The air inside the warehouse shifted the moment that name was spoken.
Not from wind.
Not from the cult's energy.
But from something older deeper far more dangerous than anything humanity had ever brushed against.
Eren Valis stood calmly, like a shadow that had finally decided to turn solid.
The blue light in his eyes wasn't a reflection.
It wasn't borrowed.
It was origin.
Mira swallowed hard, trying to gather the courage that had scattered after witnessing fragments of her own stolen past.
"Eden Gate?" she whispered. "That's… a legend."
"Legends," Eren said flatly, "are simply truths forced to sleep."
Kael stepped forward half a pace, cobalt pistol aimed straight at Eren's chest.
"One more step and you're done. Unknown identity with a purple-level resonance is classified as a high-tier threat."
Eren didn't look at him.
Didn't care.
"That resonance isn't mine," he said calmly.
"It's hers reacting to me."
Rhen narrowed his eyes. "Who exactly is 'it' in that sentence?"
Eren finally looked at Mira.
And Mira felt her chest tighten like the Eden energy inside her was recognizing him.
Warm.
Unsettling.
A heart-stutter that wasn't romance more like primal instinct bracing for danger.
Eren spoke quietly, carefully, as if his words could physically crack the room.
"The resonance inside her. Inside Mira."
His gaze dimmed.
"It reacts because our origins are the same."
Mira felt the world pause for a heartbeat.
"What do you mean… the same?"
Eren stepped forward. Kael lifted his gun higher. Rhen steadied his stance.
Eren raised a hand slowly not in surrender, but as if to prevent unnecessary bloodshed.
"You think she's a hybrid."
His eyes didn't leave Mira.
"Half human, half Eden."
Mira stiffened, fingers tightening around her sword.
"But here's the full truth…"
He inhaled deeply heavy, like lifting the tombstone of an old tragedy.
"There is no 'half.' No mixing. Humans cannot merge with Eden halfway."
He looked at Mira with a gaze that almost almost softened.
"She was born a guardian."
Silence fell.
Kael froze mid-breath.
Rhen's jaw clenched so hard it trembled.
Mira she felt herself freeze from the inside out.
"Guardian of what?" she whispered.
Eren answered without hesitation:
"The next Guardian of the Eden Gate."
Kael mouthed a curse.
Rhen nearly face-palmed.
Mira could only stare, stunned.
Eren continued, voice low but crystal clear:
"When you were born, the Eden core fragment Primrose chose you. That's why the cult attacked. They didn't want a new Guardian to rise."
Mira shook her head rapidly, panic crackling beneath her skin.
"No no, that's impossible. I'm just I'm human I grew up in"
"Shaolin," Eren cut in softly.
"They protected you. They knew from the beginning."
Mira felt her stomach drop, like the ground had been hollow all along.
"If I'm a Guardian… then why don't I remember anything?"
"Because your purpose was taken from you."
Eren took a small step closer, the blue in his eyes dimming.
"The Eden Gate was forced shut. Its Guardian was slaughtered. The energy scattered."
Rhen and Kael exchanged a glance shaken to the core that the fairy tales they dismissed… weren't fiction at all.
Eren continued:
"I am the son of the previous Guardian."
He lifted his chin.
"And I am the only survivor of that massacre."
Silence.
Absolute, needle-dropping silence.
Mira stared at him. "So you… know everything about me?"
"I know enough to search sixteen years for you," Eren said coldly.
"Enough to know the cult isn't the worst threat chasing you."
He stepped forward one final pace.
"Enough to know the Gate is cracking again… and only you can close it."
The ground under Mira's feet felt like it slipped away.
She wanted to deny.
To run.
To scream.
But Eren's next sentence hit like a blade:
"And you… should have died as an infant."
Rhen instantly raised his sword.
Kael aimed to shoot.
Mira hissed, "What do you mean…?"
Eren stared at her without blinking.
"The cult didn't want to consume you."
His voice dropped to a chilling softness.
"They wanted to destroy you before Ensaria the Eden core guardian awoke inside you."
Mira felt the world tilt.
Darken.
Twist.
"Ensaria…?"
Her voice barely made it out.
"Who… is that?"
Eren looked at the ceiling, as if recalling something impossibly ancient.
"Eden is not merely energy."
He met her eyes again.
"Eden is a consciousness."
And the Eden lens on Mira's wrist exploded with thick golden light warm, overwhelming, forcing her mind to stay awake.
Kael stumbled back.
Rhen froze.
Mira clutched her chest, shaking.
Eren finished the sentence:
"Ensaria is Eden's manifested core."
His eyes glowed brighter.
"And the signs of her awakening… have already appeared in you."
At that moment
the warehouse floor vibrated.
Not from an earthquake.
Not from cult energy.
But from the world itself responding.
BRAAAK!!
Golden light burst from Mira's chest.
Not from the device.
Not from the weapon.
From her.
Kael shouted, "Her resonance is skyrocketing! This isn't normal this is"
Rhen yanked him back. "That's the Eden core! She's about to overload!"
Eren did not move.
He only watched like a guardian witnessing destiny finally arrive.
Mira collapsed to her knees, clutching her chest, breath shattered.
"Why… now?!"
Eren answered softly, almost a whisper:
"Because Ensaria has realized… her chosen vessel has finally been found."
Light detonated.
A section of the warehouse collapsed.
And within the golden blaze
a voice that was not human slipped into the room:
"I… awaken."
Mira froze.
Every hair on her body rose.
Eren smiled for the first time small, sharp, inevitable.
"You were never being hunted, Mira."
He stepped forward.
"You were being called."
And the next chapter… had only just begun.