public safety.'"
[I have detected the request trail, Great Master,] Arios said in Shinra's mind.
[The order originated from the same office that flagged your file as "monitor". They are not moving to detain you. Only to evaluate.]
For now, Shinra thought.
Yuna took a breath, then straightened.
"Kaizen wants us in the briefing room," she said. "Unit 3, move. Shinra—"
"I'll come," he said.
She nodded once.
The briefing room wasn't large.
It fit a table, a few chairs, and several floating screens squeezed into the walls. It also somehow fit Kaizen's energy, which was usually too big for most enclosed spaces.
He stood at the end of the table, arms folded, a faint smile on his face that didn't reach his eyes.
Mizuki sat near one side, tablet in front of her, fingers still as if she'd paused mid-notes the moment the notification came in.
When Unit 3 entered, they took their usual places without needing to be told—Yuna across from Mizuki, Riku dropping into a chair with more force than necessary, Hana sliding into the seat beside him, Daren remaining standing near the wall.
Shinra closed the door behind them and stayed near the end of the table, not quite sitting.
Kaizen looked at him first.
"You probably already know why they're coming," he said.
"Yes," Shinra said.
"Pretend you don't," Kaizen replied. "It'll help with my explanation."
Riku snorted despite the tension.
Mizuki tapped her tablet once, pulling up a short message in the air for everyone to see.
[FROM: Ascendant Authority Regional Office
SUBJECT: Facilities & Asset Evaluation – Sanctum Guild
NOTE: Routine assurance visit. Additional focus: Newly registered Tier 1 "Shinra" – classification: unstandardized.]
"That doesn't sound routine," Hana said.
"It's not," Mizuki said. "But they like the word. It sounds less like 'we're worried you're harboring a bomb.'"
Riku winced. "Accurate."
Daren kept his eyes on the text. "They're coming in person," he said. "Not sending drones or remote audits."
"Which means they're serious," Yuna said.
"And cautious," Mizuki added. "They haven't raised Shinra's status above 'monitor' yet. They want to look first."
Kaizen scratched his cheek lightly. "Authority has three main gears when dealing with unknowns," he said. "Observe, isolate, erase. We're currently in the first one. Our job is to keep it from slipping into the other two."
Shinra tilted his head. "You sound calm," he said.
"I am calm," Kaizen said. "Authority isn't an enemy. They're… a wall. Sometimes you lean on it. Sometimes it keeps you from walking where you want."
"Sometimes it falls on you if you poke it wrong," Riku muttered.
"Also accurate," Kaizen said.
He looked at Shinra again, more serious now.
"They're going to want to run a scan," he said. "Compatibility, power structure, imprint checks. Maybe some questions."
"Will refusing make things worse?" Shinra asked.
"Yes," Mizuki said, blunt. "Full refusal would be seen as hiding something. Partial is acceptable. You're allowed to set boundaries. But if you reject everything, they'll escalate."
[She's right, Master,] Arios said.
[Any system reacts poorly to blanks it knows should not exist.]
Yuna rested her arms on the table.
"We'll be there," she said. "They asked for you. They're getting Sanctum too."
Shinra regarded them briefly.
"You trust me enough to stand beside me," he said. "Even after the Hub."
"You didn't aim that at us," Yuna said simply. "You aimed it away from us."
Riku nodded reluctantly. "Terrifying as you are, you still pick the right direction to be terrifying in," he said.
Hana added, "We wouldn't be here if you hadn't intervened. That's not something we forget because Authority gets nervous."
Daren grunted. "If they try to pull something, they'll find out Sanctum has more spine than building."
Kaizen smiled faintly.
"See?" he said. "We're all very reasonable people."
Mizuki did not smile.
"Reasonable enough to know we don't want a direct fight with Authority," she said. "If it comes to that, it won't be today. Today, we keep things measured."
Her gaze returned to Shinra.
"Are you willing to let them run a scan?" she asked. "Knowing they'll see only part of what you are—and that even that part might scare them?"
Shinra thought.
[I can mitigate the output,] Arios said.
[Divert some feedback, blur some readings. I cannot stop all reaction, but I can reduce it.]
And the seal? Shinra asked.
[If you do not pull on it, it will not strain,] Arios said.
[The scan will try to read, not unlock.]
He looked up.
"I'll let them scan," Shinra said. "With my own conditions."
Kaizen's smile sharpened slightly. "Excellent," he said. "Authority loves the illusion of mutual agreement."
He flicked his band.
"They'll be here in twenty minutes," he said. "Take a breath, everyone. Yuna, Shinra—you're with us at the front. Unit 3, you'll be nearby, visible. Calm. Present. We are not hiding what we are."
Riku muttered, "We're also not throwing him at them with a bow on his head."
"We're absolutely not," Kaizen agreed.
***
Authority arrived with very little ceremony.
No flashing insignias, no dramatic convoy. Just a single sleek, dark transport that parked near Sanctum's entrance with mechanical precision.
The doors slid open.
Five people stepped out.
Four of them wore standard Authority field uniforms—clean lines, sturdy material, subtle insignia. Their movements were smooth, coordinated. Professionals.
The fifth was the one that mattered.
He was the man Shinra had seen once already, through Arios' lens—a crisp uniform, rank markings a little heavier than the others, dark hair threaded with early grey at the temples. His posture was straight without being stiff.
His eyes were tired. Sharp. Used to reading rooms.
"Ascendant Authority, Regional Division," he said as he approached the entrance. "Officer Ryou Kisaragi, conducting a scheduled evaluation."
Kaizen stepped forward to meet him.
"Kaizen," he replied. "Guild leader of Sanctum. Welcome."
They shook hands.
It looked almost like two old acquaintances greeting each other. Almost.
Ryou's gaze flicked past Kaizen, taking in the lobby, the emblem, the staff. His eyes paused briefly on Shinra, then moved on.
Yuna, standing at Shinra's side, noticed the tiny hitch in his breath that followed.
"Appreciate you making time," Ryou said. "Things have been… dynamic lately."
"That's a gentle way to put it," Kaizen said. "We try not to be boring."
Mizuki stepped in with a polite bow of her head.
"Mizuki," she said. "Operations and internal structure. I'll assist with any data or facility-related questions."
Ryou nodded in acknowledgment.
"Good," he said. "I don't intend to disrupt your operations more than necessary. We have three main objectives today: confirm your safety protocols post-Hub, verify your handling of low-tier and Mundane staff amid rising threat levels, and—"
He paused, fully facing Shinra.
"—conduct a compatibility assessment with your newly registered Tier 1."
Everyone in the immediate vicinity could feel the shift.
Sanctum staff nearby pretended not to watch. Riku, standing a little further back with Hana and Daren, didn't even pretend—he stared openly until Hana elbowed him.
Shinra met Ryou's gaze.
"You can call me Shinra," he said. "I'm not used to titles anymore."
Ryou's expression didn't change much, but something in his eyes sharpened.
"Shinra, then," he said. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with us."
He seemed like the kind of man who noticed everything, filed it, then never let it go.
[He has the feel of someone who has buried too many reports,] Arios murmured.
[And lost more people than he shows on his face.]
Authority does that to people, Shinra thought.
Ryou glanced at Kaizen. "May we speak in a more contained space?" he asked. "For both the scan and the conversation."
"We have a shielded room we use for sensitive tests," Mizuki said. "It will accommodate your equipment."
Ryou gestured to one of his accompanying officers, a woman carrying a compact, sealed case. "We'll use our own unit for the scan," he said. "But I'll appreciate any additional shielding you can provide. The Hub event caused… unexpected anomalies in our standard readings."
"Half your scanners burned out," Kaizen translated, not unkindly.
Ryou didn't deny it.
"We prefer not to repeat that," he said.
***
The shielded room was on one of the lower floors, thick walls lined with subtle reinforcement, a faint hum of installed dampeners present if you were sensitive enough.
Shinra sat in a reinforced chair at the center.
Ryou's scanning unit was assembled with practiced ease—a sleek, folding frame that unfolded into an arc behind the chair and a front panel that hovered at chest height, faint light pulsing across its surface.
Cables snaked back to a small console.
One of Ryou's officers checked the connections, then stepped back.
Mizuki stood near a secondary control point linked to Sanctum's internal systems. She had a finger hovering over a cutoff switch that could kill power to the room if needed.
Kaizen lounged—apparently—against the far wall, but Shinra knew he wasn't relaxed.
Yuna stood to Shinra's right.
Ryou faced him from the front, hands clasped loosely.
"The scan we're running," he said, "won't touch your mind. It will only read your energy structure—how your power interacts with spatial and temporal fields, how your aura calibrates against known tiers. Think of it as a very thorough, very annoying blood test for your soul."
"Annoying I can accept," Shinra said. "As long as it stops there."
"It will," Ryou said. "However…"
He hesitated, just enough to be noticeable.
"However, given the events at the Hub," he said, "we can't guarantee the scanner itself will survive the contact. If it fails, that tells us something too."
"About me," Shinra said.
"And about our limits," Ryou replied.
[This scanner is more advanced than the ones used before,] Arios noted.
[They've modified its buffer thresholds since the Hub. They learn quickly.]
Can you interfere? Shinra thought.
[To a degree,] Arios said.
[I can soften your emission signature, blur the patterns they see. But some anomalies will remain. Our goal is to be worrying, not world-ending.]
Worrying is easy, Shinra replied.
Ryou watched him.
"If at any point the process causes you pain or destabilizes your aura, we stop," Ryou said. "My responsibility includes making sure an evaluation doesn't create the threat it's meant to measure."
Shinra almost smiled.
"That's more generosity than I expected," he admitted.
"I've seen too many officers forget people are not just assets," Ryou said. "I don't intend to be one of them."
Yuna spoke for the first time.
"And if you don't like what your machine tells you?" she asked.
Ryou turned slightly toward her.
"Then we'll have a different conversation," he said. "But it won't be today. And it won't be without your guild present."
Her eyes narrowed, measuring him.
"…All right," she said.
Ryou looked back at Shinra.
"May we begin?" he asked.
Shinra nodded once. "Go ahead."
Ryou gestured to his technician.
The scanner hummed to life.
Light along its frame deepened, shifting from soft blue to a more focused white. The air inside the arc grew heavier, not in temperature but in density, like the space itself was thickening to capture more detail.
[I'm synching with its emission field,] Arios said.
[It's pushing low-intensity probing waves through your aura. They behave like sonar. I'll dampen your response.]
Do it, Shinra replied.
The machine's front panel brightened.
Ryou watched its surface, which now displayed a series of shifting graphs and patterns—some familiar to him, some not.
"Baseline reading," he said quietly. "Tier confirmation."
The first few seconds went smoothly.
Lines stabilized at high levels. The scanner processed, recalibrated, displayed a confirmation field.
"Tier 1—verified," the technician said.
"That much we knew," Mizuki murmured under her breath.
The scanner shifted to a second phase.
"Structure mapping," Ryou said. "Weaving pattern. Aura density. Spatial interference."
The light inside the arc shifted again, becoming more focused.
Shinra felt the waves now—not as pain, but as a subtle pressure tracing the outer edges of his power. It was like being examined by a very cautious hand.
[It's trying to see how far down you go,] Arios said.
[I'm redirecting its query back to your upper layers.]
Careful, Shinra said. We don't want it to think there's nothing under that.
[I'm leaving hints,] Arios said.
[Enough to say: "This goes deeper than you can scan," but not enough to show how deep.]
On the console, patterns began to warp.
The technician frowned. "Sir," she said. "We're getting tier-appropriate density, but the layering is—"
"Non-standard?" Ryou suggested.
"…Yes," she said. "It doesn't match any known Ascendant template. It's… stacked."
"What does that mean?" Kaizen asked from his spot near the wall.
Ryou didn't look away from the screen.
"It means," he said slowly, "that his aura reads like multiple high-capacity structures folded into one frame. Like someone took a tower and compacted it into the volume of a room without changing its mass."
Riku muttered, "That sounds completely fine and not terrifying at all."
Hana shot him a look. "Not helping," she whispered.
Shinra felt the scanner push a little harder.
The pressure increased.
[It's trying to penetrate deeper,] Arios said.
[If I block all of it, it will register as a failure. If I let too much through—]
"The seal strains," Shinra finished internally.
He flexed his fingers slightly, grounding himself.
Divert it, he thought. If it tries to follow a path inward, feed it a loop.
[Already on it.]
Ryou's expression tightened.
"Feedback levels are outside expected range," the technician said. "The system is registering internal reflections instead of straight reads—like it's bouncing around inside something."
"Inside what?" Mizuki asked.
"A closed space," the technician said. "Or a labyrinth."
The machine's hum climbed a notch.
Lines on the display began to spike.
"Sir," she said again. "I recommend we stop this phase."
Ryou hesitated.
His eyes flicked from the scanner to Shinra.
Shinra's posture was still relaxed. His breathing slow. No visible expenditure of effort.
Ryou exhaled.
"End structural mapping," he said. "Log partial."
The technician cut the phase.
The hum lowered.
The scanner's lights dimmed slightly, then adjusted.
"One last component," Ryou said. "Temporal and spatial interference. Then we're done."
"Define that," Shinra said.
Ryou didn't dance around it.
"We want to see how your presence affects the immediate environment," he said. "Not your power unleashed. Just existence. If that's too invasive, we can end here and work with what we have."
Yuna's jaw tightened. "What does that mean, 'affects the environment'?" she asked. "He's not a contagion."
"In the Hub," Ryou said, "sensors and devices in a certain radius malfunctioned when he moved past a threshold. We need to know if that's tied to specific output levels… or if it's an inherent property."
[He's asking, "Are you dangerous just by standing somewhere?"] Arios translated.
I know, Shinra thought.
He considered it.
He already knew his influence brushed against the seams of reality in ways this era wasn't designed for. But that influence had gradations.
"Run it," he said. "I'll keep still."
Ryou nodded once in gratitude.
"Limited radius," he told his technician. "No pushes past level three."
The scanner changed frequency again.
This time, the pressure didn't seek to probe inward. It simply flared and waited, like a lens focused on a point, measuring how light bent around it.
Shinra did nothing.
He didn't reach, didn't push.
He just existed.
[Your interference is measurable even at rest,] Arios reported quietly.
[But within tolerances that match high-tier Ascendants… when you suppress yourself this far.]
Good, Shinra replied.
The display showed a small but steady fluctuation around Shinra's position—a ripple against the room's background field.
Then, at the edge of the field, something else pulsed.
The scanner caught it.
The technician stared.
"Sir," she said. "We're picking up… something else."
Ryou moved closer.
"Where?" he asked.
She pointed at a faint anomaly on the display—a distortion not centered on Shinra, but…
"Just off his aura boundary," she said. "Like a second signature. Weak. Flickering in and out."
Mizuki's eyes narrowed.
Kaizen straightened away from the wall.
Yuna's fingers curled slightly at her sides.
Shinra remained still.
[They're brushing against me,] Arios said.
[Or rather, my interface point with you. A shadow of my presence.]
Can they read you? Shinra asked.
[No,] Arios said.
[But they can tell there is something "other" attached to your pattern.]
Ryou watched the anomaly shift, vanish, reappear.
He frowned.
"…That," he said quietly, "is new."
"Is it dangerous?" Mizuki asked.
"We don't know what it is," he said. "Which is the problem."
He hesitated.
"End spatial interference," he said.
The technician shut down the final phase.
The scanner's hum faded entirely. Lights dimmed to a gentle standby glow.
For a moment, the room was very quiet.
Ryou looked at Shinra.
"Any discomfort?" he asked.
"A mild desire to never do that again," Shinra said. "Nothing more."
Ryou huffed once in something almost like amusement.
"I'll try not to ask twice," he said.
He turned to his console and tapped a command. The scanner folded back into its compact form, the arc splitting, collapsing, and sealing into the case it came in.
Mizuki's shoulders eased a fraction.
Yuna moved closer to Shinra, as if checking for cracks only she could see.
Kaizen watched Ryou.
"Well?" he asked. "What's the verdict? Do we explode?"
Ryou didn't answer immediately.
He looked at the collected data, then closed it with a swipe.
"When we run a scan," he said, "we expect three things: tier confirmation, pattern classification, and risk assessment."
He met Shinra's gaze.
"We confirmed Tier 1," he said. "Your pattern doesn't match any known structure. It resembles… a compressed, multi-layered construct holding more than it shows. And your resting interference is higher than normal, but not outside what can be managed—if you keep this level of restraint."
"That's the kind version," Yuna said. "What's the harsher one?"
Ryou's expression didn't change much.
"For the report," he said, "I'll have to write: 'Subject Shinra is a high-tier Ascendant whose internal structure and attached unknown signature cannot be fully classified with current technology. Recommend continued monitoring, cooperation with Sanctum Guild, and restricted escalation until further data.'"
Riku whispered, "That's Authority language for 'We're scared but not ready to admit it.'"
"Riku," Hana hissed.
Ryou glanced his way, then back.
"I've seen worse," Ryou said. "People who liked the fear their power caused. People who thought rules no longer applied to them when they reached a certain level. That's not what I see here."
"And what do you see?" Shinra asked quietly.
Ryou studied him for a long moment.
"A man with too much weight in his eyes for someone with no history," he said. "And a guild willing to stand in front of him instead of behind him when Authority comes knocking."
He addressed Kaizen and Mizuki more formally.
"You understand," he said, "that I cannot give you a clean report. Not with this many unknowns. Sanctum will stay flagged as 'high-interest.'"
"We expected that," Mizuki said.
"But," Ryou continued, "I will note that your guild has been consistent in protecting low-tiers and Mundanes, even at profit loss. And that your Tier 1 did not engage in unnecessary destruction at the Hub. Those things matter when the higher offices decide how nervous to be."
"That's more help than I expected," Kaizen said.
Ryou's mouth twitched.
"I don't like panics," he said. "Or overreactions. They get people killed for the wrong reasons."
He turned back to Shinra.
"May I ask you something not for the report?" he said.
Shinra tilted his head. "You can ask," he said.
"Do you want this era to stand?" Ryou asked. "Truly?"
The question was quiet. Heavy.
No theatrics.
Just a man responsible for too much, asking someone who could break things more easily than he could fix them.
Shinra didn't rush his answer.
"Yes," he said at last.
Ryou watched him for any hint of evasion or flippancy.
There was none.
"Then we're not on opposite sides," Ryou said. "Not yet."
He straightened.
"For what it's worth," he added, "I don't think you're the biggest threat in this equation."
"Who is, then?" Yuna asked.
He hesitated.
"Whatever made the Breaches learn to stack like that at the Hub," he said. "And anyone who thinks they can use you as a tool to handle it."
His eyes flicked, almost imperceptibly, toward the ceiling.
Toward higher offices.
Toward other guilds.
Obsidian Crown among them.
Then he turned to Kaizen and Mizuki again.
"We're done here," he said. "I appreciate your cooperation. Sanctum will receive an official summary within a few days."
"Are we under restriction?" Mizuki asked.
"Not yet," he said. "But I'd advise against sending Shinra alone into any large-scale Breach events until we understand more. My superiors," a tiny flicker of wryness crossed his face, "would appreciate the courtesy."
"We don't let him run solo anyway," Yuna said. "He's ours."
Ryou nodded once.
"Keep it that way," he said. "The more lines of loyalty you have, the harder it is for any one structure to claim you."
He looked at Shinra one last time.
"You're allowed to say no," he said quietly. "If anyone—Authority, guild, or otherwise—tries to tell you your power belongs to them."
Shinra's eyes steadied.
"I know," he said. "That's why I'm here."
Ryou seemed to accept that.
He turned, signaled his team, and headed for the door.
They left as they came—no theatrics. Just a quiet pressure lifting as they stepped out of the shielded room, back toward the lobby, and then out into the city.
The door shut behind them.
Silence again.
Riku let out a long breath and sagged against a chair.
"Well," he said. "That could've gone worse."
Daren nodded. "We didn't explode," he said. "I'll take it."
Hana glanced at the now-closed scanner case. "They saw Arios," she murmured. "Or something like him."
"'Attached unknown signature,'" Mizuki quoted. "We can spin that."
Kaizen stretched, joints popping.
"Authority's shadow is on us a little more now," he said. "But Ryou could've made it darker. He didn't."
Yuna stepped closer to Shinra, searching his face.
"You okay?" she asked.
He took a breath.
The ache under his ribs hadn't worsened. The seal hadn't cracked further. Arios' presence was steady, if more contemplative than usual.
"I'll survive," Shinra said. "I've had worse assessments."
[Your vitals are stable,] Arios confirmed.
[The seal did not shift. The scan gave us more data on how this era's instruments perceive you.]
And? Shinra asked.
[To them, you are a misfiled category,] Arios said.
[Not a god. Not yet a catastrophe. Just… an error they cannot correct.]
"That might be the safest place to be," Shinra murmured.
Yuna frowned. "What?"
"Nothing," he said more normally. "Just thinking."
She studied him a moment longer.
Then she huffed.
"You did well," she said. "You didn't crush the machine, and you didn't let them walk over you. That's a delicate balance."
"I've had practice," he said.
"From your old world?" she asked.
"Yes," he replied.
She seemed ready to ask more, then stopped herself.
"Come on," she said instead. "Riku's going to complain about soup again soon, and I don't want you missing the opportunity to regret staying with us."
Riku, halfway to the doorway, turned. "I heard that," he said. "And I resent it."
"We know," Hana said.
They filed out of the room.
Kaizen lingered a moment with Mizuki.
"You trust him?" he asked quietly.
"Ryou?" she said. "More than most. Less than I'd like."
"And Shinra?" he asked.
She looked toward the door where Shinra had gone.
"I trust that he meant it," she said. "When he said he wants this era to stand."
"Is that enough?" Kaizen asked.
"For now," she said. "The rest… we'll have to see."
***
Outside, the city moved the way it always did—too quickly, not at all, in circles.
In a quiet Authority office, Ryou sat down at his desk, scanner data stored in his secure space. He stared at the partial schema of Shinra's aura—stacked, layered, wrong.
He began to type his report.
He stopped halfway through one sentence.
Then, against his better professional judgment, he added a line that didn't fit Authority's usual tone.
"Subject shows high-level restraint and consistent priority toward civilian safety. Recommend continued observation with cooperation rather than confrontation while more is understood about the anomalies linked to his presence."
He read it over once.
Then he sent it.
In Sanctum, Shinra climbed the stairs back toward the upper levels, Yuna beside him, Unit 3 scattered loosely around.
[You are officially on their radar, Great Master,] Arios said.
I've been on worse, Shinra thought.
[They called you dangerous.]
They did, he agreed. But not hopeless.
[And that matters?]
He thought of Ryou's question. Do you want this era to stand?
"Yes," Shinra said in his mind. "Because this time, I have something to stand with."
He stepped out into the familiar corridor, Sanctum's noise washing over him.
Authority's shadow had lengthened.
But Sanctum's light had, too.